When sticking by our friends, we like to say

“My friend: right or wrong!”

to prove just how devoted we are. We want to show unconditional support. But most of the time we don’t actually mean unconditional support. We do have a condition: that our friends are actually decent human beings.

In other words, we don’t mean that unconditional support what so ever.

Or, to put it another way, perhaps the sign of being a true friend is that they will help you bury the body. As in, the body of someone killed in self-defense or in an act of retributional justice as seen in countless Hollywood movies. As opposed to the woman they offed in cold blood because they liked the way they smelled…and wanted to see how they smelled dead. Still sticking by that friend? Or the selfish and greedy friend? Or the abusive and judgmental friend?

The question isn’t really how devoted we are, it is when are we going to cut ties? How wrong is too wrong for friendship?

I was listening to an interview with Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi about their film 5 Broken Cameras. It is a documentary filmed by a Palestinian whose town and way of life has been  stolen from him and transformed by Israeli settlers. It is a town’s struggle to point out how awful and unlawful the occupation is and doing so peacefully. This trailer gives some snippets of the situation.

Granted I’ve never been one to give unconditional support to Israel anyway or to say “My friend: right or wrong” about anyone, but at what point do we stop thinking of Israel as the sort of friend we support without thinking? Because I’ve found my point.