Israel, The Good

Okay, so my 'All Israel, All The Time' day turned into 'Israel Once, Work The Rest Of The Time.' So, quickly, my thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly about Israel, vis-a-vis the Palestinian question.

First off, the good. Israel remains the only real ally that the U.S. has in the region, the only country where both the government and the populace is pro-American. Many of the governments in the Middle East are at least nominally pro-American, but we are finding out in Iraq that, if the populace is given a say, the government they put in power tends to not be so conducive to the ideals that we like to think are necessary for a free, modernized, democracy.

Israel, on the other hand, in the face of repeated, and as mentioned earlier, truly existential threats, has remained a free and open democracy for nearly 60 years now.

It is certainly worth mentioning that those Arabs who are Israeli citizens have full rights, more rights than Arabs in any other country in the Middle East possess.

Strategically, for the US, Israel has also been a helpful ally at times. In hockey, when the opponent's goon is out making trouble, you don't send out your best player to pick a fight. You send out your goon, the idea being that you keep your most talented players in the game. For a long time, Israel has been our goon in the Middle East, bombing the Osirak facilities in Iraq and conducting other operations on our behalf (if not openly so). This may or may not be a moral good, but it has certainly been to the strategic advantage of the US not to have to get so directly involved.