Since the Hannukah massacre began, there has been an outpouring of sympathy and support for the Palestinians around the world. Western Europe has been far ahead of the USA. There have been huge protests in Paris every weekend. Britain has seen the first wave of university occupations in support of a foreign policy change since the early eighties. Muslims have united with others - Israel has inadvertently helped to overcome the divisions on which it depends: london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/534

The USA has had less activity.

www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/06/israel

This is not because Americans are inherently barbaric. Nor is it because the US is Israel's leading backer. The USA was the main cause of the Vietnam war, and also the main center of resistance to it in the West. The reason is because the USA has a more sophisticated framework for preventing an effective movement against Israeli crimes emerging.

The role of the official media is obvious. It simply repeats Israel's lies, making the racial oppression of Palestinians sound like an even-handed conflict, home-made rockets equivalent to phosphorus bombs fired from jet fighters, and most of all, making ethnic cleansing seem no worse than defending oneself against ethnic cleansing. In no other part of the world, including within the USA and countries it dominates, is the news so biased in favor of the oppressors.

Part of this framework of falsehood is the tame left. The most famous hack in this milieu is Noam Chomsky. Other leading lights include Amy Goodman and Naomi Klein. All these lefties and many others provide cover for Israel among interested Americans. (There are honorable exceptions, like the folks at ifamericansonlyknew.org which isn't as bad as its name suggests).

Here is the latest from Chomsky, on Amy Goodman's popular radio show Democracy Now!, which is as bad as its name suggests:

'Israel can defend itself by stopping its crimes'

www.democracynow.org/2009/1/23/noam_chomsky_obamas_stance_on_gaza

For Chomsky and his adherents, ethnic cleansing is a mistake made by Israel. Its current policies are bad for its security. So Israel can be persuaded to stop. The USA, on the other hand, has an interest in Israel's actions, because of oil and, er, hegemony and stuff. To put it politely, Chomsky turns reality on its head. In doing so, he serves Israel by making opposition to its crimes in the USA look harder than it is, and distracting us from two major points-

• Israel's crimes derive from its nature, a state based on racial supremacy
• It is against the interests of most of the US ruling class to support it

I am not suggesting he is helping Israel undermine opposition within the USA deliberately. But to persuade the USA to oppose Israeli apartheid as it opposed South African apartheid, it is necessary to consciously reject the falsehoods of the alternative as well as the official media.

OK, maybe I was a bit harsh on Klein. She's Canadian, not American.

www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/01/israel-boycott-divest-sanction