You don't need to support Israel, but don't obsess about us either.
We’re not asking for your loyalty, just your ability to mind your own business.
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There’s a strange obsession in much of the world, especially in the West, with having an opinion — one way or another — about Israel.
But here’s the truth: Israel doesn’t need you to be pro-Israel, and it doesn’t care if you’re “anti-Israel.” Israelis aren’t waking up every morning hoping that a college student in Portland or a barista in Berlin posts a supportive infographic. They aren’t holding their breath for your approval.
We’re waking up to take their kids to school, to work a shift at the hospital, to go on a date or see a movie or have a barbecue, to enjoy a few moments of peace between rocket sirens. We’re contemplating making a living, balancing the stresses of life, and trying to stay healthy. We’re busy living our lives, just like you, even amidst a war.
But unlike you, Israelis have been through genocidal war after genocidal war, indiscriminate terrorist attack after indiscriminate terrorist attack, since 1948. They have survived existential threats from every border. They’ve made the desert bloom and turned a besieged sliver of land into a global leader in technology, medicine, and resilience. They don’t need your hashtags. They don’t need your affirmation. And they definitely don’t need your unsolicited geopolitical wisdom.
The idea that Israel needs anything from anyone outside of Israel is absurd. Yes, once upon a time, Israel was a fragile, fledgling state — under embargo, outnumbered, and literally surrounded by hostile regimes — looking to find its footing in a post-Holocaust world.
Those days are over. Today, Israel is a nuclear-armed regional power, a tech and innovation juggernaut, and one of the most battle-tested democracies on Earth. It has survived every war, every boycott, every condemnation. It has endured in a region where many stronger, richer regimes have crumbled into chaos.
Israelis don’t need your support, your sympathy, or your approval. We know who we are, and we’re darn proud of it.
But here’s the nuance: Just because Israel doesn’t need the world, doesn’t mean it doesn’t want to be a part of it. And time and time again, it has been. Israel gives back. Not because it needs validation, but because it believes in contribution, even when those nations refuse to see it.
So no, Israel doesn’t need the world to like it. But it does hope that the world will rise to the better angels of its nature, that truth will matter, and that double standards will dissolve.
In the meantime, it will continue doing what it always has: defending itself, building, innovating, mourning its dead, celebrating its life, and striving to make the world better, whether or not the outside world is ready to see it.
We live in a world of over eight billion people and thousands of conflicts, many far bloodier and more clear-cut than the Israeli-Arab one. And yet, a shocking number of people act as though it is their moral duty to take a stance on Israel and “Palestine” — often without any historical knowledge, fluency in the languages, or direct connection to the region.
But here’s a radical idea: You don’t need to care.
You don’t need to have a hot take about every conflict. Not every global dispute is your business. Not every tragedy needs your performance of outrage. This conflict, in particular, does not revolve around you. Most of the outcomes will never touch your life. Whether Israel strikes a Hamas compound or a ceasefire is declared tomorrow, your family, your job, your home, your relationships, your freedoms will remain unchanged.
So why act as if this war is about you?
Of course, there’s a fashionable excuse some give for being hyper-fixated on Israel: “I’m a world citizen. I care about all people equally.” It sounds noble. But it’s nonsense.
The world is filled with complex, painful, devastating conflicts — Rohingya in Myanmar, Uyghurs in China, civil war in Sudan, cartels in Mexico, child soldiers in the Congo. How many “world citizens” are marching for these causes every weekend? How many are even aware of them?
The reality is that people selectively moralize, and Israel has become a lightning rod not because it’s the most urgent issue on Earth, but because it’s convenient. Because it’s trendy. Because it makes people feel like they’re on the right side of something. And, let’s be honest, because it’s the Jewish state. That makes it an easier target in a world where antisemitism often rebrands itself as humanitarian concern.
Some critics think they’re helping Israelis by opposing Israel’s government or military. They say, “We’re not against the people, just the state.” But this is insulting and reductive.
Israelis are adults. They vote. They protest. They debate fiercely. They hold their leaders to account. They don’t need to be “saved” from themselves.
Another common refrain is: “I’m a taxpayer. My government aids and/or trades with Israel. That makes it my business.”
Okay, let’s follow that logic: Does your government also give aid to Egypt? Jordan? Pakistan? The Palestinian Authority? Spoiler alert: It probably does. Do you feel morally implicated in all of those relationships too? Are you calling out your government’s ties to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or Turkey?
Here’s a thought: If you’re only outraged about your tax dollars going to one country — and it happens to be the Jewish one — maybe take a moment to ask yourself why.
More importantly, aid to Israel is not charity. It’s a strategic alliance. The U.S. gives aid in the form of military assistance, most of which must be spent on American defense products, benefiting U.S. industry and securing a key democratic ally in a volatile region. Meanwhile, tens of billions in aid to the Palestinians have vanished into terrorism, offshore accounts, corruption, gross mismanagement, and failed governance.
Where are the protests about that? Why is Israel always expected to be flawlessly accountable, while the Palestinians and other nations get a permanent moral pass?
Let’s be blunt: No country on Earth is talked about, condemned, and scrutinized as much as Israel. Not China. Not Iran. Not Russia. Not North Korea.
Israel, a sliver of land the size of New Jersey, takes up more time at the United Nations than any other country. It gets more coverage, more outrage, and more protests than regimes that openly commit genocide.
Why?
Because it’s Jewish. Because people expect Jews to be perfect — or at least, silent. Because it’s easier to lecture a tiny democracy than to confront violent autocracies. Because antisemitism didn’t go away; it just changed clothes. This obsession is not about justice; it’s about projection and prejudice.
And let’s not pretend that obsessing over Israel is the same as helping Palestinians. The people most loudly chanting “Free Palestine!” rarely demand that Palestinian leaders hold elections. They never talk about Hamas torturing dissidents. They ignore the way billions in aid have been embezzled, misused, or funneled into Islamist terrorism.
What about real Palestinian liberation? The kind that involves jobs, education, civil liberties, women’s rights, and peace? Those goals are impossible under Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. But saying that would require you to stop blaming Israel for everything, and start holding the actual Palestinian leadership accountable.
And that doesn’t fit the script, the obsession.
In fact, the ability to obsess over Israel from afar is a luxury of peace and privilege. You can yell “intifada” on TikTok because you don’t live in a place where public buses are exploded by Palestinian terrorists. You can chant “From the River to the Sea!” at a campus rally because no one’s trying to throw you into said river or said sea.
Meanwhile, Israelis are attending funerals for dead civilians (often women and children), scrambling to bomb shelters, and sending their kids to war. We don’t have time for moral theater. The people who live closest to danger have the least tolerance for naive slogans. Our reality is not a meme.
We live in an age where having a public opinion feels like a requirement. Especially online. Silence is violence, they say. But sometimes, silence is just humility.
It’s okay not to know. It’s okay not to take a side. It’s okay to say, “This conflict is ancient, complicated, and far from my lived experience.” That’s not apathy; it’s wisdom.
People care way too much about this conflict. Not because they understand it. Not because it affects them. But because they’ve been taught that caring loudly is a form of virtue. That picking sides is proof of righteousness.
It isn’t.
Sometimes, the most righteous thing you can do is not center yourself in someone else’s story.
At the same time, empathy is a good thing — until it’s turned into a weapon. No Israeli or Jew is telling anyone not to feel heartache over the suffering of innocent Palestinians. But when that empathy is used to justify violence against Jews, erase context, or demonize an entire country, it stops being empathy and starts being emotional blackmail.
Two things can be true: Innocents suffer in war, and Israel has a right to defend itself from terrorists who deliberately embed themselves among civilians. If your “empathy” only flows in one direction, it’s not empathy; it’s propaganda.
And here’s where it gets even messier: Many of Israel’s critics aren’t actually talking about Israel. They’re talking about themselves — and projecting their own stuff onto a conflict they barely understand.
They see “colonialism” where, in fact, the Jews returned to our indigenous homeland. They see “apartheid” where, in fact, Israel features civil integration and equal rights. They imagine Israel as “white” even though most of its Jewish population is Middle Eastern or North African.
In their minds, Israel becomes a stand-in for all their perceived grievances. But Israel is not your metaphor; it is a real country with real people facing real threats. Try seeing it as it is, not as a reflection of your unresolved issues.
And let’s not even start with the people who think they’re entitled to weigh in on Israeli policy because they’ve donated to an Israeli nonprofit. That’s like claiming a stake in German elections because, once upon a time, you gave however much money to the German Red Cross.
And finally, a dose of humility: Most people with loud opinions on Israel don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t know the difference between the West Bank and Gaza. They don’t understand what happened in 1948 or 1967. They can’t name a single Israeli political party, or a single Palestinian one.
They’ve seen a few clips, read a few headlines, maybe followed a few influencers, but that doesn’t make you informed. It makes you performative. You wouldn’t accept brain surgery from someone who skimmed a textbook, so why accept foreign policy analysis from someone who skimmed Instagram?
So, the next time someone demands to know your opinion on Israel, consider this: It’s perfectly acceptable to say you don’t have one.
That was a great rant. Thanks for channeling my inner rage and annoyance with all the busybody pro pali folks who really don't give a s--t about anyone except their own virtue signalling. And an especially strong rage to the famous crazies like Candace Owens and MTG who concoct conspiracies about the Jews out of thin air.
Gosh, I wish *they* would all read this (and more). But they won't; their mental illness doesn't allow them to handle all the cognitive dissonance.