Let us imagine the dream-country of most Israelis – without criticism, neither from within nor from without. It speaks in one voice and is eternally united, with devotion and cohesion; all-Jewish, that goes without saying. It stands unanimously behind its government, every government, and also, of course, behind its army, the Shin Bet security service and the Mossad espionage agency – Israel’s heroes.
There is not even a single “snitch,” no human rights organizations or peace movements, no nonprofit associations and no critical reports that are published here, or, heaven forbid, abroad. Its press never criticizes, never exposes, never investigates, publishing nothing but praise and admiration for the government and the state. It recites official statements and quotes from government and security briefings.
Every war that this dream-country wages is met immediately by nothing but cheers of approval. Any atrocity it commits in the occupied territories automatically earns across-the-board support – the most moral, the most just, the most security-oriented, in harmony. All residents must swear their allegiance, all those who wish to visit, too. Those who are faithful to Israel are welcome. All the rest must take the first plane (or truck ) out. In short, the country of one’s dreams.
But now let’s answer truthfully. Is that really the country we wound want to live in? Moreover, would the world that is always-against-us appreciate and like Israel better if that was how we looked and spoke, uniform and devoid of all self-criticism?
The benchmark upon which all psychological health and pathology can be assessed is the relationship between self and other. The breakdown of this relationship at its extreme results in psychosis: a condition in which an unbridgeable chasm has opened between the individual and the world he inhabits.
Is this where Israel is heading? A nation so deranged that the only source of comfort it finds is in a conversation that it mutters to itself? A nation that lashes out at anyone who ventures to close? A nation whose existence rests on a foundation of fear?
I advise Mr. Levy to shut his mouth so he won’t be diagnosed to be a psychotic “anti-Semite.” If he shuts up now he’ll get away with being diagnosed as a neurotic “self-hating Jew,” a condition that can still be reversed with lots of hasbara psychotherapy. What’s wrong with him, doesn’t he realize that Israel is indeed a “democracy” as the Zionist extremists currently running Israel are pro- rule by the MANY over the FEW? Alas, I’m afraid I don’t have a PhD in political science from an Israeli university so I’m not clear if term MANY applies to the FEW Israelis who have very MANY dollars, defrauded from US tax payers, or to the MANY Israelis who only have a FEW dollars despite ever slaving for the wealthy ones. I can imagine that if it were official policy to clear up the distinction between the former FEW-MANY version and the latter MANY-FEW one– rather than this distinction’s clarification not be permitted– then anyone having to live under such mafia-like non-distinction would go crazy. Apparently it is not permitted to clarify it clarify it as recently an Arab legislator in the Knesset tried to pass a law giving the MANY with a FEW dollars and the FEW with MANY dollars the same electoral and legislative power and it was defeated. That’s no surprise as for MANY running for the Knesset the value of being such a legislator– put on a list made by the FEW party leaders who decide to whom go Knesset seats– such a seat enables you to get under the table a lot American taxpayers’ dollars in remittance for “(under the table) services rendered.” How MANY dollars are made available to the FEW in the Keenest is not clear either as the US Congress issues these dollars in hidden legislative riders. Doesn’t this make you feel as “IIIINNNNSSSSAAAAANNNNNEEEE!” as “Crazy Eddy” who took refuge in Israel from the FBI?
Mr. Levy is spot-on in his assessment, but I’m afraid the title’s use of the word, “emerging” is inappropriate and should be deleted:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21798.htm
Those whom the gods wish to destroy … and all that. Maybe the countdown is already going.
Surely the issue of a failing state with an arsenal of nuclear weapons is a more pressing problem than that of one other insane state that may not be able to get nuclear weapons working properly — or a state that doesn’t have nukes and enters into international agreements to forestall their development.