In the past several days, I’ve received quite a few letters from readers thinking of putting an Israeli-flag bumper sticker on their car, or wearing an Israeli-flag pin, or doing something else of that nature. Just to show a little solidarity, given the attacks on that country lately. And I don’t mean mere rockets coming from Gaza. I mean attacks, particularly from Western elites, on Israel’s fundamental right to exist. I have a friend in Switzerland — a German friend who works in Switzerland — who put on his car a bumper sticker showing both the Israeli and the American flags: which is an almost insanely gutsy thing to do. When he defends Israel, people often ask him, “Are you Jewish?” He says, “No — do you have to be Jewish to defend Israel?” They often look nonplussed. Incidentally, he sometimes echoes the Iranian government, when referring to America and Israel, and he does this with glee: “the Great Satan and the Little Satan.” A question: Is it strange to display the national emblem of a country other than your own? Oh, yes, it is: under normal circumstances. But Israel does not exist under normal circumstances, which is why many people feel compelled to identify with it, or to support it publicly. I did a post on this some months ago: right here. And let me share with you a reader letter I received yesterday:

A young fellow I know (at my age I think I’m allowed to say “young fellow”) — born and raised in the U.S., upper-middle-class — left the U.S. to relocate to Israel a few months ago. When I asked him why he was emigrating, he said he had always “felt [his] Zionism strongly” and wanted to be in Israel “especially” at this time, in case things “completely go to hell there.” When I asked him about serving in the IDF (he’s in his late 20s), he said he hoped they wouldn’t hold his age against him. Admirable courage, and I pray for his safety.

I even know a Gentile lady who wishes to go to Israel if things “completely go to hell there,” just because she thinks if bombs fall on them, they should fall on her, too. She thinks if humanity lets the Jews go down, humanity is lost. I’ll repeat a statement I have made many times: If Israel weren’t threatened — if it were leading a peaceful, normal life — I would never think of it. Would think of it as often as I do Uruguay. (Which is basically never.) (No offense to Uruguayans.) But Israel is threatened, isn’t it? Which makes a big difference — which is, in the words of our vice president, a big you-know-what-ing deal.