Partisans of the hardline "Israel, right or wrong" crowd are overflowing with righteous indignation over comments made in recent days by three Obama Administration officials (see here, here, and here, for example).  They are outraged over comments by Secretary of State Clinton - a staunch defender of Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship - in which she expressed concern about the degenerating status of women in Israel and the anti-democratic trend in the Israeli Knesset.  They are dismayed by a speech delivered by Secretary of Defense Panetta - a longtime central player at the CIA and the Pentagon in U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation - in which he urged Israel to "reach out and mend fences" with some countries in the region, and called on both sides to "get to the damn table."  And they are apoplectic over remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman - an American Jew whose father spent World War II in Europe hiding from the Nazis - suggesting that there is a linkage between Israeli policies and the growth of anti-Semitism.

How dare these officials say such things about Israel?  

Maybe the answer is this simple: they dare because they care.  And because they know that caring about Israel means speaking some hard truths - not to hurt Israel but to save it.