My own faith and worldview begin in the crucible of what I believe to be God’s revelation to the Jews. Nothing in my Christianity has meaning without that foundation. So I begin thinking about this first question—and it’s not for me to answer the second—with that tilt to my thinking.

But my faith is not built on revelation alone. It’s also built on reason, and reason requires a reading of history and of facts on the ground.

One fact seems to me determinative: persistent persecution of the Jews, culminating in the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s, forced the world powers to guarantee a secure homeland. Since my faith community has been a great offender in that persecution, one reason I embrace Israel is to contribute to a kind of repentance.

The state of Israel is that homeland. And though bravely and consistently the only real democracy in its region, Israel the state is not perfect. But it is there by rare world consensus, and it has been realized by the work of its own people and the investment of many others in that work. And it exists in spite of the determination of many of its neighbors to deny its legitimacy and work for its destruction.

All of these realities make legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies and politics a very, very delicate matter. Israel’s own leaders and citizens often eloquently criticize its ways and have advocated for Palestinian statehood and rights. They should take the lead in such criticism.

The rest of us should be very wary. I choose to err on the side of forbearance whenever possible. That’s a bias—not a total bias but a bias nevertheless. And for me it’s a bias rooted both in faith and in fact.