"we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them" (Numb. 13:33)
This week's parsha features "the sin of the spies". Moses sends spies to scout out the Promised Land, and the spies unexpectedly urge Israel to stay away, based on the concerns quoted above. The spies reason that because the Jews are just "grasshoppers" compared to the land's current inhabitants, they cannot possibly prevail.
I have noticed something a bit comparable day. Twice in the past week, people I know have more or less urged the United States to bomb Iran to protect Israel from those nasty Iranians; to these acquaintances, Israel is just a bunch of grasshoppers to the Iranian giant.
To which I respond, get a grip! Israel has 60-80 nuclear weapons
( http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/)
enough to turn Iran into a parking lot.
Israel can destroy Iran tomorrow. Without American help.
But the right wing of American Zionism (and I suspect some Israelis as well) still think Israel is the 51st state.
How come? My suspicion is that in both the Torah and in 2008, dependency has been debilitating: then, Bnai Yisrael's dependence on Egypt (as slaves) and then on God, and today dependence on the United States.
If Israel is going to be a successful* country, it has to stand on its own two feet and be responsible for its own defense.
*By "successful" I don't mean "successful compared to Jordan or Hamastan." So don't send me those emails talking about how Israel has produced better cellphones while the Arabs have produced nothing. That's holding Israel to too low of a standard. I mean successful enough to kill its enemies without asking American permission.
