The Washington Post runs an article in its Aug. 24 edition that slams U.S. weapons sales to Israel. It goes so far as to suggest that the U.S. might find itself accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court for helping to restock Israel’s arsenal of missiles for both offensive and defensive operations (“Fatalities in Gaza prompt scrutiny of U.S. weapons sales to Israel -- Officials say transfers of arms will continue despite civilian toll” by Sudarsan Raghavan and Ruth Eglash, page A12).

What’s curious about placing this article in the news section is that there is no great clamor in U.S. official or political circles about arms transfers to Israel. Rather, the article is basically another Israel-bashing concoction by a couple of Post correspondents.

What’s even more curious is that the Post fails to show any corresponding curiosity about North Korean arms sales to the terrorist group Hamas to enable it to fire rocket barrages against Israeli civilian population centers.

The exclusive concern of the article’s authors is that Palestine may be targeted and hurt by U.S.-made weapons. The fact that Hamas stocks its arsenal with North Korean, Syrian, and Iranian weapons to hurt Israelis is not on their radar.

“In the ongoing six-week-old war in the Gaza Strip, weapons sold to Israel by the United States have played a prominent role,” they write.

While President Obama has criticized Israel for insufficient caution to prevent civilian deaths, they note, he is letting a new supply of Hellfire missiles proceed to Israel.

So who’s upset about all this?  Apart from the two authors? The article skirts comments by American and Israeli officials, and instead gives prominent space to dependably sharp critics of Israel -- the UN. relief agency in Gaza  and Amnesty International, both far left on the political spectrum.  It’s their agenda that prompts the article.

For good measure, the Post correspondents also question $3 billion in annual U.S. military assistance to Israel that, in part, helps Israel pay for Iron Dome, the missile-defense system that has spared numerous Israeli lives during the current Gaza War.

Israel is an easy journalistic target these days. Anything goes. What’s missing is any acknowledgment that the U.S. and the West benefit greatly from Israel’s front-line defense against the likes of Hamas and Hizb’allah, and more recently the ISIS. Israel is the canary in the coal mine. As the most dependable U.S. ally in a violent neighborhood, it holds the fort not only for itself but for the entire civilized world.

To weaken that alliance gives the barbarians an extra edge in their insatiable appetite for more and more territory.

To borrow from John Donne:  Do not ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. And that includes the Washington Post.