"I've often wondered why today's leftists pick on Israel and ignore far worse human rights abuses by many other regimes."

Because we expect Israel to be righteous? As the state of the ethical, moral God, for Israel to take the ethical and moral high ground? Israel is not just another state after all.

As a minor aside, the US takes a heck of a beating internationally for supporting Israel. No one's trying to withdraw support, but if we're paying so many of their bills, is it so wrong to expect them to live more closely to both our ideals?