Out of the passion of Lebanon, one hopeful image remains. It is the barely restrained rage of Jan Egeland, the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid, at such unnecessary devastation. It put into proper context the other images of dead and maimed civilians, ruined homes, destroyed industries, ambulances rocketed precisely at the centre of the Red Cross, and the hypocrisy of the call by the United States Government to Arab nations to stop supporting the conflict.
Egeland’s response also made evident the general absence of moral passion, or even reflection, on the destruction in Palestine and Lebanon. Commentators have rightly condemned the Hezbollah attacks on Israeli civilians and their homes. But the general silence from some quarters on Israel’s unmeasured response implies that it is a moral necessity.
What arguments underlie this presumption? The first is the unspoken claim that a unique identity guarantees moral integrity. On the United States side, it is summed up in the catchcry, ‘Hey, we are the good guys’. Because we are good guys, all the adventures we engage in and support are by definition good. Because we are good, too, you can rely on our judgment of what is necessary. When something goes wrong, like Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay, a gap-toothed smile and an 'aw shucks' will be enough to have our naughtiness forgiven and our goodness vindicated. If you criticise the morality of what we do and support, you are no longer one of the good guys, and so can no longer claim moral standing or insight.
A unique identity can also be claimed by victims of wrongdoing. From the Israeli side, we hear, ‘We are victims, we are deprived of due security. When we are redressing wrong done to us, everything that we do will be right. In our response there may be mistakes, but our status as innocent victims guarantees our moral virtue and insight.'
These claims to a uniquely privileged moral insight and moral purity have a spiritual core. The religious roots of United States identity and its sense of a unique calling in the world have often been pointed out. It is easy to move from believing that the United States is called to act for the good of the world, to believe that whatever the United States chooses to do in the world will in fact be virtuous.
The Scriptures shared by Jews and Christians speak of