Israel: Perfectly Imperfect.
My friend was rear-ended last week.
I know he’s not perfect, and has occasionally told an off-color joke, and when he was seven, he stole a chocolate bar from CVS. But he was parked and so he shouldn’t be blamed for the damage caused to the car that hit him.
A bodega was being robbed last week, but my cousin tackled the robber as he was making his escape.
My cousin is not perfect, and holds views I find reprehensible, like believing in a balanced budget.
He is a registered Republican and voted for Trump. But he should not be held responsible for the cut on the arm the robber suffered when he was tackled. He helped stop a crime.
You’ve probably never heard anyone preface a defense of a person with a list of their flaws. We all understand that every human being is, well … human, and we hold divergent views.
We make mistakes.
But when someone is being unfairly attacked, we don’t start by reciting their faults, because they are irrelevant. And to the extent that these “faults” are just differences of opinion, they are not faults - but rather part of the panoply of differences that makes society vibrant and allows for growth and progress.
Yet numerous, well meaning defenders of Israel feel compelled to begin their support with a disclaimer: “I know Israel isn’t perfect, but…” . Who cares if Israel is not perfect? Is any person or nation perfect? Why is this relevant? There is a pathological insecurity in the way many Jews defend Israel—one that leads them to preemptively undermine it, offering up caveats and criticisms that are entirely beside the point. Worse, these disclaimers dilute and often sabotage the very defense they are trying to mount.
Sam Harris – I am glad you support Israel. But beginning your argument with “no religion based state should exist” is not only parochial (and inapplicable to Israel, a secular democracy) but creates a false narrative that undermines Israel to the audience you hope to reach.
The Liberal Jew – Thank you for supporting Israel. Truly. But opening with “Israel is imperfect because it’s run by the most extreme right wing government in history” is first, an opinion, and ignores the democratic legitimacy of that government. Second, it implies that Israel is governed by dangerous extremist, making it appear unworthy of support. That is both unfair and unhelpful
How many so-called “defenses” of Israel begin with apologies for perceived imperfections such as its (nonexistent) “genocidal right wingers,” “horrible Bibi” (who, when not being compared to Hitler, is deemed to be the reincarnation of Mussolini), or the “lunatic settlers”, where 500,000 Israelis are condemned for the acts of a tiny fringe. Is this how we really stand up for a country we claim to love:
If the conversation is concerning our thoughts and recommendations for building an even better Israel for its citizens and the Jewish people great - Let’s have that conversation—though hopefully without importing the toxic, absolutist rhetoric that’s poisoned American political discourse and, sadly, has long afflicted even the Zionist movement.
But when defending Israel - DEFEND ISRAEL - without indulging in performative humility to gain approval from the non-Jewish world that will never love us. Israel is not a utopia composed of angels but rather a nation composed of human beings. But it is not a nation like any other.
In its short, miraculous existence, Israel has shown a sick and depraved world what morality, courage, and justice look like. It is the fulfillment of our prophets’ dreams—a light unto the nations—though most refuse to see that light.
As the song goes:
Israel
All of me loves all of you.
Even with your perfect imperfections.
 | A guest post by
|
Guilty as charged. Thank you for the mirror into our collective (and my personal) Achilles heel. I wonder if it’s because we (Diaspora Jews more than Israelis?) still haven’t shrugged off millennia of toxic shame, or because our tradition teaches us to consider both sides of an argument, as if to say, “while it’s true, on the one hand, that we’re imperfect, it’s also true that we prefer not to be massacred.” It’s ridiculous, regardless, and I will try my best not to do it anymore.
It's only Jews who feel the need to attack the very people they defend. I've never heard a Muslim or left-winger say, "I'm pro-Palestinian, but of course I reject Hamas' terrorism and violence against civilians."
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we undermine our own arguments? Are Jews so filled with shame before non-Jews? Or can we not whole-heartedly love each other, to the extent we can't defend each other against outsiders without launching into a litany of criticism first?