There is a natural human desire to be loved by people, to be accepted as one of them, to live in the hub of the main society rather than exist on the fringes. We search for acceptance through social media, as in how many “friends” we have or how many Facebook “likes” did we get.
***Damn – I hope this gets a few!! Please like me!!***
But the problem with this approach is that it works in the complete opposite way when it comes to Israel.
Because in Israel, the social acceptance rules just don’t apply.
There is a strange level of comfort in the fact there are certain people around the world who despise me or despise Israel.
And the reason is not because I want to be hated, or vilified, or rejected. Nobody wants that, but it’s because of the people who are doing the hating, vilifying and rejecting.
We have just witnessed one of the most horrific acts of Islamic terrorism in Orlando, when a Muslim man, who thought he was acting for the will of Allah, decided to butcher 50 innocent people for no other reason that his sick demented teachings.
We also just witnessed some more Islamic terrorism when two terrorists thought it was their Holy duty to butcher 4 people eating cheesecake in a café in Tel Aviv.
We’ve seen constant stabbing attacks against innocent Israelis by Arab kids, indoctrinated since birth to hate the Jews and kill them wherever they can find them.
But what most of these acts have in common is that the parties involved aspire to a doctrine of extreme intolerance, religious supremacy, and hatred for others who do not share their views.
Israel has enemies – many of them. But being an enemy of people who espouse hatred and intolerance and genocide is not a bad thing. It’s a good thing, because it means you stand up for a principle that is poisonous to their philosophy and ideology. It means that you represent the complete opposite of their oppressive, genocidal intentions. You are the good Ying to their bad Yang. And if some of the worst regimes in history such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, ISIS and much of the rest of the Arab world hate you, that’s something to hold up as a badge of honor. Because let’s face it – do you really want to be loved by people who throw gay men off the top of buildings? Do you really want to be loved by people who name city squares and honor people who murder children? Do you really want to be accepted by those who hold down women in the street and chop off their heads while their victims protest their innocence?
People say that you need to build bridges with your enemy for better understanding, but there is no current bridge big enough to cover the abyss that exists between Israel and her enemies, and although situations occur that mean at times you need to work with countries whose values might run counter to yours, it doesn’t mean they suddenly love you or you love them. Perhaps in time that gap will become smaller, but for that to happen the more moderate voices, which do exist, need to make themselves heard. But for now it’s simply unbridgeable.
Israel, while not perfect, holds to certain principles and values that cause its enemies to hate and despise it, but when you look at who those enemies are, it’s nothing to feel bad about. Because until those enemies start to embrace a culture of tolerance, rather than hatred, then you might as well continue to say: Hate Israel a little more. Please. You’re only destroying yourself.
Israel will remain a shining ray of light to the darkness that wants to smother it.
