Let's pretend that we're rational people and, as such, are capable of thinking anything - there is no such thing as "unthinkable". What if there were no Israel? Let's not worry right now how this might happen: a defeat at the hands of Palestine, a dismantling executed by the UN, an act of God,... It's just a premise. Apart from the warm, fuzzy feeling on the part of the Ashkenazi diaspora (myself included) that there is such a thing as a Jewish nation (talk about the unthinkable!), I don't see anything catastrophic happening. Part of the reason Israel exists is to prevent the extermination of the Jews of Europe. Well, the Jews of Europe were effectively exterminated and I really don't think the remnants would be in any greater danger without the political protection that the existence of Israel affords.
Let's face it: Israel is just a country. And it's not like it's all that great a country. It's just another 2-bit political artifact on the edge of the desert. American Jews (maybe Jews generally, but not me) think they have some special affinity for Israel because, well I guess because of Abraham and Moses. I guess it helps if you subscribe to Hebrew mythology, but I don't. I read about calls for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions, and that opposition to these calls is based on the notion that they would lead to the dissolution of Israel. And I think, "so, what's that to me?"
The debate seems to involve notions of loving Israel and hating Israel. Both sides seem to agree about this. What about indifference (that greatest of American virtues)? I don't love Israel and I don't hate Israel. Israel, to me, is like, well Estonia. I'm sure it's a fine place but so what? Take away the political structure and it's just geography. I categorically reject the notion that Jews must love the nation of Israel. Must Celts love Austria? The ancestors of the Celtic people lived in what is now Austria about the time my ancestors lived in what is now Israel. So what? Back to mythology.
It was the mythological association of the geography with, what?, genetics that led to the creation of a Jewish nation where it is. The original zionist movement wasn't so much fixed on the land "that god promised to Abraham" as they were on getting the hell out of Eastern Europe. Then England decided to give "them" some land that was incidentally occupied by people who thought they were entitled to do so but which land had been administered by the Turkish Empire whom the English had wupped. My mother used to say, "if the English loved us so much, why didn't they give us Sussex?"
The idea that criticism of Israel, even criticism of the notion of Israel, is antisemitic is preposterous. Israel is not "the Jews". Israel is not MY homeland. Israel is a political creature and it's political origins are a little smelly at that. If Israel had never existed, or ceased to exist tomorrow, my Jewishness, and that of all Jews I dare say, would not be compromised. Some may argue that my safety in the face of tomorrow's Hitler depends on the existence of Israel. Well, that's just crazy talk. If anything, given their outrageous policies, the existence of Israel is a threat to that safety. That leaves mythology.
I know: the US should stop sending money to the modern nation of Israel and instead send mythological money to the Kingdom of Judea. Let's see what would happen then?
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