Judging Israel - judging the world

The point-counterpoint game is an endless and, frankly, frustrating business. You rarely gain friends by a prolonged and detailed argument, you frequently gain enemies by a good photography job, especially with all modern conveniences (should I mention the all-powerful Pho.. nah).

A good example of the point-counterpoint game, where the sides are unaware of each other and are talking about roughly the same subject, is in these two IHT articles, published on the same day:

Judging Israel by Geoffrey Wheatcroft

For more than 60 years Israel has shown that it can win every battle by military might. But there is also what the Declaration of Independence calls "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind," and the battle for opinion cannot be won by brute force alone.

And Israelis are united on war in Gaza as censure rises abroad by Ethan Bronner

Almost 100 percent of Israelis feel that the world is hypocritical. Where was the world when our cities were rocketed for eight years and our soldier was kidnapped? Why should we care about the world's view now?

For a change, I will refrain from expressing my own opinion. Just a word of caution: beware of Mr Wheatcroft - he is a sly fellow; don't be deceived by his soft treading. More on Wheatcroft here and here.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.