How Israel Compares: Why Fair-Minded People Should Support Israel

Israel should be judged by comparison with other states involved in similar conflicts—conflicts in which both sides claim rights to self-determination on the same homeland territory. Chai Mitzvah compares Israel’s goals, methods, and threat levels in detail to those of Turkey and makes briefer comparisons between Israel and the dozens of other states involved in similar conflicts. On this basis, Israel ranks among the most moderate countries while facing, by far, the greatest threat. Almost all other states, including all of Israel’s enemies, pursue far more extreme goals and use far more extreme methods while facing far-lesser threats. In fact, Israel’s enemies embrace the most extreme form of antisemitism—openly pursuing the genocidal goal of annihilating Israel and its Jewish population.