when citizens of the united states of america express dismay, concern or outright disagreement with administration policies, philosophy, point of view or implemenation thereof, they are almost certain to find themselves and their observation dismissed out of hand as anti-american, unamerican or both.
it happens regardless of the validity, incisiveness or evidence provided in support. yet nothing is more essentially american than citizens contributing to the free exchange of ideas. the revolution that established our country was launched to assert our right to do exactly that. freedom to express even an extremely unpopular opinion is a core value of our national culture that's constitutionally proclaimed, consistently iterated and fiercely defended for more than two centuries.
so whats this got to do with the gaza strip?
today a huge crowd of iraeli citizens gathered to demand an end to the occupation of the gaza strip by several thousand settlers who refuse to relinquish the property they hold in gaza at great peril and expense to the rest of the country. whether they have a legal claim to their homesteads is not the issue here however (in other words, im not focusing on that issue).
what im wondering is this:
are those who marched last nite as well as the 70% of israelis who support returning the gaza strip to palestinean self-rule in order to help resolve the matter as a first substantial step towards an eventual end to 56 years of constant conflict guilty of anti-israeli or unisraeli thought or action?
if so, why?
if not, why not?
before you reflexively bring up the war on terror or military action in iraq and afghanistan, please take a moment to remember the combat in israel is being fought in their streets and neighborhoods. furthermore, it should be clear to even the most rabid nationalist that americans, like israelis, support their fighting men and women even when vehemently opposed to their respective government's policies and decisions.