I’m very pro-Israel, but there’s a few developments in the past few years that bug me.

One is, after the last decade of politics here in the US, I am immediately suspicious of the “whatever necessary” approach to national security.

Two, I am deeply troubled by the “with us or against us,” black and white separation that has crept into debates surrounding Israeli politics. I am also troubled by the fact that it seems no longer possible to discuss Israel the country, and its policies, without both sides falling back to religious arguments. As an atheist, I don’t give any special consideration to a “Jewish state,” nor do I give a crap about Islamic ones, above or beyond any other country.

I have tremendous sympathy for Israel’s plight. It’s really deeply unfair. The other side is not acting in good will. But as we have learned here in the US, unilateral hard-line stances on national security don’t play well internationally. True or false, fair or not, they are badly losing the PR battle over the last several years. And worse, the current government doesn’t seem to care, choosing instead to double-down on the hard-line approach.

I could see a number of other ways this could have gone down. The flotilla was from Turkey. You were allies with Turkey. (Although not anymore, apparently.) Recruit them and help organize the flotilla, to ensure there are no weapons or contraband, then let them in as a magnanimous gesture of goodwill. Pre-arrange an agreement to search them at sea if you have to. Hell, beseech the UN to help you set up land checkpoints for aid incoming from surrounding countries — you know they’d oblige.

Instead, they’ve chosen the hard-line approach to enforce a blockade, played right into their hands, and shot a bunch of people under a white flag. The people you need to impress are not going to buy the “self-defense” argument when you were the ones boarding their ships, even if they shot first. Whatever PR mess you were envisioning if the flotilla was allowed to land, you’ve just made it a hundred times worse. And as (I like to think) the US learned with Guantanamo and similar choices over the past decade, sometimes the PR fallout is worse than the actual situation you were trying to stop.