I’m at the NCUSAR meeting – one speaker shared a stat: 126 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1,476 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000. (NCUSAR is the National Council on US Arab Relations)

Now, one can choose to argue that those deaths were justified, one can proclaim support of any and all policies of Israel’s government, one can point to bad things Muslims have done, or point to deaths of Muslims cased by other Muslims…. one could even try to say that somehow one death of one type of child is more tragic than another…. but, no matter the political beliefs, one cannot deny this simple statistic. 126 Israeli children killed and 1,476 Palestinian children killed.

The reason I include the stat with children is not so much to shock people with the horror but to get people to ask the simple question: what did they do to deserve to die? Extremists on both sides will say that some people deserve to die simply because of their identity or political beliefs. If we include all deaths, adults and children the stat is 1,096 Israelis dead and 6,568. But clearly no one in their right mind would argue that these children deserved to die.

There are two sides to this issue and the situation exists in it’s current form because of US involvement. Like it or not, the US has and does take an active role in everything that plays out in the conflict — as a result, we Americans have some ownership of the issue and the deaths in both sides. As a result, we have a responsibility to really understand what is going on with regard to the Israel / Palestine issue.

Within Israel, like the US, a large part of the population is unhappy with the foreign policy and military action of its own government. Just as we Americans debate the merits of our military intervention and policy, Israeli citizens and politicians do the same. Unfortunately, while we Americans debate our own policy and Israeli’s debate their own and our policy– we don’t have much of a public dialogue about this issue which we play such a large role in. It should be not only acceptable and free to understand, discuss and debate Israeli policy, it should be welcomed and encouraged.

Many consider Israel a unique and special relationship for the US, holding its benefit above other nations or even our own interests. Some would say Israel is family. The question to ask is how often good families discuss, debate and understand major issues that affect the family, the friends of the family, the neighborhood, and the world. Being an ally does not mean blind agreement with every policy suggested by an Israeli politician any more than being a Patriot would mean blind obedience to any whims of a politician.

This issue is the most key relations issue in the Middle East and one of the major issues in our world. It is not about good vs. evil or racism or bigotry or the battle of “those who hate freedom” it’s an issue about settlements, borders, water, rights, freedom, walls, prisons, representation, terrorism, bombings, economics and more. Americans have a responsibility to really understand these issues before making a judgement. There are those who do not want to see debate in America, there are those who do not want questions. Some do not want critical analysis because they might not like the answer.