By Richard Landes

In the early 2000s, something flipped.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians had just collapsed when Arafat walked away from Camp David to everyone’s astonishment.

Two months later, the “intifada,” which made suicidal terror attacks on Israeli civilians its primary weapon, began.

You'd expect that to cost the attackers public sympathy in the liberal West that had so prized the positive-sum, peaceful resolution of the conflict.

It did the opposite.

Western progressives moved toward the Palestinian cause at the exact moment it turned to terror on civilians.

By 2003, at the height of “martyrdom operations,” supporting that side wasn't just accepted on the left — it was practically a “litmus test of liberal credentials” according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, people who still held the old liberal position — the one that actually opposes violence against civilians, on either side — started getting called “right-wing” extremists for staying loyal to values and principles.

That's the trick: the label flipped.

Defending civilians became 'Islamophobic.'

Excusing the bombings became 'progressive.'

The generations from “millennials” on grew up only knowing the flipped version — so today, a lot of people genuinely don't know that 'liberal' once simply meant defending everyone's right not to be killed, everyone’s right to exercise their freedom responsibly and in peace.

This day is a conversation with people who watched that flip happen in real time, and warned about it before it became the norm.