Israel

Call me an apologist. Call me skeptical. But do not call me a Republican Party reptile.

The recent events with Israel has been making a lot of headlines lately when they raided a Turkish flotilla and a couple of activists ended up getting killed. Essentially, these activists have been blocked from Gaza since Israel shut down the border to prevent any terrorists being able to funnel any type of contraband into the country. Duly noted. I understand the reasoning why they have done this and the logic behind the raid. What may be an impossible feat for me is to prove a negative; that is, if Israel would not be so heavy handed with its neighbors, would there be a need for all of this military action? Interesting question, but impossible to ever know for sure.

Riding to work, I'm quietly spatting the local talk show host cheering all things Israel. He is in full swing into his circular reasoning and logic as to answering the question "Why does the United States support Israel?" "Well," he goes on to say, "The United States is a friend and ally with Israel and always has been. Friends stick up for each other. The neighbors of Israel want its destruction and has the same intentions for the United States." I'm very ambivalent to someone's decision to support something controversial with little or no thought behind what drove them to make the decision. Then when questioned about the contention, they shift the premise in a circular fashion that leaves one begging the question as they respond to each premise they are questioned about.

Look guys, let's be honest here.

(a)The Jews have had a very difficult history throughout the period of the world- lest people forget how Christians were also persecuted for their faith for hundreds of years.

(b)The state of Israel is not a democracy, they are a socialist and racist country. Again, let's be honest here! Just because a country has democratic elections, does not make the government as it functions from day to day, democratic. 93% of the land in Israel is owned by the government, has a healthful and generous welfare state among other things.

(c) The state of Israel has taken it upon themselves to create enemies they never would have otherwise have due to their reckless retribution. A good example is Lebanon. Israel leveled that country by destroying property and killing innocents. But they did get a few of the terrorists that were firing RPG's at them...

What all of these examples are boiling down to is the ability to ask yourself had this been another country doing this, would we have tolerated it? Probably not. Every day that I read another story about more shenanigans pulled by Israel, the more I am of the mind to let them stick up for themselves and sleep in the bed that they are making.

Now to be objective, I do need to admit that Israel has had it tough from the start. They have had to deal with murder of their people and fanatical Muslims who would do anything to inflict pain and horror onto the Israeli people. At times, they have tried to be humane by allowing the free flow of people into and out of Israel only for some coffee shop to go up in flames somewhere in Tel Aviv. Unsuspecting regular people being murdered simply because they were in the midst of a regional issue larger than themselves.

I am very skeptical of the actions of Israel and I am of the belief that every day they continue with these heavy handed, reckless responses to true threats, they are making more enemies in the region. They believe this will deter the enemy. My belief is that it emboldens the enemy into more extreme fanaticism; that is, the radicals are validated by what they have told their young, impressionable people looking to join a movement based on scripture. In the mind of a terrorist, they think of themselves as pious because of the fact that they are doing God's will.

From all of the experiences from the past, I can say with confidence that ultimately killing begets more killing and it doesn't stop until someone is eradicated. Let us just be honest and admit this simple fact to ourselves. It will be at this point that we can answer "Why do we support Israel?" with reason and logic.