I don't actually know any American Jews who support Avigdor Lieberman, the "Israeli Le Pen," as he's been so brilliantly tagged elsewhere, at least not on the issue of Israeli Arabs (on the issue of civil marriages and divorce reform, yes, wholeheartedly, but politics always makes for strange bedfellows), but Cohen makes the fair point that the obligation exists to condemn rather than ignore.
His words also sound an echo, I think, for America in general:
"The issue of Israel's Arabs is complicated. They are not Jews, yet they are expected to be loyal to a Jewish state. They are Arabs, yet they are expected to stand by while their fellow Arabs are pounded -- as in Gaza -- by Israeli guns.
Yet, in an odd way, Israel's Arabs ought to represent the best of Israel. They can vote. They hold seats in parliament. They have more civil rights in Israel than they would in any Arab nation. They ought to be a point of pride. Their civil liberties, their standard of living, their political participation ought to show the world what sort of country Israel is."
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