Hero?

Sometimes I read a really inspired post by Andrew Sullivan (see my archives for examples) and I think he's my hero. But then he posts something on the Israel-Palestine conflict that I violently disagree with and I am reminded that he's just as human as the rest of us. In this post, for instance, he quotes Juan Cole as saying:

The fruits of hatred sowed in the Middle East by aggressive and expansionist Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza against the Palestinians and in south Lebanon against Shiites continue to be harvested by Americans.

To me that's a fairly obvious and non-controversial statement. I don't know anybody who is even remotely informed who doubts that US policy towards Israel and Palestine has increased Muslim resentment. People may agree on the level of influence, but not on the very existence of this phenomenon. Andrew's comment that this is a "new low" for Juan Cole is a complete mystery to me.