I’ve started reading David Brog’s excellent new book Reclaiming Israel’s History: Roots, Rights, and the Struggle for Peace.

I’ll post a full review later, but the initial paragraphs of the book describe a situation that seems eerily familiar:

“There was a time when Israel could do no wrong. Before 1967, Americans and most other Westerners typically saw Israel as an embattled outpost of democracy heroically defending itself from Arab multitudes determined to destroy it. Israel’s civilians were gutsy. Israel’s soldiers were gallant. Israel’s wars were good.

This myth of the perfect Israel could not last. No nation is so noble and no cause so pure. Israel has committed sins both small and large …

The problem is that the very facts that helped destroy one false narrative are now being used to construct a new one. The myth of the perfect Israel is being replaced by the myth of the evil Israel.”

In more ways than one, America and Israel share common problems and a common destiny. We must support and learn from each other.