Jew-ness and Catholic-ness

In case anyone hasn't noticed, my co-writer (AB) has something of a thing for all things Jew and Israel.  I think his three favorite words right now are "dog-whistle", "Bibi", and "framework."

I'm not gonna pretend I understand the Jewish experience or whatever, however, I will pretend that I understand what he experiences when he has to explain his unwavering support/zeal/Reddit posts in defense of the nation of Israel.  Especially when the Far Left  speaks entirely in various synonyms of "wall" "partition" "occupation" "oppression" "apartheid" and "war crimes."  Mostly because I find myself having to directly or obliquely defending the diaspora of Catholicism, and having to defend it against many of the same inflammatory language.  And the bitch of it is, some of those words are true/deserved, even AB will agree with me on that.  It's also entirely not the point.

Despite men such as Ross Douthat and Tony Perinkins' furverent insistence, Christianity and Christians is at no risk of suffering a political or literal Kristallnacht.  Catholics included.  So I can't pretend to equate the Jewish level of defensiveness with my own Catholic one but we are both most assuredly playing defense.  There are two parts to this (1) past/present actions by members of the faith and (b) cultural norms founded in religious circumstances.  To the first, this is neither the time or the post to get into that, but the second I can quickly sum up.  AB and I are both shades of secular-religious-cultural.  The Far Left, like all idealists, can see no good coming from bad.  I sympathize but I also don't care.  I live in a world of results.  I was raised in a mainly Catholic household, with a large Catholic extended-family who for the most part embodied all the best of Hispanic/Catholic culture (tight family bonds, lifelong marriage, belief in forgiveness, practice of a specific kind of joie de vivre).  My parents raised me in the Church but never shoved it down my throat or even pretended that their goal was to "convert" me (note: I found out later that my dad is agnostic despite himself being raised Catholic, but for the most part he never discussed it when we were kids aside from brief hints).  My parents, mom especially, raised me from a very young age to celebrate LGBT equality even before coming out myself.  To me, Catholic life taught me some very important/strong/optimal views on life and how to live.  This is not everyone's experience or belief.  Got it.  But this is mine and it is great and it exists because of the Roman Catholic Church, more than it is in spite of the Church.

 I believe AB has a very similar belief/reverence for his own faith/culture.  The Jewish culture is one of spiritual doubt/introspection/challenge/search/historic responsibility/quest.  I have nothing but admiration for every bit of that.  Defending the nation of Israel can easily and naturally be seen as a defense of Jewish-ness at the same time it is not a defense of Judaism, much as my defense of Catholic culture is not the same as a defense of Catholicism.  The Far Left think about forests.  AB and I live in trees.  Oy, viva!