If they're against it, we're for it

An interesting article in Saturday's New York Times discussed the thesis that modern anti-semitism finds ritual denunciation but sneaking approval amongst European elites because of the post 1945 European disgust with nationalism. Thus the Jewish people had the poor timing (in the view of the chattering classes) to be seeking their own state based on identity -- and projecting the power of the state in very traditional fashion i.e. war -- at precisely the time that Europe lost faith in this model. Or as the article says,

Israel's nationalism, its military and its particularism offend Europe's left-wing universalism and anti-globalization sympathies and recall the catastrophic past.

We think this is an interesting idea, but we're not sure it has all the loose ends taken care of. Can France be characterised as a state disillusioned with nationalism? Je crois que Non! And then the thesis should have some predictions, like attitudes to Israel might be different in parts of Europe where nationalism is still accepted currency (e.g. Ireland, the Basque country, the Balkans) from parts where it is not (e.g. Germany). Or at least we'd expect an understanding amongst the former groups that Israel and the Palestinians are both fighting for a national identity -- and don't simply form another convenient element to the uninformed sloganeering about Zapatistas (or is it Baristas?) that passes for dissent in some of the protests we have witnessed. Anyway, in Ireland, the mapping of our local difficulty into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been complicated. For a long time, Irish nationalists were willing to share our claim as Most Oppressed People Ever with the Jewish people. But there's been a definite trend over the last 30 years to view the Palestinians as the victims and therefore the state of Israel as the oppressor. But where does that leave the Unionists? In almost comic fashion, extreme Unionists have not hesitated the draw the logical conclusion and hitch their wagon to Israel. This article from the Observer last year provides a sample of the resulting thinking:

Rebel, Adair's [loyalist extremist] pet Alsation, has become the latest member of the Ulster loyalist community to display support for Ariel Sharon's assault on the West Bank and Gaza. Last Monday afternoon the UDA commander's four-legged friend was seen being taken for a walk along Belfast's Shankill Road with the Star of David flag wrapped around its body.

Sadly for the Belfast chapter of Likud, Adair is now in jail and his followers fled to Scotland after being on the losing side of an internal feud with other loyalists. We don't know who got the dog.