Oh Israel

Can you separate a country from its people?

I can't.

Can you say a government and its policies are immoral.

Cruel and vicious

But not its people?

Can innocence ever survive in a people

Whose country does terrible things

In their name?

I thought I was writing about Israel,

Its confused and long-conflicted people.

But it's the United States I'm calling out.

With a mix of disappointment, sorrow and fear

And then, only then,

Do I raise my eyes and look across at you, Israel

I contemplate you.

I contemplate your people

With a mix of disappointment, sorrow and fear.

............................