Why Do Many Jews Defend Israel?

Why Do Many Jews Defend Israel?

First of all, not all Jews defend Israel. There are Jews who not only do not defend Israel but actually say that there should not be a state of Israel.

Getting back to the question in the title, many Jews defend Israel because to them, Israel is the refuge of last resort.

After 3000 years of Jew hatred and Jew persecution including: kidnapping, raping, torturing, mass-murdering, expulsion and confiscation of property, many Jews have concluded that, while life may seem to be safe and enjoyable in the Diaspora, Jews should never feel totally safe. Having a last resort sanctuary is a good thing to have. That is the purpose of Israel.

A big problem of critics of Israel is their (willful) ignorance of the history of Israel.

From the moment of Israel's founding in 1948, Israel has been under attack, first by its Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq and subsequently by Arafat's thugs, Hamas, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist gangs.

Over the 58 years of Israel's existence, 22,000 Israelis have lost their lives due to these attacks. To clarify the significance of this number, if the United States had suffered proportionately over the last 58 years, we would have lost over 2,000,000 Americans.

When you consider how the United States reacted to the loss of 3,000 on 9/11, Israel's reaction to the constant attacks it has suffered, appears to be focussed, self-protective, not punitive and comparatively mild.

So, when people set out to criticize Israel, it would be really nice if they gave careful thought to the provocation that preceded the raids into Gaza and the West Bank and especially the building of the wall. When these critics ignore the criminal acts performed against Jews in Israel and criticize only the Israeli response, they are lying by omission - they are unfairly attacking the Jews' last sanctuary - they are exhibiting their hatred of all Jews - they are anti-Semites.

Jews have learned through bitter experience that unless Jews quickly and thoroughly discredit Jew-hating talk and writing, it invariably leads to acts of violence against Jews. Jews who strongly criticize Carter's book are not biased or paranoid, they are simply remembering the history of Jew-hatred and are trying to prevent the repetition of persecution of Jews.

If what they are doing is wrong, what do you offer as an alternative?