On Being Pro-Israel

It came to my attention recently that some readers think that this site is anti-Israel. Can I say that this news comes as a surprise? Not at all. But it's worth looking into.

There are many countries around the world that commit human rights abuses, start wars, and elect nationalist politicians who spout half baked ideas. But only one of them regularly has to face the world and say: despite my faults, I deserve to exist. Sudanese diplomats are never faced with this problem. Even at the height of the Cambodian genocide or the Burmese suppression of democracy, it was never reasonable to call for the dissolution of those countries.

But the Israeli case is different. It was born in 1948 in a neighborhood calling loudly for the infant nation to be strangled immediately. In 1967, after it defeated the combined armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt, the Arab world still gave a resounding 'No!' to the very notion of coexistence. To this day, even as respectable leaders of enemy states talk inspiringly of peace, very large numbers of the Arab citizenry admit that they can never accept Israel into the community of nations.

My political judgement is that the issues on the table can best be addressed with the pro-peace perspective espoused in many of the posts on this site. But as a human being, I also need to find a way to empathize with Israelis and Jewish supporters of Israel who feel the sting of such utter rejection more strongly. Could it be that this sting lies at the heart, or near it, of so many Israeli flaws? Might we not find it a valid explanation for the cruelty, reliance on military solutions, and hardened heart of the Israeli mainstream?

This idea that having your very right to exist questioned would still leave you in a rational state of mind, ready to give and take with Palestinian terrorists over future boundaries and long term security arrangements, is itself a little bit irrational. The whole discourse of the Palestinian solidarity movement is about forcing Israel to change through the application of pressure; Israeli consent is an afterthought, something to be secured after massive pressure has reduced them to a compliant, fearful mass eager to be rescued from isolation with the wave of a white flag.

For those of you defending the state of Israel with every rhetorical bullet in your arsenal - I salute you. It makes sense. Not that I agree of course. But there is a lesson for those of us who are both pro-Israel Jew and pro-Palestinian Arab. Supporting peace must always entail listening to the other side. Hearing the story and accepting that an emotional truth is being told, even if the facts are a bit mushy. It's possible (if not probable) that a world in which Israel did not have to wake up each day forced to defend its very existence might also see an Israel more willing to make sacrifices for peace.

I'm not anti-Israel. Just pro-peace. At this particular moment in time, that forces me to join those pressuring Israel to change its behavior. I do think though, that this can be done with sensitivity and even love, as opposed to anger and hate.