(Boston Globe) Jeff Jacoby - * America's longstanding solidarity with Israel suits most Americans just fine. U.S. policy tends to align closely with Israel's because Americans like Israel. They instinctively sympathize with Israel's fight for survival in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods. Americans recognize in Israeli society a modern liberal democracy - a country like their own. * With all its flaws, Israel has the freest and fairest political system in the Middle East and the only one that guarantees complete freedom of worship to Christians and Muslims. * Israel is an invaluable American ally - a stable and dependable base in a most unstable part of the globe. From military R&D to world-class intelligence services, from a deepwater port to sophisticated air facilities, from counterterrorist expertise to a solid democratic culture, Israel brings assets to its strategic relationship with the U.S. that few countries can match. * American history is deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian soil, nourishing a special kinship between America's Christians and the Jewish people. ''I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation," former President John Adams wrote in 1819. * Americans sympathize so strongly with the Israelis because both face a common enemy. Unlike Walt and Mearsheimer, who can find ''no moral basis" for taking Israel's side, most Americans make a clear moral distinction between suicide bombers and their victims.
2006-03-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive