I, for one, am so very, very happy and grateful that these countries, democracies, exist and have the policies they pursue! That they protect me!
I am so grateful that Israel protects me from the dangers of Palestinian terrorists, whose sole goal is to eradicate humankind, myself included, wholesale!
Israel says it protects me - and Israel is a democracy!
I mean, granted: I personally find it hard to stomach that this may include holding and torturing my ex-husband, M. - the most apolitical person I have ever met in my entire life. But M. is Palestinian, hates the occupation (even though he would never do anything about it), and that is a problem!
Israel protects me from M. - and Israel is a democracy!
And, okay, I have a few questions about how my friend H. ended up with these unusual scars. He tells me he was shot as a mere child. He tells me they took him, and that he grew up in prison. H. may have taught me that to take up a gun was to sign up to being a killer - and that there were better ways, that neither he nor I wanted to be killers. But H. is Palestinian and therefore sadly needed to be shot, imprisoned and tortured and may yet have to be killed in the name of my protection!
Israel conveniently protects me from H. - and Israel is a democracy!
Also, it is regrettable that R. died. Fine, R. might only have been 11 but: make no mistake: R. threw stones at a tank, and therefore, R. was a dangerous terrorist. When R. "died", this was "sad", "tragic", "unfortunate but unavoidable", and any number of other things. But do please note that R. "died". R. was most certainly not "killed in cold blood"! And I, personally, might have needed therapy to come to the realisation that, not only could I cope with witnessing this in person - but also, actually: R. was metaphorically, technically, somehow not only throwing stones at tanks (without even hitting), but also: R. was basically throwing stones at me (the fact that I had been teaching that kid English for months incident-free notwithstanding).
Therefore, I am so grateful that Israel protects me from the likes of R. - and Israel is a democracy!
A democracy, you see, is a place where people get to choose who rules over them! A democracy is a brilliant thing that protects our rights as well as our lives! So, say, hypothetically, if you lived in a place called, say, "Nablus" (or "Bethlehem", or "Jenin", or "Khan Younis"), you would be able to pick - along all of your fellow citizens - who makes the rules that pertain to you! So that, for example, you would never be subject to arbitrary state violence, would enjoy equality before the law and that the state will protect you. In return for this, you would agree to surrender to the state that represents you the monopoly on the use of violence. Great stuff!
... except ... oh, wait. No, never mind!
... yeah, anyway, I am so glad that Israel protects me. Protects my ex-husband M. and my friend H. Would have protected my student R. - had he not inconveniently "decided" to just "die".
I am so, so, so glad that Israel protects me, because Israel is a democracy!