Weiner Sells Israel to Progressives: Not An Occupier, Settlements Not in Palestinian Territory

Anthony Weiner is trying hard to make Israel palatable to progressives.

The outspoken congressman has long been one of that country's most ardent defenders in Congress. He has steadfastly pleaded its case through a series of damaging p.r. incidents—most recently, last year's deadly incident aboard the Mavi Marmara flotilla—and has frequently criticized President Obama for not being a staunch enough supporter of Israel's interests.

But, for a man who has carefully cultivated an image as a liberal's liberal, it's a posture that often puts him at odds with the progressive base he has so studiously courted.

On Thursday night, Weiner tried to win over a skeptical crowd at the New School, arguing that Israel remains a beacon of democracy in an undemocratic region, and that its strict security measures and ongoing settlements do not make it an occupying force.

"The Israelis don't want to occupy anybody," he told the mostly-packed auditorium.  "Here is a statement of fact...Gaza to this moment, since 2005, has not been occupied by anybody. There is not a single Israeli soldier in Gaza today."

On the question of settlements: "There are people who believe that there is settlement activity in the Palestinian territory. I don't believe that," Weiner said. "At some point Palestinians and Israelis are going to negotiate where the border exists. Right now the settlement that is going on is in Israel."

Israel ended a moratorium on settlements in the West Bank last year, and much of the crowd vocally disagreed with Weiner's characterization. There were frequent outbursts—"Coward!" and "Liar!"—but the combative congressman was unfazed.

"As a point of privilege, I convened 41 Tea Party healthcare town hall meetings so yelling at me really doesn't have an effect," Weiner told his hecklers at the outset.

He had been invited to debate the Goldstone Report, an unflaterring account of Israel's use of force in Operation Cast Lead in 2008 that was recently published by the book imprint of The Nation magazine. Weiner had helped pass a congressional resolution denouncing its findings, saying it did not properly take into account Israel's motivation as acting in self-defense.

"The problem with the report grew out of where it came from. The United Nations Human Rights council has been an irredeemably anti-Israel organism ever since it was created," said Weiner on Thursday evening. "The U.N. Human Rights Council exists to beat the bejeesus out of Israel."

Arguing in favor of the report's credibility, and against Israel's use of force, was Weiner's congressional classmate, and friend, former Washington Congressman Brian Baird. (The two played on the same congressional softball team, and Baird still calls him "Tony.")

Baird, who said he is a longtime supporter of Israel, had traveled to the Palestinian territory after Operation Cast Lead, and had come back convinced that the report was an accurate portrayal of the conflict, and its toll on the civilian population.

He also questioned a vote in the Knesset that would have criminalized the suggestion that Israel not be a Jewish state, which Weiner defended as Israel's prerogative.

"It's a Jewish state. That's what it was created to be," Weiner said. "And it's a right to have a Jewish state. Just like in Egypt there's going to be an Islamic state."

The crowd piped up.

"Oh? It's not going to be?" Weiner asked sarcastically. "Egypt, really? Okay, let me stipulate that it probably will be."

Asked what he meant by that, Weiner said: "I imagine that it's going to have many of the precepts of Islam, I'm sure that's going to be the prevailing religion."

The unenviable task of moderating the debate, and periodically taming the rowdy crowd, fell to New York Times' columnist Roger Cohen, whose pointed questions about Israeli's actions drew critiques from Weiner, and from the congressman's supporters in the audience.

"Are you moderating?" one yelled. "You're a typical New York Times correspondent!" shouted another.

Cohen thanked the man and said he took that as high praise.

At one point, Cohen asked Weiner about a Peter Beinart piece that noted a waning attachment and affection among the younger generation feels toward Israel, and how it was that the liberal congressman could support Israel in the face of all its alleged transgressions.

"There is no doubt about it that we have a problem—we being progressives—have a problem  that large numbers of us have come to turn the story of David and Goliath as it relates to Israel on its head, and have lost sight of the fact that Israel is the democracy in the Middle East in that region which 20 neighbors has declared war with her," he said.

"We seem to forget that it is the progressive position to have, and it always has been, to support countries that try to do what Israel is doing. Gaza, Hezbollah, Hamas are not. "

And Weiner—as he's done with so many other causes—has taken it upon himself to try and turn the tide.

"This is why I eagerly accepted the invitation to come here to this icon of progressive thought here in the Village," said Weiner. "We have to start pushing back on the notion that it is somehow anathema to progressive thought to support a democracy in the Middle East that is Israel."