Why Israel?

The debate over whether or not to single out Israel for criticism is typically framed by two opposing notions. One is that Israel ought to judged by the same standards as every other nation in the region. If Iraq was invaded and devastated twice for breaking international law, occupying someone else's land, and was the subject of intense public and governmental scrutiny over the possible existence of weapons, why does Israel not only escape such a fate, but in fact even get rewarded each time it kills and destroys? Of course, neither Israel nor Iraq ought to be in the condition they are in. But clearly there is a glaring double standard at play.

On the other side is the continued call for Israeli exceptionalism. Here in the UK where there is lively debate about boycotting Israel the basic premise of the latter camp seems to be that Israel, if not treated as exceptional, will be engulfed by a sea of marauding, vengeful Arab peoples. In other words, Israel is always the victim, the weaker party, the one on the precipice. It can subjugate an entire people and deny their catastrophe while at the same time decry those who deny its own defining catastrophe, the Holocaust. It can kill and brutalise, such as in its most recent indiscriminant bombing campaign of Lebanon which left at least 1000 people dead and several more injured and the country in ruin. Israel's security has always been premised on a hypothetical (what if Iran gets the bomb?, what if Israel seizes to be a Jew-only state?, etc) while the security of the Palestinians and the Lebanese does not even rate a mention even though for them life and death is an all too gruesome reality and has been for decades.

Some people ask why do we always target Israel, why not Syria or Egypt or Tibet. The answer is quite simple. We didn't choose Israel, those in power did. It is they who chose to fund her like no other nation on earth with billions of unaccountable dollars every year, support her brutal occupation of Palestine, arm her to the teeth with the latest of weapons (how do hundreds of nuclear weapons, including in submarines, make Israel or anyone else safer?), and continue to provide unparalleled and unquestioning political support. No other nation on this planet is treated like this. No nation, not even your own, deserves to be treated like this.