Eloïse Bollack/Demotix. All rights reserved.
The left is frequently accused of singling Israel out for censure. Of all the authoritarian and oppressive countries in the world, so the argument goes, left-wing thinkers and activists disproportionately target the Middle East's only democracy. This is often just a rhetorical ploy, a propaganda device used to imply that Israel's critics are biased, or worse, prejudiced. However, it also happens to be true.
States everywhere behave in a manner comparable to Israel. Occupation, ethnic nationalism, exclusion, racism—these are systemic issues, products of the modern nation-state system we live in, and not the unique characteristics of any particular country or nationalist ideology.
