Ayn Rand Outpost: IN MORAL DEFENSE OF ISRAEL and the people of SEDEROT
Sderot, a city in southern Israel just off of the Gaza strip, is an amazing city with an amazing story. The people there are welcoming, but have to live their lives in fear. Thousands of rockets have been fired at Sderot and many people have been killed and injured and are constantly living under a threat. ARCI is supporting Sderot Media Center and the people of Sderot in their fight for a peaceful and productive life with the moral support and intellectual ammunition that promote the freedom of the people of Sderot and Israel.
"Israel and those who attack it are not moral equals. Israel is, like the United States, a "mixed economy," which retains a significant respect for individual rights. Its citizens, whatever their race or religion, enjoy many freedoms, including freedom of thought and speech, and the right to own property. The purpose of Israel's military is only self-defense: to protect its citizens from aggressors. Consequently, Israel has a moral right to exist.
Those attacking Israel, by contrast, are terrorist organizations, dictatorships and theocracies, which deliberately violate the rights of their own subjects. Even if these organizations and regimes had never initiated force against Israel, they still would have no moral right to exist.
ARI's moral support of Israel is obviously not an endorsement of all of its actions or policies. We are critical, for instance, of Israel's failure fully to separate state from both religion and economics, as the principle of individual rights demands. But we recognize that those who attack Israel are not seeking to establish an even freer nation: they are seeking to wipe out the only outpost of freedom in the Middle East.
We support Israel not for its failings but for its virtues, and we understand that those who threaten Israel's freedom also threaten America's. If they succeed in destroying Israel, they will turn their full attention to the United States.
Thus, in the name of justice and self-preservation, we hold that America should openly support Israel against our common enemies."
Ayn Rand on Israel (Ford Hall Forum lecture, 1974)
Joe the Plumber, also known as Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who became famous for questioning president-elect Barak Obama during the US presidential campaign, visited Sderot on Sunday, January 11. Sderot Media Center director, Noam Bedein guided Joe throughout Sderot, offering him an in-depth look into life under Palestinian rockets.
