Israel Without Clichés

[dtotire]

Israel Without Clichés
By TONY JUDT
Published: June 9, 2010


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10judt.html?ref=opinion

THE Israeli raid on the Free Gaza flotilla has generated an outpouring of clichés from the usual suspects. It is almost impossible to discuss the Middle East without resorting to tired accusations and ritual defenses: perhaps a little house cleaning is in order.

No. 1: Israel is being/should be delegitimized

Israel is a state like any other, long-established and internationally recognized. The bad behavior of its governments does not “delegitimize” it, any more than the bad behavior of the rulers of North Korea, Sudan — or, indeed, the United States — “delegitimizes” them. When Israel breaks international law, it should be pressed to desist; but it is precisely because it is a state under international law that we have that leverage.

Some critics of Israel are motivated by a wish that it did not exist — that it would just somehow go away. But this is the politics of the ostrich: Flemish nationalists feel the same way about Belgium, Basque separatists about Spain. Israel is not going away, nor should it. As for the official Israeli public relations campaign to discredit any criticism as an exercise in “de-legitimization,” it is uniquely self-defeating. Every time Jerusalem responds this way, it highlights its own isolation.

No. 2: Israel is/is not a democracy

Perhaps the most common defense of Israel outside the country is that it is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” This is largely true: the country has a constitution, an independent judiciary and free elections, though it also discriminates against non-Jews in ways that distinguish it from most other democracies today. The expression of strong dissent from official policy is increasingly discouraged.

But the point is irrelevant. “Democracy” is no guarantee of good behavior: most countries today are formally democratic — remember Eastern Europe’s “popular democracies.” Israel belies the comfortable American cliché that “democracies don’t make war.” It is a democracy dominated and often governed by former professional soldiers: this alone distinguishes it from other advanced countries. And we should not forget that Gaza is another “democracy” in the Middle East: it was precisely because Hamas won free elections there in 2005 that both the Palestinian Authority and Israel reacted with such vehemence.

more at link.

[sui generis]

1. therein lies the problem

"Some critics of Israel are motivated by a wish that it did not exist"

Unfortunately, and often right here on DU, ANY critic of Israel's public policy can end up attributed with being motivated by a wish that the state of Israel did not exist, which usually just ends up with nukes being flung, moderators deleting at will, and the general shutting down of the conversation.

Israel can't exist in its current form with its current policies and penchant for making and keeping enemies for another hundred years, if even another fifty years - that much is obvious. And shooting ships in international waters isn't making Israel any friends, and strains relationships with the allies it does have.

There is a nickel-zen saying that whatever you're doing is exactly enough to give you exactly what you have. If you want something different you have to do something different. If you want something better . . . .

[JuniperLea]

2. Then there are those of us who only want Israel to stop wishing others didn't exist...

I find it highly hypocritical to complain that someone wants you dead when all you do is try to kill another nation.

I want Israel to live, and I want Palestine to live. I want the fighting to stop... it's meaningless and useless unless Israel wants to go for the full monty and grab all the land clean up to the Euphrates... and even then, it would be wrong.

But when these non-"kill Israel" thoughts are expressed, we're called names and words are put into our mouths. It's bullshit.