Letter to my Ex

My ex-girlfriend works for a company that sells organic produce over the internet. She told me the other day that this company flags up all produce which originates in Israel. I told her that this was wrong, if they didn't do it for other countries. She disagreed and said something along the lines of "well some people feel passionately about the situation there".

Well I don't really feel passionately about the Israel situation but I am at a loss to understand why some people do not see Israel's plight. I am open to peoples' views on Israel's policy blunders and even their crimes (which government has a clean slate after all?) but for goodness sake, it is not difficult to see that Israel faces the trickiest situation out of the democracies. So I wrote her this letter:

Ok Miss W, let me explain to you, as briefly as possible, why Israel deserves your support.

Hamas

Currently holds the majority of seats in the Palestinian govt. Here is their charter. Contains such gems as:

The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree

Hamas, it goes without saying, want to establish an Islamic republic, or Caliphate - not a society best known for good treatment of women. They are responsible for numerous suicide attacks as well as kidnappings and shootings. They consider Israel to be a "militarised" society and therefore do not think it criminal to target civilians. Hamas was formed by the Gaza wing of the Muslim Brotherhood who, according to Wikipedia, "is often regarded by experts as the source of all modern jihadi terrorism".

Fatah

Known by some as the "moderate" Palestinian party. However, they have been responsible for the creation of groups such as Black September and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who can hardly be described as moderate. Fatah are the main opposition party in Palestine after being defeated in elections by Hamas in 2005.

Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a political party in Lebanon and one of their objectives is the destruction of Israel. They are responsible for indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and have been accused of committing war crimes against Israel by Amnesty International. They may be responsible for the 1983 suicide attack which left almost 300 American and French marines dead. It is possible that they are responsible for child abuse in the form of recruiting child soldiers. They are funded by Iran.
On a less impartial note, I thoroughly recommend that you read Michael Totten's blog. An American photojournalist who has witnessed first hand the destruction that Hezbollah has brought to Lebanon. Posts in August 2006, the month after the Israel - Hezbollah war are particularly relevant.

Iran

The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is a Holocaust denier, has recently been quoted as saying that he would like to see Israel " wiped off the map". Ahmadinejad's regime has recently been involved in far right activities such as the repression of unions, academics, gays and women. As mentioned previously, Iran directly sponsors and trains the military wing of Hezbollah and are also believed to be involved in the funding of Hamas.

Now, of course you can scrutinise this and come to your own conclusions but my overall point is not that Israel is beyond criticism. No nation state can be said to have a clear moral runway and Israel is no exception. However, they are a small democracy with a large minority of ethnicities other than Jews who enjoy rights and freedoms that only those fortunate enough to live in the West experience. They are surrounded by groups (and I'm fairly certain that my list is not definitive) who are hell bent on their destruction. Are they not allowed to try and preserve their status as a pluralist state?

More importantly, can you possibly afford to be seen to be supportive of (or even indifferent towards) the aforementioned thugs, who hold death and criminality as primary objectives in their ideologies?

God, and I didn't even mention the fact that those crazy fuckers in Iran are building a bomb!