Musings about Israel, Ch. 1

A state and its people are not the same thing. States themselves do
not have rights; states exist only to protect and support people. The state of Israel is not the same as the people who live within the borders of the state of
Israel, and neither is identical to Jewish people. It does everyone a
disservice to pretend that a state, which is fundamentally a social
system created by humans in order to more efficiently feed, shelter,
protect, and regulate themselves, is equivalent to a human life.

The
importance of states resides in their function of serving human life.
People assemble and form states in order to meet certain needs, and the
people have the right to have a state insofar as the state continues to
meet those needs and there's no better way to meet those needs. The
state therefore in exchange for its existence has a responsibility to
provide for its people's survival. So long as it does so, the people
have a responsibility to support its continued existence. States need
certain things from their people in order to keep existing, and if
people want their state to continue existing they must provide those
things that it needs. Dogmatic nationalism is not something needed by
the state; financial support and obedience to its just laws are. Often
people decline to give their own state the support that it needs; they
may feel that it has ceased to serve them, or that there is a higher
moral reason to dissent, or they may just not be aware of the
implication of their actions.

In order to talk sensibly about
the relationship between the state of Israel, the people living in the
state of Israel, and the Jewish people, there needs to be an awareness
of what this particular state does for its people and at what costs. We
have three parties here: Jewish people, people who live in Israel, and
the state of Israel. What are the responsibilities they have, one to
the other?