Fewer Broken Pieces

Sarah Palin says we shouldn’t “second-guess” Israel’s actions:

The Republican VP nominee recently said that she would never “second guess Israel if that country decided to attack Iran.” Speaking with Katie Couric of CBS News, she stood by that quote.

“We shouldn’t second guess Israel’s security efforts because we cannot ever afford to send a message that we would allow a second Holocaust, for one,” she said. “Israel has got to have the opportunity and the ability to protect itself. They are our closest ally in the Mideast. We need them. They need us. And we shouldn’t second guess their efforts.”

The Alaska governor said the United States should be free to relay its rights our concerns, but “we don’t have to second-guess what their efforts would be if they believe … that it is in their country and their allies, including us, all of our best interests to fight against a regime, especially Iran, who would seek to wipe them off the face of the earth,” said Palin. “It is obvious to me who the good guys are in this one and who the bad guys are.”

Emphasis mine.  Can it really be reduced to a matter of good guys against bad guys?  I am more than a little nervous about the prospect of Israel getting a free pass in its international conduct today because of the Holocaust.  It seems here that Palin is advocating for the “Bush doctrine” of preventative war.  Israel’s “opportunity and ability to protect itself” in the context would come in the form of an airstrike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Should the US support an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear program?  Some will argue so, but I am disinclined, since Israel’s own nuclear weapons program is an open secret.  Still, Iran’s current president has done more than his fair share of threatening Israel, and the recent launches of long-range missiles are disconcerting.  That being said, surely there is room for second-guessing, no matter which nations are involved.  As a matter of fact, the US protested when Israel destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 (and this was when Ronald Reagan was in office).  Even the US under a Republican president has a history of second-guessing Israel’s military actions.  So Palin here espouses a more extreme position than many in US politics.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are going online:

Over the next two years, the Israel Antiquities Authority will digitally photograph and scan every bit of crumbling parchment and papyrus that makes up the scrolls, which include the oldest written record of the Bible’s Old Testament.

The images eventually will be posted on the Internet for anyone to see.

Yes!  Now I am curious about how the images will be copyrighted and licensed.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.

Romans chapters 9-11 contain no mention of the land of Palestine.  So it seems that focusing on possession of the land as the primary aspect of God’s future plan for Israel is to miss the main point of Paul’s argument.  It is not the land but the salvation of Israel in exchange for which Paul would gladly count himself cursed.