I wouldn't say that Israel is constrained from defending themselves. Who is constraining them?

Israel has nukes and is believed by most analysts to be the 6th largest nuclear power in the world. A nuclear state with that many H-bombs isn't going anywhere unless it implodes from the inside.

Mike, nuclear deterrence only works when your enemies are rational actors. Iran would have no problem nuking Tel Aviv and then daring Israel to respond in kind. It wouldn't take too many first strikes to destroy enough infrastructure that it becomes impossible for Israel to maintain control of its territory. Israel may exercise the "Samson Option" on their way down, but it won't save them. The Arab governments know this and they are either fine with absorbing the losses, or (as in the case of Iran) their leaders really believe that some kind of divine intervention will shield them from Israeli retaliation. Plus, before launching the Sampson Option, Israel would have to consider what would happen to Jews in the aftermath -- using the Sampson Option could result in Jews being hunted down worldwide.

Over on Volokh's, there's an interview with the leader of the Amnesty International chapter in Israel, in which he more or less admits that there is no action Israel could take to escape international condemnation, short of surrendering its sovereignty. Let me go hunt up a link... here.

Put this in rational terms.

If Argentina insisted on landing a shipload of "supplies" on the beach in Florida without using an American port and clearing customs, what do you think the rational action should be?

Either you think that nations control their borders or not. Perhaps the USA's peculiar ideas about immigration have you at a loss. That loss is yours to make up.

Mike nukes are no good on your neighbors, they're too close.

Israel is in a proxy war with Europe and the international left. They should take the fight to the Europeans, using terrorism and sabotage. Once the Euro states realized that they were going to hit back, they'd stop financing their proxies.

Jeremy:
Israel is in a proxy war with Europe and the international left.
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I'd invert that: the Left is being deployed by the Arabs as proxies, providing moral cover for their war against the still-sane West and Israel. The Left already controls European media and culture, and European guilt and anti-semitic traditions provide fertile ground for these particular lies.

Put in rational terms: Israel had many days to determine how to best intercept ships sent as an intentional provocation to and rebuke of its policies. Given this time, the best idea they came up with was to drop people onto these ships via helicopter? I respect Israel's right to vigorously defend herself. But this was handled stupidly. And anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

And if these various factions actually get rid of the Jews, what then. There won't be peace. You'll have muslims fighting Marxists, sunnis fighting shiites, Maoists fighting Leninists (Red China and the USSR hated each other). The whole world will be a House of War long after Israel and those bloody American Christians are gone.

Mark Steyn weighs in.