HONG KONG - I guess I don't have to spell out my answer to this question.
Like my fellow panelist Saul Singer, I am also pro-Israel. While I neither live in Israel nor write for an Israeli newspaper, I supported the organization for which Mrs. Singer works when I was living in Washington, D.C. My favorite magazine is Commentary. Most of my good friends are Jews. And my ex-wife is a Jewish woman from New York.
I would like to draw your attention to a recent article in The Washington Post titled, "Are American Jews Too Powerful? Not Even Close." Ruth Wisse provided a much more sophisticated case than I ever could have.
She writes:
"Consider a basic paradox. Even anti-Semites often give Jews credit for having exceptional intelligence. Self-congratulatory Web sites reckon that Jews, who make up about 0.2 percent of the world's population, have been awarded more than 160 Nobel Prizes. But if Jews are so smart, why do 22 Arab League countries account for a tenth of the Earth's land surface while the Israelis struggle to secure a country that is 1/19th the size of California? If Jews are so powerful, why does Israel attract twice as many venture-capital investments as all of Europe, even while it's the only one of the United Nations' 192 member states that has been charged with racism for the crime of its existence? How powerful is that?"
As for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, I share what another fellow panelist from Israel said. Yossi Melman wrote that the organization, "is a typical example of the opportunities and guarantees provided by American democracy. AIPAC is playing by the rules set by the U.S. Constitution, lawmakers and political system. Yes, it has used those rules and opportunities to gain advantages. But what's wrong with that? Such clever behavior should be admired, not cursed. In that sense, AIPAC is no different from any other lobby in America; it exists to promote its interests. If AIPAC or its officials are breaking the laws or the rules, put them on trial. AIPAC's only problem is that it is successful and outstanding, and thus has become an object of envy."
As a strong supporter of Taiwan, I have no choice but to lend my support to Israel as well. As another author wrote in Mr. Melman's newspaper, Taiwan and Israel are "two small and effervescent 'real democracies' engaged in their own security-existential troubles, exposed to threats from a huge external enemy and dependent on American protection and aid. Some call Taiwan 'the Israel of the Pacific' and 'the David of the Far East.’" I only wish the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Taiwanese counterpart to the AIPAC, would become as effective and successful as their Jewish friends.
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