States do not have rights. States, after all, are just organizations with a monopoly on the means of coercion within a certain territory. They are not natural, and certainly do not enjoy any natural rights. At their best, states can be used to protect the rights of the people who live within their borders. States are usually not at their best, however. Usually, state powers are employed to violate the rights of the people unfortunate enough to live under the power of state operatives. These victims of the state include both the state’s residents as well as innocent victims living in other, weaker states.

A common phrase used by Israeli propagandists, however, is the phrase “Israel has a right to exist.” This is phrased vaguely on purpose. What is meant is this: “The State of Israel has a right to exit.” And, of course, it does not have a right to exist, just like the corporation known as “The United States government” does not have a right to exist.

Do the people known as Israelis have a right to exist? Of course they do, just as the people known as Palestinians have a right to exist. That, however, is a separate question.

This question, by the way, is often accompanied by a second propaganda statement: “Israel has a right to defend itself.” This statement is virtually always accompanied by an explanation of why the State of Israel is not bound by any international laws of warfare ,or by any moral provisions of Just War Theory. “Israel has a right to defend itself,” as generally used, is code for “Israel can do whatever it wants in war.”