ISRAEL EXPLAINED TO MY DAUGHTER

“You asked me why I support theJewish state and why I am ready toput myself in harm’s way to do it.You said that I am not a Jew and thatI am not directly concerned. You cansee that the Jewish state is criticized,insulted, and vilified, relentlessly, andyou think there is a reason for that.You think that many other causesdeserve my support, and that my lifeand yours would be less complicated ifI chose another cause and abandonedthis one.I'm not a Jew, that’s right, and even if I have the highest respect forJudaism, I have no intention to convert.But, and I insist: it is not necessary to be a Jew to support the Jewishstate and to be directly concerned by its fate. Knowing history, havingethical values imply making choices. I know history, I have ethical values;ergo, I made a choice.The Jewish state is criticized, insulted, vilified, relentlessly, and thereis a reason for that; that’s right again, but the reason is not the one youmay imagine, really not at all.There are undoubtedly many other causes that deserve my support,and they already receive my support, you know it. I support liberty andhuman rights wherever they are threatened. But it does not mean that Ishould turn away from the cause of the Jewish state, even if it made mylife (and yours) easier.I have to explain”.