Defending Israel’s Right to Exist — ad nauseum

Time to just stop the merry-go-round and get off! Just get off! Stop defending Israel’s right to exist!

Pro-Zionist / anti-Zionist / philosemite / antisemite / Islamophile / Islamophobe / pro-China / anti-China / neo-nazi / anti-nazi / pro-Palestinian / anti-Palestinian / left / right / up / down / over / around . . . enough!

These may be meaningful terms for individuals, but in the grand scheme of things they are nothing.

The only game in town is “Let’s Make a Deal” because the only thing that propels global affairs is one’s own self-interests. Whether the “one” is a nation or a huge corporation pressuring the nation, world politics and foreign affairs are determined by these entities making deals that seek to maximize the attainment of their own interests. Who can make the best deal for themselves? That is the only relevant issue.

‘The Deal’ was certainly not invented by Trump. It has always been that way. Interests can be defined in terms of money and power and these are usually the same thing. Control of natural resources translates into money and power. Control of land translates into money and power. Control over large populations translates into money and power.

Concerns over morality and ethics have never had much, if any, sway whether in the national or international domain. And if morality and ethics are served by any of the deals made, it is purely coincidental.

Appeals to morality and ethics emanate from the bleachers of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, the latter having more clout but the former making a very loud noise that seems to impress a lot of people around the world. Yet the hands raised or buttons pushed to vote for this or that resolution are based more on money and power than on what is right and good. The large number of abstentions attests to that; to abstain is to sit on the fence and let both sides claim you really support them but for some reason found it prudent not to make a big public fuss about it. And not to take a public moral stand is to declare that you have none.

All this talk about Israel having the right to defend her borders is absolute nonsense. Nobody cares. Just like nobody cares that the Kurdish or Yezidi peoples do not have sovereignty over their lands; just like nobody cares that Syria is potentially being washed down the drain. Nobody would care if Micronesia or Nauru were to disappear tomorrow – who even knows where they are on the map? The only reason I know of these two countries is because they can be counted on to vote with Israel and not against her. But why do they? Certainly not for altruistic or moral reasons but because their economies depend on the USA and Australia, respectively, and they vote with their benefactors. They vote their interests. As do all the other countries.

How would China respond if an international group of do-gooders arose to question China’s right to exist (with or without Tibet)? How would Somalia / Bangladesh / France / the UK / etc. / respond to questions concerning their right to exist and to defend their borders? If they deigned to dignify the question with a response, it would merely be with a scowl and a furled eyebrow that could only be interpreted as meaning that the person asking the question must be nuts.

Yet Israel is expected to justify her right to exist, to respond again and again to questions regarding her right to defend her population and to explain the legitimacy of the defensive actions taken when threatened by hostile neighbours. WE NEED TO JUST STOP DOING THIS.

We need to respond, instead, with the scowl and furled eyebrow that would face anyone questioning the legitimacy of any other country on Earth. That is the only self-respecting response to give.

Israeli Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu, fully understands that public rhetoric is one thing but that the real action is in the wings and back-stage. Now that Israeli interests overlap those of some countries who used to proclaim their unwillingness to ever accept the Jewish state, new alliances based on mutual interests are developing. It makes for an interesting near future.

But it also means that the tides can change again with the waxing and waning of the moon cycles. We can only hope that this cycle will be long enough for Israel to gain the natural legitimacy afforded to every other nation in the world and to cement it as an unquestionable feature of international relations.

Until then, if anyone challenges Israel’s right to exist or her right to defend herself, I will just scowl at them as if that was the stupidest thing in the world to say.