Should the Left Hold Palestinians to Higher Standards?

Liberals say that, because they are friends of Israel, they have a duty to criticize it, to tell the hard truths, Bret Stephens argues in The Wall Street Journal. But liberals don’t seem to find the same obligations in their friendship with the Palestinians, he says. There is no hand-wringing about the moral drift of the pro-Palestinian movement when peace activists have links to Hamas and al Qaeda. There’s no finger-wagging when Hamas trashes a U.N.-led school because it educates girls. Even the Egyptian enforcement of the Gaza blockade gets a pass as Israel is chastised for it. And, the Israeli press shows a remarkable capacity for self-criticism, something sorely lacking in Palestinian media. “Liberals have no trouble taking stands against abstinence educators, Prop 8 supporters or members of the Tea Party,” Stephens writes. “But when it comes to genuine bigots and religious fanatics—and Hamas has few equals in those categories—liberals have a way of discovering their capacity for cultural nuance and political pragmatism.”