Daily Alert Archives

Why Is Israel Judged Differently?

(Middle East Quarterly) Shale Horowitz - As Israel celebrates its 75th anniversary, it remains the only state in the world that is constantly threatened with extinction by immediate and more remote neighbors. The Jewish state is often chastised when it responds in strength to acts of aggression, remaking the victim into an aggressor, while there is a tolerant international attitude to countless conflicts that involve far harsher and more indiscriminate use of force in response to far lesser threats. Israel has never sought to conquer and destroy the surrounding Arab states even as they sought its destruction. Ironically, it was only after Israel relinquished control of 95% of the West Bank and Gaza's Palestinian population by 1997 that terrorism in these territories spiraled to unprecedented heights. In the two-and-a-half decades preceding the Oslo accords, some 400 Israelis were murdered; since the conclusion of these "peace" agreements, over 1,700 Israelis were murdered, and another 10,000 wounded. Israel's enemies must be challenged to name a single state that has acted better in similar circumstances. They must also be asked to explain why the Jewish state alone is persistently subjected to such double standards while far more brutal states are given a free reign. The writer is a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
2023-04-13 00:00:00
Full Article