I'm Not Dying To Save You

Over the last few days I have seen a number of Jews, who purport to care about the well-being of the State of Israel, criticize Israel over the civilian casualties in Gaza, despite the fact that Israel made extraordinary efforts to minimize such casualties, unprecedented in the history of warfare. They said that it would be better to avoid any military response at all (since it inevitably results in some civilian casualties, no matter how much effort is taken to minimize them) and simply rely on Iron Dome. They bemoaned how Israel's actions will result in sanctions and loss of aid to Israel. 

Such attitudes are, at best, utterly stupid. Iron Dome is only about 90% effective, which is why Israelis still had to rush to bomb shelters, and several people were nevertheless killed. And the rockets don't only exact a price in terms of human life and physical injury - the psychological damage, especially to children, is immense. Furthermore, there is enormous economic cost. And that's all with Israel attacking and neutralizing the rocket launchers and terrorist infrastructure. If Israel did nothing at all, the attacks would go on forever! No country could possibly survive that way. 

Furthermore, for Israel to send a message that "We will not defend the lives and well-being of our citizens if this causes loss of civilian life in hostile regimes" would be announcing its death sentence. Hezbollah would immediately launch its own arsenal at Israel, which is vastly more powerful than that of Hamas.

What about the political cost of Israel's military campaign? Yes, that's certainly a serious matter, and it's precisely what unfortunately forces Israel to end its campaigns before thoroughly neutralizing the threats. But the political damage is far, far less than the damage that would be suffered if Israel simply did not respond to attacks on its cities. (And fortunately there are still some sensible political leaders and parties who understand the necessity of Israel's actions and do not suffer from Judeopathy.)

So, considering that expecting Israel not to do anything is so stupid and dangerous, why would Jews who purportedly care about Israel expect such a thing? I think that I figured out the answer. 

One of these people, who claimed to care about Israel more than those who actually live there (!!!), said that he wants to avoid the "shame and embarrassment" of Israel being a pariah state. I think that's what it's all about. Certain people have a very strong sense of identity as liberal Westerners. They hashtag Black Lives Matter. They abhor absolutely everything that Trump ever did. They are progressives, through and through. For such people, it's deeply embarrassing for their own sense of identity to be associated with a country whose actions are being condemned by their political bedfellows. (And it's unthinkable for them to politically support those who acknowledge Israel's right to defend itself.)

I can understand that this is embarrassing. But don't expect me to compromise the safety and well-being of my family and neighbors in order to save you from embarrassment. Frankly, it's revolting to even ask it.

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