When I began composing this post its title was 'Jews without shame'. I've altered that. Perhaps the people concerned do have some shame. There was, until about 45 minutes ago, a statement ('On the Lebanon war') at the Jews for Justice for Palestinians site that disgraced those responsible for it. It included this paragraph:
Hizbullah was born in the eighties as an Islamic organization to fight the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. It is responsible for strongly antisemitic documents and statements that we deplore. But we have to see it in context. As with many groups it has changed somewhat over the years. In particular it has been evolving into a political party with seats in the Lebanese legislature, and support beyond a fundamentalist base. We hope that it continues to evolve into a more pragmatic force, able and willing to work with others in a pluralistic Lebanese society. Israel's actions may well have the effect of undermining the chances of such a development.They deplore Hizbollah's strongly anti-Semitic documents and statements, but not so much that they won't follow up with a contextualizing softener. And what is the context in question? Well, Hizbollah could evolve into something better, and the drafters of this statement hope that it will. On that basis, of course, you can have tea with absolutely anybody. The above paragraph was followed by this one:
Support for Hizbullah in Lebanon and the wider Arab world has been vastly increased and it is now seen by many as a popular resistance movement. When people from the leader of the Maronite Christians in Lebanon, to demonstrators on the streets of London say 'We are all Hizbullah' they are overwhelmingly not endorsing an Islamic fundamentalist programme but what they perceive as a movement of resistance.Apologists not only for Hizbollah but for their apologists as well.
There's an elementary principle of reasoning: it's known as making distinctions. This enables you to criticize some aspects of an organization's politics while supporting other aspects (if that, indeed, is what you really wish to do). Anyone now supporting Hizbollah who simply abstracts from its strongly anti-Semitic statements - as in 'what they perceive as a movement of resistance' - is giving anti-Semitism a free pass. No more and no less. If they are people of the liberal left and Jews, they should be ashamed of themselves. Perhaps someone at JfJfP was ashamed of this statement, and this is why it is no longer on the site. Let's hope so. I for my part now deeply regret that I was ever a signatory to that organization's misleading statement of aims.
Update at 9.10 PM: So, Jews without shame, after all. The statement is back on the site.