David Hazony blogged earlier about Gideon Levy’s take on Ramat Aviv residents exhibiting dangerous prejudice against ultra-Orthodox Jews who were trying to move into their neighborhood. I share his reflexive habit of disagreeing with Levy and I agree with the need to make an exception for this latest column — except that Levy tends do be wrong even when he’s right.

Consider his description of the Ramat Aviv community: “the entry of a handful of ultra-Orthodox Jews to this lovely, modest and tranquil neighborhood has provoked an unlovely wave of racism, tearing the thin veil of openness and liberality from this seemingly left-wing community.” (emphasis added)

What’s the problem with the above characterization, you might say? The qualifier “seemingly.” For Levy, a left-wing community that turns ugly on the Haredim is clearly one that has betrayed its political calling, or one that held the banner of the Left with hypocrisy. The problem is that when it comes to the Left, prejudice is almost invariably an inherent element of its ideology — and it is bound to emerge, sooner or later, when the much heralded leftist tolerance is tested by even the mildest form of dissent. There is nothing uncharacteristic, therefore, about these self-proclaimed progressives turning intolerant. After all, anti-Semitism in Western Europe today is overwhelmingly the province of the Left. No surprise then, that their Israeli counterparts turns out to be just the same.