There was a time when getting into a nightclub involved a small ritual. First, you bought a ticket. That gave you the right to stand in line, but it did not guarantee that you would be admitted… Of course, there was also a VIP line for those who did not have to wait with everyone else… And once inside, sometimes you received a stamp that entitled you to a drink.

Watching Congressman Ro Khanna describe his recent visit to Israel and the West Bank, I could not escape the impression that he wanted the entire package, and that he needed it quickly.

He wanted the ticket, the expedited line, the stamp, and the drink waiting once he was inside. 

Khanna already possessed the ordinary ticket of admission into that growing political club: a record of increasingly categorical condemnation of Israel. But apparently that was no longer sufficient. He wanted to impress that crowd going through the VIP line as someone who could claim not only to have criticized Israel, but to have personally experienced its malice.

He wanted to be able to say: I did not merely read about Israeli oppression; I was there, threatened and detained, witnessing the IDF side with violent settlers against Americans.

That is the VIP stamp in today’s marketplace of moral legitimacy. Tell me how frustrated you are with the State of Israel, and I’ll tell you how moral you are!

There was, unquestionably, a real incident. Noar HaGvaot – the group commonly called the Hilltop Youth – blocked the road and prevented Khanna’s delegation from proceeding. Their conduct was lawless, dangerous and unacceptable. The State of Israel has too often failed to restrain violent groups of settlers and, at times, members of the present government have encouraged their sense that the law does not fully apply to them.

But I am not writing about the Hilltop Youth. I am writing about Khanna and what his performance represents.

Khanna did not simply describe an encounter with a lawless group. He constructed a much larger drama: that the IDF had effectively detained him, that Israeli soldiers had sided with those who stopped him, that his life had been placed in danger, and that the treatment of his delegation demonstrated Israel’s contempt even for American citizens and American power.

The IDF directly denied his account. The American Embassy also challenged central elements of the story he presented, including the suggestion that his visit had been properly coordinated. Khanna nevertheless spoke as though there was no factual dispute and no uncertainty whatsoever.

At moments, the way in which he presented the story was close to ridiculous. His indignation that people carrying American passports could be detained was particularly revealing. An American passport does not make someone immune from being stopped, questioned or delayed, especially when entering a volatile area without the standard security coordination.

But the ridiculousness of the argument ultimately did not matter.

Khanna’s........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)