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Nuanced Realism: Israel and the Tlaib/Omar Visit

(Times of Israel) Gerald M. Steinberg - I argued for allowing Tlaib and Omar into Israel, despite the media circus and bad PR that they would manufacture, because we should not bar members of the U.S. Congress, and because this would probably be worse on the propaganda front. In my view, the risks of refusing entry to Members of Congress were still greater than the risks posed by their political theater. Yet much of American punditry unleashed a flood of condemnations of the Israeli move entirely devoid of nuance. The portrayal of Netanyahu as merely following Trump's lead (or demand) are simplistic in the extreme, involving one-dimensional stick figures in a reality that is far more complex. I realize that nuanced argument and political realism are in short supply in the era of ideological polarization and zero-sum politics (we have truth; everyone else is evil). But I will continue to hope that eventually, nuanced realism will return to favor, particularly on Israel. The writer is Professor of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and president of NGO Monitor.
2019-08-19 00:00:00
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