Attending an Israel-oriented event in New York City recently, I disagreed during the reception with the Palestinian policy of Prime Minister Ehud Barak. To which, a person turned and asked, "Barak is the most decorated soldier in Israeli history – and who are you?"
Along the same lines, a Jerusalem resident wrote me: "What drives one crazy is that talk about Israelis being tired comes from people like you who live comfortably abroad, their experience of life in conflict-ridden Israel confined to short visits."
Indeed, I do not live in Israel, vote in its elections, nor pay taxes there. I have no battle scars much less decorations. My children will not be drafted. Nonetheless, I believe my opinion has legitimacy and value, for several reasons.
First, Americans willy-nilly must make decisions about Israel. We are not Peruvians, watching from a distance without effect. The U.S. government and other institutions have, to put it mildly, a huge impact on the course of the Arab and Iranian conflict with Israel. As an American citizen, voter, and sometime-government employee, I claim my right to express an opinion.
Second, access to the truth has nothing to do with credentials. An amusing book titled The Experts Speak catalogues one case after another of highly credentialed analysts making spectacular mistakes. History is littered with near-world-vanquishing conquerors, from Napoleon to Hitler, who made devastating mistakes; conversely, the Munich Pact was viewed as a brilliant move for peace.
Third, as Jonathan Rauch argued in his 1993 book Kindly Inquisitors, there is no privileged information. "Checking of each by each through public criticism is the only legitimate way to decide who is right." Debate is how we grope our way to truth.
Fourth, if being on the front line meant one had the best understanding of the situation, corporals would be making policy, not prime ministers. It was a visitor, Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote what is widely considered the greatest analysis of the United States. There is perspective to be gained from a distance.
I shall continue to criticize Barak's foolish policies. (April 8, 1998)
July 28, 2008 update: Yoram Schweitzer of Tel Aviv University challenged my criticizing the Olmert government and I reply to him today in the Jerusalem Post at "May an American Comment on Israel?"
Aug. 3, 2008 update: Schweitzer has again critiqued me, to which I have commented at "A Final Reply to Yoram Schweitzer."
Sep. 29, 2013 update: I list some of my differences with Jerusalem here, "Do I Not Criticize Israeli Policies?"
