Illegal Israel?

Since the IDF's operation into Gaza, some of my friends fended off comments about Israel's right to exist and the "maliciousness of Zionism."

Here's one excellent rebuttal:

As usual, the anti-Israeli arguments go something like this:

1. They're Jews, and you know how they love to influence the US Government

2. Haven't we lived with Holocaust guilt long enough (this, of course, is only operative if the Holocaust is even acknowledged as a historical fact)

3. Israel may have held a position of strategic benefit for the United States in the Cold War, but now they don't.

4. America supported Israel at its creation, and Israel only exists because of that support.

5. Israel continues to persecute Palestinians over land that Israel stole from them.

6. Hey, even some Jews don't agree with Israel.

Therefore, that deligitimizes Israel's right to even exist.And as usual, each of the these represents the moral equivalence and intellectual laziness of the left:

1. So what if they're Jews. That makes not a lick of difference. The Congressional Black Caucus is a lobby for African-Americans. The NAACP does this too. They are infinitely larger and more influential in the US than AIPAC. By this logic, we must expunge all financial aid for inner city youth and strike down all the unfairly-influenced civil rights legislation of the last 60 years.

2. Yes, we've all lived with Holocaust guilt long enough. Just like I am no longer obliged to apologize for any of my ancestors who may have held a back man in bondage in the early 19th century. But we had better not forget the lessons of 1933-1945. And in 1948, this was all any nation required to openly support the new State of Israel. They required NO clinical strategical calculus, no cost-benefit analysis of who would be nearer to the oil supply or not, whose allies were whose. Don;t get me wrong, every country did these things, but it was enough that Israel was created as an internationally-recognized haven for the Jewish people.. Whoops...did I say internationally-recognized? I sure did. Despite there being NO international legal requirement for the United Nations to approve of Israel declaring itself a nation, this international body did so with a General Assembly resolution in 1947.

3. It is an absolute truth that Israel does not occupy the same caliber of strategic importance to the US in the Middle East that it did during the Cold War. But neither does Germany, S. Korea, or Canada, for that matter. But where is the call for us to "re-think" our policy vis-a-vis Germany and Canada? Obviously it's not there and for very good reasons. Yes, that's plural. The aforementioned clinical strategic calculation is only one reason. The same moral force that led President Truman to support Israel not only remains today, it is actually more clear than ever. We may take issue with those instances when Israel steps over the line in the conduct of war, but just like in this country, they rountinely tear themselves apart politically debating this very thing. What do the Palestinian and radical Arabs discuss.......how best to eliminate Israel. If this difference is not clear, the degree of blurriness corresponds to the degree of intellectual laziness (read: moral equivalence).

4. Fact: America supported Israel at its creation. Fact: Israel would have had a tough time maintaining existence without this support (but by no means impossible). This too is immaterial to the present discussion. But since it is a favorite anti-Israel argument (see above intellectual laziness), lets us take it to the proper conclusion. Fact: France supported the rebellious American colonies against Britain. Fact: The United States would be nether "united" nor "states" without France. You cannot use this argument without acknowledging and applying it equally. But since the response is likely to be, "well, that was different!!" Lets look at that too. The colonies were legitimate provinces of the English crown in rebellion against their lawful government. By what right dis those colonies claim independence, and by what right did France support them? Israel, by contrast, existed as an independent people under UN mandate that was subsequently approved for independent statehood by that very same body and recognized by the majority of existing sovereign nations. Yes, I'm afraid that Israel has more of a "right" to exist as a country than the United States!!! (please, no hate mail, I'd sign the Declaration too if I beamed into Philly on 02 June 1776).

5. As for all that land the Israelis "stole," this falls under the also-recognized international right of self-defense and conquest. Israel gained this land while at war defending itself from attacks in contravention of existing international law. There is, however, something to be said for how Israel treated many of the people it found in these lands, but that is but a small issue compared to the big ones.6. Ans Charles Lindbergh didn't agree with helping the British against the Nazis. But thankfully, he was only one American (and a misguided one at that).