Something new every day here on FT. This has to be the first time in my life that anyone has mistaken me for right wing. I'm assuming by right wing you mean someone who believes Israel has the right to defend herself?

As Bart points out, Israel has a unique situation, very different from what we have in the US, and has survived this long by carefully analyzing the situation and developing a protective mechanism based on survival, rather than one based on being sure everyone else approves.

We can learn a lot from studying Israeli security measures; in so doing we'll find some that we don't like, and some that are way better than anything we do in the US and Europe. (I can't speak for Asia or S.A., haven't travelled there, but I suspect they're willing to be much less polite than either the Americans or Israelis when they actually feel threatened)