Small Bits: On Israel

I’ve been writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a number of years now. I’ve been going back and reading what I wrote back in the 90’s. Everything I’ve ever said about this is still true today. I just never thought I’d ever see an American president stick a fork and knife into Israel and hand her over to her tormentors.

Some say we'd have gotten along just fine without Israel. As one who writes, I know that we are a product of the Judea-Christian tradition. Virtually every one of our literary references and metaphors can be traced back to the Bible. It is so engrained in us – so much a part of us – most of us are quite unaware of it (it’s like the eye not being able to see itself). Knock all that foundation out from under us – and we become nothing.

What we hold now to be so terribly important would simply blow away, like topsoil blowing away with the wind. Don’t say Israel is unimportant – when, in fact, Israel is us. Why would you think this tiny sliver of a country is so hard fought?

Many of us take the family to a movie on Sunday afternoons. Try being compelled by law to attend public hangings in the market square on Saturdays instead. That seems to be the idea of civic duty in some quarters. (Though, these days, it seems to work out to virtually the same thing.)

“It’s not one world,” the late, great Paul Harvey used to say.
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President Obama attempting to dismantle the very basis of our legitimacy as essential actors on the world stage. This has very little to do with the terms we use to describe things. Terms are often interchangeable. It has become clear to me that two distinct narratives have emerged within our nation that are not necessarily compatible. In effect, we are at war with ourselves.

The things discussed in the Bible are often dismissed as no longer relevant because it was written at a different time and spoke to those people in terms that only they could fully understand. We no longer use the same terms or concepts to describe things. (Even today, we run into endless problems when attempting simple translation.)

Today, we often use metaphors we learned in 9th grade science class. Throughout the long and arduous evolution of language, reality has remained essentially the same. Even, despite knowing that the world is round, our maps remain flat. It matters not how we express it. What I’m trying to say is that language is but a thin veneer, and time-sensitive to boot. The cultural heritage of any given people runs much deeper.

Unfortunately, Muslim aggression - and Western aggression (or influence) - is and has been a historical fact. The bone of contention right now is Israel. If there were no Israel, we would have to invent it. We must deal with the aggression, not curse the bone.

As for throwing everything into the pot, to see which one will sink or swim, quite apart from what may or may not be in our own self interest - this too will not work. There is no such thing as peace at ground level or above. Peace is only possible six feet under.

As long as we live, we must always be prepared to fight. If we succeed in keeping the fallout confined to foreign shores, so much the better for us. Nations know instinctively that they must protect themselves. Some make the strategic decision to ride on the coattails of others who might possess the means to protect them. In doing so, they give up a bit of their sovereignty. Others build great armies. It still is not clear to me which of these Israel aspires to.

Time is roughly divided into two-thirds peace and one-third war. Peace is merely the absence of war. War can sometimes be held at bay by fear. Either way, the illusion of power plays a role. This is why great nations build great armies that stand idle two-thirds of the time. It is hardly a waste.

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