Like everyone with the unfortunate habit of following current events, I am left trying to form an opinion on the current violence between Israel and (nominally) Hezbollah.
I think I have always been inclined to be sympathetic to Israel, but these days I find myself questioning that inclination--more specifically, questioning why I had it in the first place. Is it because of my protestant upbringing, in which the idea of the Jews as "God's chosen people" was a theological cornerstone? Is it because I feel some sort of vague collective Western guilt about the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and laughing every time Cartman cracks on Kyle? Is it because I admire the culture and values of the Jewish friends I've made over the years? Is it because I respect the tenacity it took the Zionists to build a modern state in a stateless and hostile land?
Is it becuase I just don't find much to admire in those that who proclaim the destruction of Israel as their goal?
Perhaps it is all of these. The thing is, the existance of Israel as a Jewish state--indeed, as the Jewish state--I think has served to conflate and confuse the identity of the Jewish people with the State of Israel. This point ought to be obvious: opposition to Israeli policy is no more hostility to the Jewish people than opposition to American policy is hostility to Americans.
The news coming out of the Middle East these days is difficult for me to interpret as anything other than a callous disregard for innocents (on both sides of the border) on the part of the Israeli government. That Hezbollah is no better is irrelevant. If Israel wishes to be a modern, liberal state alongside the great nations of the world--you know, the ones that value life and liberty, albeit to varying degrees and through ideologically diverse mechanisms--then it simply has to aspire to be better.
(And so--by the way--does the United States.)
Alliances are dangerous things. Right now the U.S. ought to be feeling like the guy at the redneck bar with his friend who's just had too much to drink, and is itching for a fight with the motorcycle gang over by the pool table. The prudent thing to do is to get him out of there, if you can manage it, because you know there's no reasoning with the bikers.
The next best thing, of course, is to get the hell out and let him take his licks. Because if he knows you don't have his back unconditionally, maybe he'll think twice about picking the fight next time.
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Israel is where I break with my rank and file conservative friends because I simply do not believe that American policy should be so heavily influenced by any foreign country.
By the same token I can hardly blame their reaction considering the stated goal of the people they are fighting is "destruction of Israel."
Conversely the West simply hasn't given more than lip service to either the legitimate land claims or the capailities for sentient behavior in Arabs and Muslims of the region.
While on the other hand the Muslim world has used America and Israel as their excuse for being failures about a hundred times too often.
And when I sum these perverse equations what I come up with is this: No one has been able to fix this region in 6000 years and no one is ever going to fix this region. Ever. The fighting won't stop, and our taking one side or the other will be meaningless to eternity.
This is their life. They live for this. Leave them alone.
Let them duke it out. Israel should quit when counter-aggression ceases and their soldiers are returned safely. Let's not get involved until we're attacked. I'm growing weary of being the world police pre-emptive war strike team (fuck yeah!). Besides, we have our hands in too many pots already.
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