As someone who loves Israel I sometimes wonder the morality behind my hard-line statements.  In this post I will only refer to myself, because each person who speaks their mind about Israel may have done things to help the Jewish state that I am not aware of even if on the surface they appear to be just like me, an opinionated person who supports aggressive response without being in the range of retaliatory missiles.   On top of that, I am not writing a post of judgment as much as I am putting a concept and question out there.

As rockets fly into Israel, no reasonable person questions Israel’s right to self-defense.  There is not a country on earth that would sit by and allow their territory and their people be attacked without a response.  But when this happens I will be one of the first to openly express my wish for Israel to crush the enemy.  I do not say this out of lack of respect for human life.  I say this out of respect for Jewish life that throughout the ages has been seen as expendable.  But I say these things from a comfortable chair and from a computer in New York City.  When Israel retaliates and missiles are fired all over Israel, I do not have to run for shelter.  I do not run the risk of being killed in the middle of the night and I will not be fighting on any front line if the war escalates.  Even as I believe the only way to combat this enemy is with stronger force and that Israel is 100% correct in handling it that way, one might say, as the phrase goes, “It’s easy for you to say David.”

No one has said this to me and I believe that Israelis appreciate the solidarity shown by supporters worldwide, but the question needs to be asked.  Do we have the right to encourage violence, albeit justified, even if we do not suffer any immediate consequences?  In a previous post I stated my belief that these missiles are aimed at all Jews. I still believe that.  However, that reality is still more conceptual than actual.  So in truth, as painful and disturbing as the situation is, compared to others, one might feel that it is easy for me to say.