Response to an AJC mail about Israel

[The Witch]

My mother sent me a mail about Israel from the AJC - it's a chapter from a forthcoming book -- and it ends with a number of paragraphs that I took some issue with. Please read on to the end -- I start out kind of feisty but then mellow :)

Thoughts?

To be sure, nation-building is an infinitely complex process. In Israel’s case, that nation-building began against a backdrop of tensions with a local Arab population that laid claim to the very same land, and tragically refused a United Nations proposal to divide the land into Arab and Jewish states;

How would you like it if the UN came in and artificially divided the land you lived on?

as the Arab world sought to isolate, demoralize, and ultimately destroy the state; as Israel’s population doubled in the first three years of the country’s existence, putting an unimaginable strain on severely limited resources;

And to think some people fear that's what the Mexican immigrants are doing here.

Even so, shall we raise the bar so high as to practically ensure that Israel—forced to function in the often gritty, morally ambiguous world of international relations and politics, especially as a small, endangered state—will always fall short?

Israel has nukes. They can pay back any nation that truly endangers them any time they want. They don't, and that deserves applause. But to state that this nation with its (U.S.-subsidized) military might is so damned endangered is bullcrap. Israel is powerful enough; why doesn't it take the high road instead of destroying Lebanon's entire infrastructure in response to the kidnappings?

On the other hand, the notion that Israel would ever become ethically indistinguishable from any other country, reflexively seeking cover behind the convenient justification of realpolitik to explain its behavior, must be equally unacceptable.

On the contrary. Israel must be considered on a par with any other country in order to gain legitimacy. I'm sick of the talking point that America/Israel is above the standards of other countries simply by virtue of being America/Israel. It's what you DO, not who you ARE, that is important. And unless we consider Israel in the same light as the governments of Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, we cannot move forward. But Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist groups? Well? What does a government have to do to become a terrorist group? How many innocent people does it have to kill? Or is it that "our" countries could never become terrorists because they are "ours"?

How can we achieve anything like freedom and equality with such a holier-than-thou mindset? How can we begrudge other nations for saying the same about their leaders?

Loving Israel certainly doesn’t mean overlooking its shortcomings, including, in my judgment, the excessive and unholy intrusion of religion into politics, the marginalization of non-Orthodox Jewish religious streams, the dangers posed by political and religious zealots, and the unfinished, if undeniably complex, task of integrating Israeli Arabs into the mainstream.

That's one way to put it, I suppose.

But it also doesn’t mean allowing such issues to overshadow Israel’s remarkable achievements, accomplished, as I’ve said, under the most difficult of circumstances.

Let me end by agreeing wholeheartedly with this sentiment. I support Israel's right to exist, defend itself, and hold the position of power that it does. Firing amateur rockets and capturing soldiers are undoubtedly wrong actions. But when those actions are answered by the destruction of a capital city's entire infrastructure-- airports, bridges, communications all gone -- there is something very wrong going on.

Someone has to stop the constant escalation. My faith and belief in Israel and the Jewish state compels me to demand that it be the one to take that step.

[cantstandbush]

1. You will probably go ape over this:

From Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/16/165555/760

Its just 6 months in the life of Israel. I think it is important to remember that after Israel killed a family on a beach in Gaza their first reaction was to deny it. Then they tried to pin it on Hamas. After the shrapnel evidence revealed that they were indeed behind it, they reluctantly admitted guilt. I believe that fits the pattern of how they operate and speaks to their character.

Feb 1, 2006 Israel halts tax payments to Palestinians
Feb 3, 2006 Confirmed: Israelis kill 15-year-old inside Lebanon
Feb 5, 2006 Israel tab for West Bank settlements $14B
Feb 14, 2006 U.S., Israel Consider Plan to Starve Hamas
Feb 17, 2006 Chertoff's Sweetheart Deal For Israeli-Owned Carnival Cruise Cruise Line
Feb 26, 2006 Two killed, including a child, in Israeli re-invasion of Balata Refugee Camp
Feb 26, 2006 Destruction of Voice of Palestine’s building. Reporters without Borders indignant at that new act of war against Palestinian media
Feb 26, 2006 Israeli company stops petroleum supplies to Palestinian lands
Mar 2, 2006 Israel gives military free rein
Mar 2, 2006 Israeli Defense Minister: Israel will take 20% of remaining Palestinian land
Mar 3, 2006 Syria flays Israel for 'nuclear dumping'
Mar 3, 2006 Unrest after Israeli church attack
Mar 3, 2006 Israel threatens to assassinate the future Palestinian Authority prime minister
Mar 11, 2006 Israel deploys nuclear arms in submarines
Mar 11, 2006 Documents reveal Labor-Likud plans for West Bank
Mar 13, 2006 Israeli Soldiers Assault Family with Special Needs
Mar 13, 2006 Israeli Government Threatens to Eliminate Haniya
Mar 14, 2006 Israeli Police Assaults Venezuelan's Ambassador at Al-Aqsa Mosque
Mar 18, 2006 Bread shortages loom in Gaza
Mar 18, 2006 AP Erases Video of Israeli Soldier Shooting Palestinian Boy
Mar 20, 2006 Britain condemns Israel over fatal shooting of a child
Mar 20, 2006 Food runs low in Gaza after Israel closes key crossing
Mar 22, 2006 "Israeli Human Rights: Starving the Palestinians"
Mar 27, 2006 Israel's anti-Arab parties
Apr 3, 2006 Israeli Wall in the West Bank: Post-Occupation Strategy to Deny Sovereignty to the Palestinian State
Apr 3, 2006 UN aid workers: Gaza on verge of disaster
Apr 4, 2006 Israel Fires Missiles into Abbas' Compound
Apr 10, 2006 Israel to boycott inquest into death of British peace activist shot in Gaza
Apr 10, 2006 Israel to boycott diplomats who meet Hamas officials
Apr 11, 2006 Israeli military stands by its policy on shelling populated areas
Apr 11, 2006 Israel rejects Hamas long-term truce: official
Apr 14, 2006 U.S. blocks UN draft pressing Israel to end attacks

Much, much more......

[Name removed]

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