Extra! Extra!: Leftwing Blogger Backs Israel

British trade unionist Eric Lee can think and chew gum at the same time:
.
Israel is under attack -- unprovoked, brutal attack.  Attack by forces such as Hamas and Hizbollah with which socialists have nothing in common. [Eric's emphasis]

And Israel is responding in the way that any state, even a state with a workers' government, even an ideal socialist state, would respond. It is hitting back with all the firepower at its disposal, but doing so in a way to minimize civilian casualties. That is why it decided to flatten Hamas' foreign ministry building at 2:00 in the morning, when it was unoccupied. Or used targetted aerial bombardment to create craters in the runways of Beirut airport, rather than bombing terminals crammed with people. (Either way, they would have shut down the airport -- but they chose a way that saved innocent lives.)
.
Unfortunately, many self-described socialists have quite a bit in common with groups such as Hamas and Hizbollah. Perhaps Eric actually does toil away trying to improve the lot of ordinary people.  Should he ever think that's thankless toil, and should he ever renounce his illusory categories of "workers' government" and "ideal socialist state," he should get a whiff of the reaction that inserting The Force of Reason into the public dialogue can whip up. Namely, this

portrait of the author of The Force of Reason, Orianna Fallaci, as if she were beheaded. For like Eric she, too, stands with Israel:

I find it shameful that in obedience to the stupid, vile, dishonest, and for them extremely advantageous fashion of Political Correctness the usual opportunists--or better the usual parasites--exploit the word Peace. That in the name of the word Peace, by now more debauched than the words Love and Humanity, they absolve one side alone of its hate and bestiality. That in the name of a pacifism (read conformism) delegated to the singing crickets and buffoons who used to lick Pol Pot's feet they incite people who are confused or ingenuous or intimidated. Trick them, corrupt them, carry them back a half century to the time of the yellow star on the coat. These charlatans who care about the Palestinians as much as I care about the charlatans.

.
To Eric's credit, in his blog post he states some unpleasant and undeniable truths -- unpleasant, that is, for antisemites and anti-Zionists to bear.  He actually tries to learn from history:

At the present time, Israel has more powerful and more effective weapons than their opponents. Their situation today is a bit like that facing the Allies near the end of the second world war. By that time, Germany and Japan were severely weakened. Did that lead the Soviet Union, which was doing the bulk of the fighting, and its western allies to let up? To give the Nazi regime a break? Not at all. They took advantage of their superiority and hit harder -- to bring the war to and end as quickly as possible.

.
Elsewhere he cops to reading Melanie Phillips and acknowledging her keen commentary thus far on the war. JMK to Eric: we wish you well, and may the force of reason be with you.

.
BTW, separate but related . . .  from the latest FrontPage symposium, "A New 'New Left'?", it looks like Euston Manifesto proponents Norm Geras and Nick Cohen can think and chew gum at the same time, too.