A reader writes

“What’s wrong with Israel?? Can you believe this?”

In answer to your second question first: Yes, I can believe that. And the reason I can is (in answer to your first question second): Israel is not a divinely ordained country that is somehow magically guaranteed to embody fidelity to the law of Moses. It is a secular nation-state like America, Sweden, Canada, the UK or Australia embracing standard post-Judeo/Christian morals (such as they are). The notion that Israel (the nation-state, not the People) is somehow preferentially Chosen by God and is some how holier than, say, Kenya or France or Brazil is a thing that seems to die hard in the American consciousness. And attempts to regard Israel as just another secular nation-state out of many tend to get treated as attacks on Israel. Which is bloody weird, especially for Catholics who should know better.