Don't get me wrong. I think what the Germans did to the Jews was horrible. I've read Bruno Bettleheim's personal accounts of the concentration camps at Dachau and Buchenwald, the gas chambers, the way he survived and the questions Professor Bettleheim asked. And I believe the Jews deserve their own country and all the help we can provide.

I know only one person from Israel. I met him when I was a boater in South Florida recuperating from research burn-out and running yachts for millionaires. And some of the things Yossi told me are haunting and shocking.

One of the things was that everyone in Israel is in the army. Everyone. No exceptions. No draft or volunteering. Every man, woman, and child is enrolled in the military and trained in the art of warfare. Israelis all learn to shoot and kill just like our own kids learn to drive a car. Even Yossi, who was in his forties when I met him, must put on his uniform and report to the army first thing upon re-entering Israel to visit his ex-wife and kids.

It makes me wonder how we can talk about "innocent civilians" when it comes to the "homicidal suicide bombings" now being carried out by the Palestinians.

But that's not the worst of it. The big surprise came when I tried to put Yossi together with another of my friends who was also Jewish and one of South Florida's largest boat brokers. David had central listings and trade-in boats all over Ft. Lauderdale, anywhere he could find dock space. Like all vessels, these boats were almost constantly in need of repair and Yossi was a freelance electrician starting his own company.

I figured that the two of them would get along great. I told Yossi that he ought to call on David at his office, that there would probably be a lot of work involved.

Weeks later, Yossi dropped by my boat to tell he that he had to talk to me. Over coffee he said: "That David you sent me to see, he's Jewish isn't he?"

Somewhat taken back, I said yes, was that a problem? And then Yossi said: "I won't work for an American Jew. Why do you think I left my country? I got tired of killing my friends, people I grew up with." He rattled off a bunch of names like Golda Maier and others I don't remember, polishing it off with "if the American Jews had kept their noses out of things, there would still be peace in Israel." This conversation took place in 1975.

Don't you think there's something of a lesson here? A lesson that may well apply to other countries as well.