Many Westerners also do not fully understand Israel or Jews. Is it also wrong to empathize with them?

What's not clear to me is why I should have little regard for 1 group, but an immense sense of empathy and concern for another. And in fact, as a US taxpayer, no one has contributed more to the defense and survival of Israel. Israel is by far the largest recipient of US military aid than any other country.

Is this wrong? If Americans and Westerners are so ignorant and should not dare show empathy to any others they might not fully understand, then perhaps all the empathy shown and very real military support given to Israel in the wake of the October 7 attacks is misguided and irresponsible as well.

I'm also confused about your analogy to my country. Is the racist white Southerner supposed to be analogous to the Palestinians? Is the Black police officer supposed to represent Israeli authority that Palestinians must now humble themselves to submit to?

If I understand that part of your analogy correctly, then here's where I think it is flawed.

In the United States, Black people were brought to the country against their will and enslaved until slavery was abolished. The Black police officer could be a descendant of these slaves. But, he is not indigenous to the land as the Jewish people claim. Furthermore, as a police officer, he is a civil servant and public safety officer who works for a government that represents all Americans and a country where both the Black police officer and and the Southern racist are both citizens of equal standing before the same law (if we're assuming that this hypothetical interaction takes place after the Jim Crow era).

The Black police officer is not a soldier from a Black ethno-state newly formed after the end of slavery to preserve the interests of Black people as an exclusively Black state.

This is a completely different situation than that faced by Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories like Hebron where Jewish settlers are protected as citizens under Israeli Civil law, while Palestinians are subjected to a different military rule by soldiers representing a country Palestinians are not citizens of despite having lived there prior to the establishment of the modern state of Israel.

In the US, we have the Establishment Clause in the 1st amendment of our Constitution which forbids the US government from declaring an 'official' religion. This is the exact opposite principle that Israel was founded on with it being officially a Jewish state.

This is why it would be illegal in the US for the Black police officer to interrogate the racist Southern citizen about what religion or ethnicity he was as a condition for passage - a regular occurrence for Palestinians subject to Israeli military occupation.

If some foreign soldier stopped me in the street and started haranguing me with stupid questions about what religion my grandmother was in order to pass, I'd be upset too. That's ridiculous, absurd and illegal (at least from a US perspective). In this regard, I can understand the Palestinians' anger and resentment having to deal with this daily.

I think what's even more dangerous than attempting to empathize with Palestinians, is accepting the myth that Israel is 'just like' the US. It is not. Israel's notions of democracy are rooted in concepts that would be illegal to implement in the US. This is one reason many Americans protest Israel and the actions of its military and government - especially since it receives so much aid courtesy of the US taxpayer. Not because they're in love with Hamas.

I think there is some wisdom in avoiding the impulse to empathize with things you do not fully understand. But, this skepticism must be applied equally to all religions, ethnicities and countries. One mustn't empathize with Jewish extremist settlers either - many of whom are sanctioned by the US or on terror watchlists along with Hamas for the violence they perpetrate against Palestinians in the West Bank.