So nu, now I'm not a Jew? Sheesh. Yes I'd rather be a Jew in America than a Jew in an Arab country. That wasn't my question. If your defense of Israel is it's "better than Saudi Arabia" you're welcome to it. I was comparing it to *America* where we JEws are often at the forefront of fighting for minority rights, ours included. (I am reminded of debates in the 80s about South Africa: apartheid was wrong regardless of whether the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa was a brutal mess.) On a larger note, i do judge Israel differently because: Israel is our closest ally and recipients of lots of aid and American UN vetoes. Plus I'm a Jew and though this'll open me up to much mockery, I care about what has happened to our beautiful tradition, the substitution of a crude fear-based nationalism for the more humane values of the synagogues of my youth. Lastly, Israel might not need me but it claims to speak for me a helluva lot.