One Thanksgiving during college, my father told us that though we criticize many of the United States’s policies and actions, we should never forget that we live in the greatest country in the world: a country that pioneered and sustains religious and civic freedom, political equality, tolerance and democracy. His point was that criticism and appreciation should go hand in hand, and that we should not forget one when we engage in the other.
The same problem often occurs when American Jews discuss Israel and its policies: people try to replace or counteract criticism of Israel by noting its contributions to the Middle East and the world. In the past decade or so, the “pro-Israel” community has engaged in a re-branding campaign aimed at portraying Israel not as a conflict zone but as a tropical country with a burgeoning high-tech sector, beautiful women, a democratic government and a wealth of sacred sites. One such effort is this recent video by UCLA’s Bruins for Israel:
Without debating its individual points, the video’s message is clear: we should recognize all of the amazing things that have come out of Israel and everything Israel has done to help the world. Perhaps the video’s producers did not mean to send an implicit political statement, though I suspect that the soundtrack of Matisyahu’s “Jerusalem” belies that claim. Even so, if the video was meant only to increase cultural appreciation of Israel, that’s fine.
We should remember, though, that cultural appreciation has very little to do with political policy and military conflict. The two exist simultaneously and to relate them is to compare apples and oranges. Israeli technologists invented the cellphone and Intel chip. Israeli soldiers occupy the West Bank. Israeli doctors saved countless lives in Haiti. The ultra-Orthodox command disproportionate power in Israel’s government. Israel provides relatively excellent protection for its queer community. Palestinian Israelis attend underfunded schools. Every sentence of the above six is true, and no one of them negates another.
Those who identify as Zionists should be proud of Israel’s myriad cultural, technological and international humanitarian achievements but they should not use those achievements as a pretext for dismissing criticism of Israeli policy and actions. By the same token, those who find fault with Israel’s government and military should not use that criticism to diminish the importance of Israel’s contributions to the world.
Like any country, Israel does good things and Israel does bad things. Those who care deeply about Israel will be prouder of its successes and more bothered by its failures. And that’s the point: we can be bothered and proud at the same time. We can cry tears of joy when we see Israeli doctors in Haiti and tears of rage when we see the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. As people we have the ability to feel two conflicting feelings at once, to appreciate something in spite of its flaws and to find flaws in something we appreciate. Let’s not forget that emotional capacity when it comes to the country we care about so much.
