History has a habit of repeating itself. Not because the circumstances are identical, but because people, particularly people acting in political movements, have a habit of making the same mistakes.

One of those mistakes is confusing a common enemy with a common cause.

The old saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” has become one of the most dangerous assumptions in politics. Temporary alliances are often necessary. Nations form them. Political parties form them. Activists form them. There is a profound difference, however, between working with someone to achieve a limited objective and convincing yourself that you share the same values.

That distinction has become increasingly blurred in American politics. Today, portions of the progressive movement find themselves marching alongside organizations and activists whose stated beliefs are fundamentally incompatible with the very principles progressives claim to defend. The coalition is held together by opposition to American foreign policy, capitalism, colonialism and what is broadly described as Western power. The most durable adhesive, however, has become hostility toward Israel, increasingly accompanied in some corners by an antisemitism that would be instantly condemned if directed toward almost any other minority.

Shared opposition has become a substitute for shared values, and the irony is difficult to ignore.

The same movement that demands unwavering commitments to women’s rights, LGBTQ equality, religious freedom and pluralistic democracy has shown remarkable reluctance to question allies whose own ideologies reject many of those principles outright. The contradictions are excused because the political moment demands unity against a common adversary.

We have seen this before, so let’s share a little history. Let’s take Iran, which has somehow become a shining beacon for some progressive anti-Western protest despite being governed by a regime that stands against much of what those same progressives claim to believe.

The revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979 was not simply an Islamist uprising. Marxists, communists, secular liberals, nationalists, students, intellectuals and Islamists participated in the movement that brought down the monarchy. They had profoundly different ideas about what Iran should eventually become, but they shared powerful enemies: the Shah, American influence, Western imperialism and the economic system they believed sustained them.

For many on the Iranian left, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini therefore appeared to be a fellow revolutionary. The parallel to today’s Western progressive coalition is not exact, but the political instinct should sound familiar. He condemned Western imperialism. He attacked inequality. He opposed........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)