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Middle East Books Review All books featured in this section are available from Middle East Books and More, the nation’s preeminent bookstore on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. www.MiddleEastBooks.com • (202) 939-6050 ext. 1
Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics By Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick, The New Press, 2021, hardcover, 240 pp. MEB $25.99
Reviewed by Walter L. Hixson
This important new book targets the “double standard” on the part of liberal Democrats who stand for democracy and freedom—except in Palestine A short and readable book (only 158 pages of text), Except for Palestine argues convincingly that “self-titled progressives contradict their beliefs by justifying or ignoring behavior by Israel that they oppose.” Journalist and professor Marc Lamont Hill and longtime Middle East political analyst Mitchell Plitnick argue that Democrats perpetuate the repression of Palestine by refusing to condemn it even though “Israel’s escalating authoritarianism” contradicts their general support for “universal liberal values.” Following an Introduction entitled “Palestine Cannot be an Exception,” the book offers chapters entitled “The Right to Exist,” “Criminalizing BDS,” “Trumped-Up Policy,” “The Crisis of Gaza,” and a Conclusion.
Contributing editor Walter L. Hixson is the author of Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict (available from Middle East Books and More), along with several other books and journal articles. He has been a professor of history for 36 years, achieving the rank of distinguished professor. 64
Chapter 1 homes in on the “immoral demand” that Israel should receive explicit recognition from Palestinians of its right to exist as a Jewish state—echoing Israel’s Basic Law passed in 2018—even as it contemptuously continues to reject the national aspirations of Palestinians. The authors emphasize that Israel does not demand that Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States or any other country recognize it as a Jewish state—the demand is uniquely placed on Palestinians. The second chapter chronicles the history of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. The authors call out liberals who did not, to cite two examples oppose boycotts of Chick-fil-A, which funded anti-LGBTQ groups, or Hobby Lobby, which denied women employees medical coverage for certain forms of contraception, but did strongly oppose BDS targeting Israeli apartheid. Hill and Plitnick do not insist that all liberals should embrace BDS, but they do
indict them for supporting or not opposing efforts to limit BDS advocacy thus undermining free speech and democratic political activism. “Those who support (actively or through silent complicity) laws that stigmatize, penalize, or even criminalize BDS are absolutely out of step with liberal and progressive values,” they argue. The next chapter calls on liberals to “acknowledge that [President Donald] Trump was merely a dangerous extension, not the source, of deeply rooted and thoroughly bipartisan policies that have harmed the Palestinian people—and positioned Palestine as an exception to which core liberal American values are not applied.” The fourth chapter emphasizes the liberals’ complicity in support of Israel’s brutal violence and ongoing blockade of Gaza. “The United States has not merely been indifferent to the crisis in Gaza,” they demonstrate convincingly, “but played an active, significant, and thoroughly bipartisan role in degrading the conditions.” Hill and Plitnick point out that Democrats “rarely, if ever, express the basic premise that Palestinians should have all of the same rights as Israelis.” On the comparatively rare occasions when they do advocate for Palestinian rights, liberals often stress that such change would “benefit the vast majority of Israeli Jews.” Similarly, liberal Democrats sometimes condemn Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, yet “when it comes to actual substantive policy debate, there is no appetite for it.” The authors conclude on a positive note, citing polls that show that while Republicans are largely uncritically pro-Israeli, more and more Democrats acknowledge Israeli repression and are demanding change, even to the point of supporting making financial assistance to Israel contingent on human rights for Palestinians. “There is a clear, strong, and growing movement opposing the United States’ one-sided and unwaveringly proIsrael policies and actions,” they note. MAY 2021