The Jewish Daily Forward, an ostensibly liberal newspaper, runs a story about all the trendy Jewish foodie spots a traveler can discover in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the occupied West Bank.

Small coffee roasters are opening as are companies making hand-crafted chocolates… Run by the husband and wife team Sarah and David Gross, Cookie Crave has made their name by turning out American sweets in the Holy Land.

Talk about mainstreaming the occupation. Gush Etzion inflicts apartheid conditions on its Palestinian neighbors. I saw that for myself here . Can you imagine the Forward writing about “chic dining spots in Johannesburg in 1980?” Or “great grits and barbecue spots in Alabama” in 1960?

Of course not. That would be considered reactionary. So why does the Forward run these tripes? Because its constituency includes people who for religious/Jewish-nationalist reasons would never dream of giving up the West Bank. People who regard Zionism as a liberation movement and never want to live there. People for whom Palestinians are invisible.

The same reason J Street doesn’t vigorously oppose the occupation and denounces Peter Beinart for coming out for boycotting settlement products. The same reason a liberal Upper West Side synagogue hosts Bill Kristol as he rants against “Arabists.”

Gushing about Gush, Abra Cohen, the Kosher traveler: