As an Israeli living in Canada, I defend Israel without hesitation. This is not because I am blind to its flaws, nor because I believe every action it takes is justified simply by virtue of being hers. I do so because I refuse to judge Israel in isolation from the reality in which it exists: a reality of terrorism, declared enemies, relentless incitement, and moral standards applied to almost no other nation on earth.

It is precisely outside of Israel that this distortion becomes most visible. In many Western circles, there is a clear expectation of the “proper” Israeli: to be, first and foremost, a critic of Israel. The harsher one’s condemnation, the more one is perceived as moral, enlightened, and intellectually honest, as if loyalty to one’s own people is itself morally suspicious.

I reject this premise.

There is a fundamental difference between blind loyalty and worthy loyalty. Blind loyalty denies flaws........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)