BALANCING ISRAEL

Nick Fuentes has been laying it down on the subject of Israel.  I prefer to avoid labels, but it hard to avoid the debate over Zionism.  It is at the heart of the vitriol over Israel.  Nick Fuentes has called out many folks who sound like “Zionists” and accused them of not being “America First” in their hearts and in their souls.  His accusation is clear.  You cannot be America First and Israel First as the same time.  He calls out people like Josh Hammer and Mark Levin as people who are pushing Americans to be Israel First,  America  Second.  That is where the fire fight starts.   He has immediately been accused of being an anti-semite.  The likes of Josh Hammer fail to recognize that friends and supporters can also be critics.  Yes, Josh, we can.  Nonetheless, he will continue to attack friends who have issues with Israel as anti-semites.  That is unfortunate.

This apparent inability to recognize that Israel can make mistakes, get things wrong and otherwise do things not in their nation’s own best interests constitutes a big blind spot on their part.

So, we, the audience, are being treated to a pass-the-popcorn moment while this fight appears to get louder.  What is the resolution to this fight?  It is not unlike a drunk admitting he has a drinking problem, or a gambler who is deep in debt recognizing he has a gambling problem.   So long as the Israel First crowd cannot admit their flaws this conflict will only continue.  Worse, they may begin to alienate a large number of supporters if they insist on this intolerance.

So, what is the balance?  We are still confused by the fog of propaganda on both sides.  Who will win the prize as the bigger victim?  There comes a point where who-started-it-first becomes irrelevant.  We are long past that point.

Moreover, there is a long list of accusations and counter-accusations to work through is there is to be a real resolution.  The lies have to be called out for what they are.  The facts need to be laid bare for the world to see.

If anything, the increasingly shrill sounds of the Israel First crowd only hurt themselves.  Steve Bannon has made it very clear that, on this subject too, the Americans “have had a belly full of it.”

The main problem with “balancing” Israel is that it may turn out that a lot of the strategic thinking of the Israeli government is eventually self-destructive.  Some people see this, some do not.  Until the Israeli government understands the need for a more nuanced approach to building international support, that balance will remain elusive.