While diary after diary condemns Israel in the strongest possible language (and makes me wonder why so few of those same diarists have written articles on Darfur, for example), I am a strong supporter of Israel. Israel isn't perfect. Neither is America. Or Sweden. Or Mozambique. But I support Israel in this War of 2009, and I'd like you to know why.
- This is Self-Defense. Israel is engaged in a legitimate act of self defense under international law. No nation can be expected to passively sit by, or even respond in-kind, to a barrage of missiles at its citizenry. What is not important is the quality of the Hamas missile or the number of deaths they cause. What is important is that even the crudest of these missiles terrorize the residents of towns like Sderot on a daily basis. And what is important is that Hamas constantly works to upgrade their missile arsenal, including without limitation, the smuggling of more advanced missiles into Gaza. What is important is the motive of Hamas, which is to kill innocents vs. the motive of Israel, which is to defend its citizenry. Because it is an act of self-defense, it does not matter what the world community (which generally opposes Israel) thinks or even what the U.S. thinks. Any country’s most important directive is to protect its citizenry.
- Hamas wants to destroy Israel. Hamas is hell-bent on the destruction of Israel. It is in the Hamas charterand is repeated by every Hamas leader with a heartbeat. Their charter opposes all negotiations with Israel, and even the cease-fires agreed to are temporary in nature and not permanent solutions. As long as Hamas runs Gaza, peace is simply not possible with Gaza. Peace won't be easy with the PA, don't get me wrong. There are real centuries old disagreements between the Israelis and the Palestinians and parts of those disagreements are, by their very nature, zero-sum games. But "not easy" is a whole hell of a lot better than "not possible".
- For an army, Israel tries to minimize casualties. Israel takes every reasonable effort to minimize civilian casualties. Lets face it, no army is perfect. In fact, as of this diary, over 80% of the Israel Defence Forces deaths have been by friendly accidental fire. But Israel's typical M.O.is to call an area before it is bombed to tell civilians to get out of the way. While Israel needs to be concerned about security first, if it wanted to kill civilians, a few indiscriminate missiles (of, for example, the type Hamas fires at Israel) in densely-packed Gaza city would kill many more civilians than Israel has killed in this war. Israel's goal isn't to kill civilians; Israel's goal is to lessen the ability of those who actively seek to eliminate Israel to actually carry through their goal of eliminating Israel.
- Israel doesn’t want Gaza.Unlike other areas, such as the communities around Jerusalem, Israel has no designs on taking over Gaza. It voluntarily and unilaterallyleft Gaza and doesn't want to return. However, it won't allow Gaza to be Hamastan; it won't allow Gaza to be a giant missile launching pad. But once the deed is done, Israel will again pull out of Gaza--at most keeping a small force in place to on the border with Egypt to prevent the smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Rafah.
- Israel is uniquely in danger. Israel is in a unique situation in the world. There are more nations that would rather see Israel 'not exist' than any other country in the world. It neighbors are so infused with hatred that they refer to Israel, not by name, but by terms like the Zionist Entity. Israel does not want to be fighting. The Jewish people, by and large, have socialist roots. We're not a big people or a strong people, and we've more or less been trounced in almost every war we've had for the past few thousand years. Israel has had very quiet borders with Jordan and Egypt since peace agreements with those nations and would like nothing more than to have quiet borders on all sides. But Israel also cannot live in constant fear. And Israel isn't about to make peace with groups who shoot missiles at them or threaten to do the same.
- Peace is imperative. A long-term, lasting peace is vital to Israel’s future survival. A long-term lasting peace is only possible when the other side cares more about their lives than they care about terminating your life. Hamas cannot be that partner for peace as Egypt and Jordan are. Hamas uses ambulances to transport weapons, schools to launch rockets, and woman and babies as human shields at the houses of key terrorist leaders. This behavior is simply unacceptable in peaceful society. And nothing was going to prevent this behavior when Hamas could fire missiles into Israel on a daily basis with total impunity.
- I simply love Israel. This is my diary—and this is my personal point of privilege. Israel is the only place where I know my family could go in times of distress. Israel is one of the most socialist nations in the world. Israel has more gay rights than Minnesota or Georgia. Israel has an amazing governmental system that results in total gridlock but also gives everyone a voice from religious nutjobs to Arabs to marijuana legalizers. Could you imagine if we had a political system that gave 3rd parties such a chance? I'm not in the business of drawing negative comparisons with other cultures--if people wants as Islamist state, who am I to tell them it is bad; but the values of Israel are much more in line with the values of a liberal democratic society than the values of Hamas. What other country in the world would do a better job assimilating Ethiopians who immigrated not knowing how to use a hot shower than it does with Russian immigrants who are, in some cases, the most educated members of society? What other nation could have such vigorous disagreements about every issue under the sun but largely unite the moment someone else wants to destroy it? What other nation could be more bureaucratic than the US and India, but nimbly adapt and improvise to changes in technology? What other nation seeks so strongly to be a light unto nations at the same time it so vigorously protects its very existence? That is my Israel—I love it.