When I'm in discussions that find their way to the issues surrounding Israel and her relationships with her neighbors generally, and the Palestinians in particular, I find I often bemuse those I'm talking to because they're unsure of whether I'm "pro-Israel" or "pro-Palestinian". In imitation of Half Sigma (and correspondingly in a nod to my pseudonym), my position is as follows.
Israel's survival instincts are admirable. As an American, I can only dream of having a federal government as committed to the well-being of the nation as Israel's is. In terms of human capital and the existence of a functioning liberal, market-based society, Israel is bar none in the region. If I was randomly jettisoned somewhere in MENA, by God's good graces I'd land in Haifa or Tel Aviv. When self-righteous media types pay homage to the "international community's" alleged Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinians, it makes me root a little harder for the Jewish state. The Palestinians are apparently world's perpetual basket cases, a real life illustration of what the rest of the non-Israeli middle eastern and north African populations would look like without oil and, to a lesser extent, tourism.
But Israel's concerns are not our own. The Great Iranian War Machine is hardly a menance to the US. Iran's population is 25% of ours, and its purchasing power parity per capita is also 25% of ours. Thus, its PPP is one-sixteenth of our own. While they were, as of 2006, devoting 2.5% of their economic output on military spending, we were expending 4.06% of our much larger output on the same. If Israel deems Iran an existential threat, well, it has an estimated 200 nuclear weapons at its disposal. And I, like so many others on the alternative right, are perpetually irritated by the influence of groups like AIPAC and the ADL on US policy decisions.
In short, if I were an Israeli, I'd be supporting exactly what Israel is doing. But I'm not, so I oppose what is being done against my own national interests on behalf of Israel's even while my sympathies are with her.
Israel's survival instincts are admirable. As an American, I can only dream of having a federal government as committed to the well-being of the nation as Israel's is. In terms of human capital and the existence of a functioning liberal, market-based society, Israel is bar none in the region. If I was randomly jettisoned somewhere in MENA, by God's good graces I'd land in Haifa or Tel Aviv. When self-righteous media types pay homage to the "international community's" alleged Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinians, it makes me root a little harder for the Jewish state. The Palestinians are apparently world's perpetual basket cases, a real life illustration of what the rest of the non-Israeli middle eastern and north African populations would look like without oil and, to a lesser extent, tourism.
But Israel's concerns are not our own. The Great Iranian War Machine is hardly a menance to the US. Iran's population is 25% of ours, and its purchasing power parity per capita is also 25% of ours. Thus, its PPP is one-sixteenth of our own. While they were, as of 2006, devoting 2.5% of their economic output on military spending, we were expending 4.06% of our much larger output on the same. If Israel deems Iran an existential threat, well, it has an estimated 200 nuclear weapons at its disposal. And I, like so many others on the alternative right, are perpetually irritated by the influence of groups like AIPAC and the ADL on US policy decisions.
In short, if I were an Israeli, I'd be supporting exactly what Israel is doing. But I'm not, so I oppose what is being done against my own national interests on behalf of Israel's even while my sympathies are with her.
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