Thirty-five

Today Justin and I came as close as we probably ever will to having a quarrel.

He chose the subject of our conversation, as usual, and for some reason he chose Israel. He claimed Israel is held to an unrealistically high standard of behavior, higher than that of other nations. I said that, on the contrary, Israel is allowed to behave in ways that would be condemned in any other nation because officially Christian nations feel guilty for having persecuted Jews in the past, and especially for standing by and doing nothing while the Nazis murdered Europe's Jews, so they now stand by and do nothing while Israel persecutes the Palestinians.

Justin didn't disagree. He never disagrees with me. I might respect him if he did. 

He conceded that Israel is breaking international law by expanding into Palestinian territory, but claimed it had to do so because it's surrounded by enemies and must protect itself. I said the Israeli army is the most powerful in the ME. In every war it's fought with an Arab nation, even coalitions of Arab nations that fielded numerically superior armies, Israel won easily. Justin conceded this as well, but still insisted everything Israel does is justified by its need to protect itself.

I don't know why he supports Israel so uncritically. We've never discussed religion, but he's mocked religious fundamentalists from time to time, Muslim as well as Christian, so I assumed that, like me, he's an atheist. Perhaps he's one of those nonbelieving Jews who make up for their apostasy by believing in Israel. Faith in ein Volk, ein Reich und ein Führer has replaced faith in Gott for every fascist, and everyone's a fascist now.
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