By Ben Hersch
Occasionally, I check my vibrating phone to see a frantic and concerned text from a friend or family member who decided to check out the news on a whim. The good intentioned message usually reads, “Are you okay? I heard there was a stabbing attack by you today. Are you safe?” I really do appreciate the caring messages, but I wonder why my friends and family began to send these messages now. How come after spending two and a half years in DC, no one has asked if I'm okay after a stabbing attack there? Over the last 6 months of sustained violence in Israel, there have been 211 stabbing attacks throughout the country, compared to the 517 assaults with a deadly weapon in half the time in DC. Keep in mind, this is just DC, a city roughly 8/1000 the size of Israel. While I had always wondered why I felt so safe in Israel, I had never truly been able to explain it until former AP journalist, Matti Friedman spoke to the cohort during our first week in Jerusalem.
Perhaps the most interesting class I took in the fall, before coming to Israel, was comparative foreign policies, which focused on comparing different countries’ institutions and political cultures. This class served as an excellent primer for Mr. Friedman’s case, where he advocated comparing Israel to its neighbors and other countries throughout the world as opposed to a case of morality, or, as the center of the Middle-East conflict. When you judge any country and its leaders on a scale of morality, the people and government of that country would look insane. Israel is not a unique country. In order to understand Israel’s issues, it must be compared, not set to a higher standard, Matti explained. If an alien were to arrive on earth today, it would think Israel was Earth’s greatest enemy. The Jewish state is disproportionately chastised in the media and international organizations and is made to look like it is the center of all issues in the Middle-East.
While Israel is not unique in the grand scheme of international politics, it is special to me because it has been a part of my history, and my peoples history. When I criticize Israel, I attempt to do so constructively because I want to make the country I care about better, not because I want to demonize it. When criticizing Israel, the discussion must be contextual. Just because violence is always highlighted in daily newscasts regarding Israel, does not mean it is any more dangerous than your own backyard.
