Israeli Perspective

A good perspective on Israeli concerns:

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/02/10/2742935/op-ed-american-jews-must-regain-focus-on-middle-east

Thoughts on the subject:
When I was young, I started forming my opinions on Israel with the basic info I had. As I understood it ... Israel was granted it's own state on Palestinian land (which always had a Jewish population)after WWII by the UN. In '67 they got tired of general harrassment and started the 6 day war on neighboring states. A recipient of heavy US support in arms and $ over the years, Israel, took large areas of neighboring countries. Fair? It didn't seem entirely so to me but I kept taking in information.

The Israeli's that I have met come off as pretty fearless. They are strong in their convictions, and let's face it, they live in a pretty tough spot. You would have to be focussed as a people to still be existing in that region.

Reading on ... I've learned that Israel has it's own way of handling it's neighbors. It keeps a strong front and is very inventive in getting it's way. I think the US should take some cues from Israel's counter-terrorism efforts. They seem to be more aggressive with gaining inteligence. More spies maybe? More people on the inside? Makes more sense than 'shock and awe' that just pisses off locals for decades later. They use the intel to stage elaborate infiltrations. More of a surgical approach to problems. I think brilliant.

Israel has it's own military agenda and is very effective at achieving it's goals. The US was sometimes credited with the computer worm that busted up a bunch of Iranian centrifuges. Could be but I think, more likely, it was an all Israeli effort. Self defense at it's cleverest.

I may still not agree with the Israeli occupations but I do now believe that Israel is an invaluable presence in the region and I think we should continue to support them.

The article also points out the global security need to reduce oil consumption. I can think of some other reasons to reduce oil consumption.