To identify the motivation of hostility among the "progressive" left to the Jewish state and the anti-Semitic aspects of this hostility, it is important to understand the threat that Israel poses to the identity of these European elites. The source of hostility in Israel's characterization in three areas: its constant need for power, its visible and continuing contempt for the "international community" and its identification with colonialism and apartheid. These clash with the advancing leftist identity: the colonial feelings of guilt, the dislike of the use of force and the belief in the "international community". Anti-Semitism is mainly an accompaniment.

The first two characteristics, power and contempt, do indeed reflect Israel's behavior. The third, the "colonial", is fundamentally distorted and intended to rationalize hostility and train Europe's special role.

Israel is indeed forced to use its power to protect its existence, deter its enemies and uphold its welfare. If it had not been so, Saddam Hussein and the rest of Assad were armed with nuclear weapons, the Palestinian "society" exemplars would have murdered its citizens in their thousands in population concentration, its economy would have been disabled, its fields and forests would have been burned and clouds of poison would be hovering over its cities. Even peace agreements that limit the scope of the conflict would never have come had they not feared that her neighbors landed in conflict. What every sensible person in Israel and every possible government that represents its citizens takes for granted cannot reconcile with the progressives of the progressive left in Europe, who enjoy generations of peace. This peace was promised to him mainly because of the American determination to deter his enemies. Anyone who defies the United States, who guarantees his freedom and well-being, has no difficulty preaching to Israel an anemic measure of "soft power" in the face of barbaric enemies who are smuggling in their own peoples and neighbors.

Israel's original sin in the eyes of progressives lies in emphasizing its national identity, in a way that is "known" to chauvinism and even fascism, and in its close partnership with the United States. The contempt that Israel has for international organizations obsessed with its condemnation by neglecting the values ​​of tolerance, pluralism and human rights only adds a sin to crime. If Israel had sounded to them, it would have had to commit suicide, as they repeatedly define its value proposition as racism and its self-defense measures as fascist. Those progressives who reject national solidarity even at home cannot give up their hallucination of a world that is widely agreed by international law, led by corrupt and politically corrupt organizations, known as the "international community".

The colonialist and apartheidist attribute attributed to Israel does not even have a kernel of truth. It was intended for the delegitimization of the Jewish state, which allegedly insists on using force and contempt for the imagined "international community". It is also intended to make up for the guilt of Europe for its colonial past and sometimes for its support of the Jewish National House in its beginnings.

The confrontation with the majority on the progressive left is structural. Israel's success threatens its core by holding "evil and good" to it: "brutal" Israel manages to defeat and deter its enemies; Breaking the power, without the need for appeasement, of the power of terror; To prosper economically and culturally, despite attempts at legitimacy, isolation, boycotts and sanctions; To maintain close bilateral relations and to gain appreciation across Europe and the world, despite serial condemnations by international organizations; Maintain beneficial relations with most Arab countries, despite suspicious and hostile public opinion. Israel's success shows the progressives in their full pathetic way. Insult and rage are understandable. What is sad is the anti-Semitic tune. Allegations of evil inherent in the Jewish state help those progressive elites to explain to themselves and others the successes and prosperity of Israel even though it rejects their preaching.

The characteristics of this evil connect suspiciously, sometimes subconsciously, to the most abominable images of classic anti-Semitism: the murder of children and their thirst for bloodshed, the control of the world by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and affiliation with the Nazis as a manifestation of contemporary Satan. Israel is strong enough to deal with these sickening allegations almost equitably. It is European society that has to worry.

Dr. Dan Shiftan is the head of the International Security Program at the University of Haifa