I've always been a supporter of the Israeli people as a whole, up until now. Now, I'm having serious doubts. Reasons to support Israel were that the nation came into existence to provide a place for the holocaust survivors to live, hopefully in peace for all time. It was a beautiful vision, especially as Einstein, Ben Gurion, and many other great men conceived it, as a multicultural state. However, things got off to a bad start in the 1940s, and the 50s and 60s and 70s continued the legacy of warfare that began with the birth of the nation. Even through the 70s and 80s, it was possible to side with Israel, which had some noble leaders like Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin. However, Menachem Begin and his Likud successors, including once-war-criminal Ariel Sharon provided a disquieting indication that Israel could end up becoming an oppressive regional power. Slowly, as the Likud dominated
Israeli politics, it began to become clear that Israel was gradually becoming a right-wing State. The assassination of Yitzhal Rabin by right-wing leaders signalled to many around the world that Israel was going to have a semi-permanent right wing leadership. A liberal or progressive leader had no chance in Israel (goodbye, Golda Meir and David Ben Gurion). Today, much as one wishes not to give the wrong message to millions of Jewish friends around the world, one is hard-pressed not to question whether Israel ever should have come into existence. Why? Because Israel has not brought peace to the world, has not been a wonderful homeland for the Jewish people, has not been an all-embracing multicultural State. Ben-Gurion's vision has not been fulfilled, nor has Einstein's. Sadly, very sadly, but realistically, it is very unclear that the Jewish people are better off with Israel than they would have been if the Jewish people of Europe had settled elsewhere (a couple hundred thousand in America, tens of thousands in England, Netherlands, France, Norway, Sweden, etc., etc.). There is no ill will toward the Jewish people in this diary, but much more a feeling of kinship and great sense of tragedy at what has befallen them. I think they would have been much better off if they had never tried to found a Jewish homeland in Palestine. They could have thrived, as Jewish people have thrived almost everywhere they have gone in the world. They could have retained the sympathies of the world. But, sadly, many people around the world have lost their sympathy for this noble and intelligent people. Why? Because in Israel, the most honored principles of Judaism have been sullied. Admiration for the Jewish people is being increasingly replaced by anger at Israel's irrational and provocative behavior. And the actions of Israel have played an important role in dragging the United States into a horrible and seemingly never-ending conflict in the Middle East, which threatens to escalate out of control. In short, the Middle East and Palestine have been a disaster since World War II, the hottest of all the hot spots on the planet. Yes, oil has a lot to do with it, too, but the anger against the West has been inflamed mostly by the conflict with Israel. I honestly think the Jewish people in the world would be much better off if Israel had never been brought into existence. I have Jewish friends who have no desire to go to Israel--none at all! It terrifies them, and the word "Israel" brings a painful expression to their faces. And the world as a whole would also be better off if Palestine had not been hyper-colonized by one single ethnic group, which then proceeded to drive out the vast majority of people living in the territory that they arrived in in the 1940s. This is written, truly, out of concern for the world and for the Jewish people--mostly a recognition of the tragedy that Israel has become for all of us. Finally, I hope that it will eventually become possible for Israel to live in peace with its neighbors. It might need to build walls on all of its borders, to prevent inflammatory raids such as the one that has triggered the current tragedy. It will need to rebuild strong relationships with its Arab neighbors. It will need to learn how to let bygones be bygones, and to realize that peace cannot be created until Israel itself is willing to stop fighting and humiliating its neighbors. I hope Israel will never end up being destroyed, but I fear that as their enemies' missiles and warheads get larger and larger, Israel will become more and more endangered. I do not know if Israel will survive in the long run, or if it will ever be what David Ben-Gurion and Albert Einstein hoped and dreamed it would be.