The Hypocrisy of Israel’s ‘Moral Clarity’ Critics
Invocations of “moral clarity” in condemning Israel are everywhere these days — on social media, in public petitions, in op-eds by progressives who style themselves as prophets. But what these critics call moral clarity is nothing of the sort.
Where was their moral clarity when Hamas slaughtered Jews on October 7?
Where was their moral clarity when Hamas beheaded babies and raped women in front of their families?
And where is their moral clarity now when Hamas continues to starve hostages underground and uses Gazan civilians as human shields?
That hypocrisy is why I refuse to amplify the tin sirens of moral clarity by denouncing Israel’s government from the comfort of the Diaspora.
Before we go further, I don’t believe criticizing a country’s government is the same as questioning a country’s right to exist. That’s ridiculous.
But I view my duty as a Diaspora Zionist as unique. I seek to defend Israel’s legitimacy and advocate for its survival so Israelis themselves can support or protest their leaders. Without Israel’s survival, all those debates essential to Israel’s well-being become irrelevant.
To be sure, I am not only a passionate Zionist, I am also a proud American to my core. America has given me the freedom to wear my love for Israel without apology.
That’s why, after a lifetime as a Democratic activist and delegate to three Democratic National Conventions, I registered as an independent on July 4 when I could not take more of the Democratic Party’s ascendant anti-Zionism.
That’s why, even as I thank President Trump for his steadfast defense of Israel, I have never hesitated to take issue with him publicly on the social and economic issues where we differ.
I know how to confront leaders when conscience demands it — I’ve done it in America, often. But in Israel, it is Israelis who bear the burdens of democracy and war. Israelis pay the taxes, send their children into the IDF, and live daily under threat. They, not I, hold the duty of democratic dissent.
That is why I can say in the same breath: My heart bleeds for the civilians of Gaza, while my brain knows the blame lies with Hamas terrorists who have occupied Gaza since 2005.
Hamas, not the IDF, builds tunnels under schools, launches rockets from crowded neighborhoods, and dares Israel to respond knowing innocents will die. That is not Israel’s choice. That is Hamas’s crime.
Meanwhile, Israel has done what no nation at war has done. Israel has allowed humanitarian aid to flow knowing Hamas will steal it. Israel has dropped leaflets and made phone calls to warn civilians before strikes — extraordinary measures no other military in the world takes when fighting an enemy bent on its destruction.
These are not the actions of a state indifferent to morality. They are the actions of a state straining to hold onto morality while fighting for survival. But those who shout moral clarity from afar never acknowledge this reality.
The “moral clarity” chorus goes silent the moment Hamas comes into view.
Israel’s enemies are not phantoms conjured by Prime Minister Netanyahu. And they will not disappear the moment he leaves office. Iran will not abandon its dream of wiping Israel off the map and Iran’s terrorist proxies will not lay down their weapons either. For Diaspora critics to fixate on Prime Minister Netanyahu is to confuse personality with peril — and to trivialize the magnitude of Israel’s struggle.
Do I agree with everything Prime Minister Netanyahu has ever done? Far from it. But he is not the point. Israel is the point. It is the homeland of my people, defended by Israelis who shoulder the daily risks of democracy and war.
From my vantage point as a Jew and a Zionist committed to justice for all, true moral clarity means recognizing that Israel’s survival and Gaza’s deliverance from Hamas are bound together — that Israel’s victory will create a new day for Palestinians.
True moral clarity means refusing to confuse the Jewish state with any single politician.
True moral clarity means unmasking the fraud of those who invoke the phrase only to condemn Israel while excusing its enemies.
Without Israel’s survival, there is no democracy to protect, no dissent to voice, and no morality left to debate.
That is the moral clarity Israel’s critics will never see — but one the Jewish people must never forget.
