Israel's National Schizophrenia

By Yael Lotan

...Sometimes an entire people will display characteristics typical of individual human beings. In the case of Israel, one may say that the country displays several traits which together typify a classic psychotic syndrome. How else may we explain our odd blend of cry-babyism with bully-boyism? On the one hand, this nation still perceives itself as a minority persecuted by a hostile world; we employ the terminology we brought with us from our exile ("pogroms," "those who would annihilate us") at a time when the state has achieved a military might that places it in a class with great powers. On the other hand, during the last 40 years we have built up a tremendous reserve of self-confidence that verges on smugness. Our leaders forget that even great powers don't live in a vacuum and must consider other nations' wishes, and that power has its limits, as may be proven by such historical examples as Britain's forced departure from India or the American defeat in Vietnam...

Israel, which presents itself as the defender of world Jewry, is a complete anomaly in the international community. Its protracted conflict—which it makes almost no effort to end—menaces Jewish communities throughout the world. They are threatened not by any hostility from the people among whom they themselves live, but rather by the protracted conflict between Israel and its neighbors. Instead of this leading to a thorough reassessment of our stance, there are those who rejoice to see the world's Jewish schools and synagogues turning into siege fortresses, for they hope that this will lead to massive immigration to Israel. The truth of the matter is that it is less likely to make Jews come to Israel than it is to make them stop going to synagogue and sending their children to Jewish schools. This will accelerate the process of assimilation, already rapid enough because the anti-Semitism that once slowed its progress has now almost vanished from the face of the earth.

Schizophrenia thus becomes the ideological foundation on which the state of Israel rests, inevitably fueling the paradoxical crisis the country faces. One need not be a psychiatrist to make a diagnosis, nor need one be a prophet to offer a prognosis. All one needs is a good pair of glasses.

This article from the Israeli newspaper Al-Hamishmar was translated by Dr. Israel Shahak. The Washington Report periodically reprints Dr. Shahak's translations from Israel's Hebrew Press.