It was 1984. I was in high school. I wrote my magnum opus history term paper on the civil war in Lebanon. I analyzed all of the major players in the conflict in rational terms, figuring that behind all of the rhetoric were groups of people who wanted their share or more of the resources available, and who wanted some respect and understanding of where they were coming from. I still think this is what most everyone wants/needs in all major conflicts, but now I know there is more to it than that.
A few years later I was in college, studying international relations. I revealed my utter lack of diplomatic instincts by writing another magnum opus term paper on Gamal Abdel Nasser and submitting it to a Jewish professor. That was the only C I ever got on a major paper. Am I suggesting his grading was anything but fair? Of course not. That would suggest that a college professor allowed his personal prejudices to color his grading of students. On the other hand, I eventually learned not to expect an open and free exchange of ideas when it came to any aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict. And nobody in the US establishment was going to be impressed with my attempt to reach across and understand the Arab point of view.
I still struggle with this. Numerous Jewish friends (yes, I have them) have suggested in various oblique ways that to side against Israel in any conflict with any Arab is a form of anti-Semitism. So I try not to bring it up. Some point out that in the roiling Democracy of Israel, there are many Jews who would like to have less dependency on the US, and others who object to Israeli foreign policy. It's OK for them to criticize Israel, since they are part of it, but as a blond American Pollack, it's better if I just shut up. This is not said out loud, mind you.
Is it anti-Semitic if I say all people are created (or evolved) equal and deserve some respect and consideration? Is it anti-Semitic if I don't believe in YHWH, Jehova, Jesus, Allah, or any other Semitic god, nor do I care who any of these gods' favorite people are, nor do I believe any race or group is actually 'chosen' by any real god to be any sort of master race? Yeah. I can hear the alarm bells ringing. Good thing I don't fly anyway.
It seems self-evident to me that Israel is a sovereign nation, able to do what it wants, and that nobody there really cares what I think. That is as it should be. It's not my country, and it's not for me to judge what they do.
Still, since I'm in this deep, I might as well say it's interesting to see the shoe on the other foot now. If I recall my facts correctly, Germany had been a nation 62 years in 1933. It felt it had been kept divided for centuries by the machinations of its powerful neighbors, produced great philosophy art and literature, but been denied its rightful place with the 'great powers.' It was trying to pull together Germans into one country and move forward. It wanted a colonial empire just like its neighbors. Thing was, it chose Poland and Russia to be its colonial empire, and the other colonial powers were not going to stand for this, not because they had any regard for Poland or Russia, but because they didn't want Germany in their club. Germany was also beset by what it saw as dangerous minorities inside its borders, some racial or ethnic minorities, and others ideological minorities ... OK I'll stop there on Germany.
Today, the Jews have their own country, for the first time in 1900 years. Their country is 61 years old, but its achievements are the envy of the world. They feel they were prevented from having their own country by more-or-less the same colonial powers that the Germans felt had done so to them. They feel beset on all sides by hordes of people that, let's face it, they think are their inferiors. They have minorities that are prevented from owning land, who have to show special ID to go to their menial jobs, and if they keep their heads down, are allowed to survive. Still, life for an Arab in Israel can be better than life for an Arab in many Arab countries. Israel is a growing vibrant multifaceted multicultural democracy surrounded on all sides by backward dictatorships or worse whose main idea seems to be to bring back the 12th century. Israel needs land to grow in , and more importantly water. It also needs a buffer zone around its borders to protect it from explosive nutjobs that might come try to blow things up. If anyone in the world really cared about the Palestinians, the Israelis say, then why don't they take them in? Do you feel the irony getting thicker and thicker here?
Later still, I wrote another term paper on Rabbi Meir Kahane and the Kach party in Israel. This time the professor was more of a leftist and non-Jewish, and I got an A. The meat of the paper was a comparison of the '25 points' of the Kach party and the '25 points' of the Nazi Party. They were virtually identical, though the names had been changed, and a few of the points were in a different order. I don't think it could be a coincidence. Both right wing parties were founded on the notion that 'Our People' are special and deserve to thrive in the world, and that to do that, land and resources were needed, and if other lesser people happened to be in the way, well, too bad! The Kach party no longer exists, having been replaced by 'Kahane Chai.'
To be fair, I have to say that the racial chauvinism of both right wing Germans and right wing Israelis is not any more shocking than the idea of 'manifest destiny' here in the USA. What these bold nations did to those 'in the way' was not more cruel or horrendous than what the US did to every racial minority in the 19th century. It's fine for a nation that already exterminated everyone in the way of its ambitions to point the finger at someone else.
But the USA is a sovereign nation, and it will do what it does regardless of what people in some other country think. But there's the hanging point: why does sovereign US give so much money to sovereign Israel? The Israelis are the first to point out they don't need it. It is not for me to judge Israel, but I would feel the US is more sovereign and respected if we could at least talk about not giving Israel so much US government money, so many Apache helicopters, and if the US could own up to the fact that Israel has the bomb.