I woke up this morning and looked at the news. You know what? I don’t want to write about Israel. I’ve already said what needs to be said. Whether you oppose Israel’s policies or you support them, you need to step out of the American conversation and look at things clearly. Try looking at things this way for just a moment:
Indeed, the parallels between Israel and — gulp — North Korea are becoming pretty eerie. True, Israel’s economy is thriving and North Korea’s is not. That said, both countries are diplomatically isolated except for their ties to a great power benefactor. Both countries are pursuing autarkic policies that immiserate millions of people. The majority of the populaion in both countries seem blithely unaware of what the rest of the world thinks. Both countries face hostile regional environments. Both countries keep getting referred to the United Nations. And, in the past month, the great power benefactor is finding it more and more difficult to defend their behavior to the rest of the world.
The American conversation doesn’t see this. It is almost totally blind to it. Israel is not North Korea. There is nothing in North Korea worth preserving or fighting for. Its regime and its ideology are irredeemable. But, as far as world opinion goes, Israel is not far removed from North Korea. Even Israel’s refusal to sign the non-proliferation treaty puts them in a small club that includes North Korea. Israel is getting a lot of good advice from people who want the best for them. But it’s up to the American government (and its people) to demand that Israel begins taking that advice, because it is quite evident that they will not do so willingly.
