Have the Israeli people lost the will to live?

View from the Right

At the website ShrinkWrapped, where “A Psychoanalyst Attempts to Understand Our World,” the anonymous author says about Israel exactly what I have been feeling and saying, though not writing, for some time, that there seem to be no fight left in the Israeli people. Yes, we know that Israel’s government is led by despicable weaklings and fools who are surrendering their country, allowing it to be attacked, and planning further retreats. But how can the Israeli people be so passive about this situation? This is why I have not been writing about Israel’s plight in recent months. It is difficult to care about people unless they care about themselves and show that they have some desire to live. But lately the Israelis have shown no such desire. View from the Right

At the website ShrinkWrapped, where “A Psychoanalyst Attempts to Understand Our World,” the anonymous author says about Israel exactly what I have been feeling and saying, though not writing, for some time, that there seem to be no fight left in the Israeli people. Yes, we know that Israel’s government is led by despicable weaklings and fools who are surrendering their country, allowing it to be attacked, and planning further retreats. But how can the Israeli people be so passive about this situation? This is why I have not been writing about Israel’s plight in recent months. It is difficult to care about people unless they care about themselves and show that they have some desire to live. But lately the Israelis have shown no such desire.

Comment on Israpundit: Of course, the thesis of this article is on-point. However, it fails badly in describing the dynamics that underlie the circumstances. Three processes concatenate to form the deadly brew.

American English occasionally expresses the idea of “sucker” - a person who has been taken for a fool and has given too much of his own resources in a situation. Israeli conversation is full of such references. The implication is quite Arab in nature. “You won’t find me taking up for someone else’s plight, since they would not do the same for me.” This process is particularly corrosive, but explains why Tel Aviv did not take up for Nahariya during the recent war in Lebanon. The Tel Avivians went to the beach and avoided army service as reflections of this “sucker” mentality.

Another process is actually more insidious, mirroring the idea that one should not make waves, because things will get worse. That is why Jews got on death trains, allowing themselves to be locked into cattle cars rather than overpowering their oppressors. Once the doors were locked on these trains they were safe until the doors were ultimately unlocked again. They chose the momentary safety of the locked doors, avoiding the immediate need for action. Survival actions are most successful when taken early in crises, rather than “when things calm down.” Threat imposed later was judged less a problem than the threat of the immediate moment - very human, but very destructive.

A third process is that exhibited by Left-wing Jews. At their worst, they argue the Arab case for Israel’s dismemberment. At their best they work for the civil rights of their Arab neighbors. “How can we live comfortably knowing that we are oppressing another people!” What they have lost is the proper perspective. As quoted on Little Green Footballs, “the most powerful lie is that of omission.” Selective attention is a human quality, but when one applies “omission” to one’s own thinking, it really looks like stupidity. This attitude is summarized by the Mishna, “Ethics of the Fathers” when it juxtaposes the two pithy rules: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me.” and “If I am only for myself, who am I.” The juxtaposition in the text is the deep understanding that both attitudes need to be present in the thinking individual. The left only too readily forgets to be “for myself,” and thus winds up despising those who look after survival issues. Combine this with the “sucker” dynamic and the Left is most likely to survive by leaving Israel to the “suckers” and the “nationalist fanatics.”

Once inside “defined borders” Israelis think they will be able to sue for peace each time their sovereignty is violated. What will actually happen is that politicians in Europe and America will snicker into their handkerchiefs and ask themselves how they managed to defang the Israelis so successfully.