Only psychiatrists can explain Israel's behavior

Look, just because Israel happens to have, ostensibly I might add, a few more visible forms of a 'free, liberal society' than does Palestine, does not mean that because of this Israel somehow 'merits' the complete absolution and cancellation from memory of the historical and planned (from Herzl to Jabotinsky on) crime of Zionism of having ethnically cleansed, quite systematically, another people who had lived on the land for untold centuries, and far more than a millenium. No one is arguing that for a Westerner it might be easier to live in Israel than in Palestine, except, that is for the arrogant collective loss of memory and sense of impunity with which Israelis seem to go through their daily lives. The argument is about what Zionism and Israel have done, and what they continue to do.

Israel needs a lobotomy and an enema!

Come on Gideon, All your questions can be answered simply: Israel is utterly self deceived and psychotically paranoid due to centuries - millennia - of programming by twisted 'prophets' and misguided rabbis announcing that it's cool - actually obligatory - to rob, enslave and kill the Goys. Many, maybe most, probably knew all along that something serious was amiss, but went along with the mob, energised by false hope. Now the rude awakening!. Especially because the scale of international condemnation and abhorrence for Israel's continuing pillage, plunder and murder was unexpected - at least miscalculated. Sorry Israel, you cannot get away with murder any more. Keep building those settlements, because you're gonna hand them over to the Palestinians when justice takes its course.

Gideon Levy: Without you and your sanity, we would have given up on any remote hope for the future of Israel. I have visited Palestine 4 times in the last 5 years and things are not improving in the world's largest open air prison. Please keep writing about the situation with your frank and honest style. Thank you, Dale Egee

I agree with all of the failings listed in the article. I would say that the patient was not mentally ill, however--merely overly stressed. Imagine a similar article by a Palestinian writer detailing the manifold failings of their side. That writer would be shot. When suicide bombers kill busloads of children, they are given rock star funerals. When the IDF kills civilians, there are protests within Israel, and widespread questioning the judgment of the government. No one celebrates. Until a Gazan can freely express criticism of Hamas the way this article criticizes Jewish religious fanatics, the moral high ground will still belong to Israel. A warning, there has been some leveling this past year. Israel is in the grips of a conservative political season, as the US was for 8 terrible years. It will be a time of damage for as long as your conservatives rule.

The witchdoctors may be able to shrink the human mind of all of it's delusions, with their mumbo-jumbo, but the perplexity of the whole Middle Eastern situation will only be resolved by One. Do you know Him?

There are some people in Europe who are guilty of trying to pacify Arabs/Muslims. My simple advice to them is 'Shut up. You have no idea what you're courting.'

Let's just say that Israel is responding to an agression, or acting in self defense. Well in any stae of law when acting in self defense you beat, step on, crush, humiliate and eventually kill the agressor...you would be arrested... Well don't expect the war to change, war is crazy, people are idiots and fear is the motor of our world...I think today, "good men do nothing..."

excellent analysis, and if this 'sounds like someone outside israel' then good! there is a hell of a lot wrong with israel and it's about time israelis started using tough love and getting itself into a fit shape for the wider world. it looks as if the israelis are now the ones who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

It doesn't take a psychiatrist to explain Israel's behavior. Israelis have chosen to settle in an area surrounded by peoples who resent their presence. What possibly borders on the abnormal is that she has persisted in maintaining this state of affairs over a long period of time and long ago gave up trying to get along with her neighbors, a condition which she appears to assume is impossible. The result is an unhealthy environment for all in which everyone makes demands, no one makes concessions, and neither party listens to the other, i.e. a perpetual state of antagonism and periodic war, further exacerbated by extremists (terrorists), both Israeli and anti-Israeli. Yes! It is abnormal! No! It doesn't take a psychiatrist to explain it.

"Paranoia is characterized by irrational belief of sources of danger What do you call the belief that danger is everywhere, when danger is everywhere? " In answer to uyour question: There are two basics reactions to danger: the paranoid dynamic in which the person tends to fight the threat or run away from it; and the hysterical dynamic in which the person simply melts into a state of helplessness. BOTH of these are perfectly normal reactions to danger. Further, Every human being is endowed with both dynamics; but in a given individual one dynamic tends to predominate over the other. Paranoia is a paranoid reaction to an IMAGINED source of danger. One should be careful not to confuse a normal paranoid dynamic reaction to paranoia. One is normal, the other pathological.

According to Wikipedia, "Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously." Israel's concept that she has a right to be here is in direct dissonance with the concept of other groups that she does not have a right to be here. The resulting environment is threatening to Israel as a society. To this point there is nothing pathological about Israel. But when she chooses to fight her enemy, often using methods that are contradictory to her confessed faith as Jews, then cognitive dissonance becomes apparent. This does not say she is right. It does not say she is wrong. But her committment to destroy her enemy and her committment to the humanitarian dictates of her faith does constitute a cognitive dissonance, a problem also noted in predominantly Christian Europe following WWII. for example.

The quote from "An essay on criticism" by Alexander Pope (1709) fits the discussion on mental instability of the land of Israel, bravo, Gideon Levy. There was something meshuga from the start, arrogantly pushing a huge influx of immigrants upon a land with only 5% Jewish population at the time (c. 1900), blithely ignoring the screams and kicks of the natives, their riots, the massacres of Jews, the rebellions by Arabs against the colonial Brits who engineered this demographic catastrophe. Total insanity.

It is all explained on these pages of Haaretz. The Jewish race feels quite confident and powerful in the most powerful nation of the world. From finance to politics, the jews in the US excelled putting critical people on the defensive while promoting their method of thinking in the media and all are owned and operated by jews. SO if you don not think in favorable way to he jews you got to answer some questions. Until the US can shake this jewish fear without fear of reprisal Israel will will run amok in the world. But fear the eventual non fear of the Jews.

Perhaps I?m wrong, but compulsive behavior can be very self defeating (even self-destructive). The fact that one may be certain they have perfectly good reasons to act in a certain way (perhaps based upon past experiences), does not necessarily negate the possibility they are acting compulsively (and therefore at the mercy of their own compulsive behavior*). But then, who am I to judge? I certainly make no claim of expertise in such matters. *A VERY LIMITED, VERY IMPERFECT ANALOGY Obsessive?compulsive disorder @ Wikipedia (excerpt)?The cognitive?behavioral model suggests that compulsive behaviour is carried out to remove anxiety-provoking intrusive [obsessive] thoughts. Unfortunately this only brings about temporary relief as the thought re-emerges. Each time the behaviour occurs it is negatively reinforced by the relief from anxiety, thereby explaining why the dysfunctional activity increases and generalizes (extends to other, related stimuli) over a period of time? P.S. Israel certainly seems to have an obsession with Masada (as perhaps Texans have with the Alamo).

There is one basic thing many Jews need to accept. There really isn't any god who chose you above all other people.

I'd like to thank the Ha'aretz for having the courage to present the news with what I perceive to be a serious (and successful) attempt at presenting with neutrality. I'm glad to say that I'm regularly surprised to see articles like this one being placed on your website and moreso, that I myself have learned a lot more about Israel coming to this website where I probably wouldn't have if the Ha'aretz was otherwise.. The questions the article asks are largely relevant and I have to say that besides Gaza, the biggest shock was the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman for the seat of Foreign Minister. The signal it sends is extremely negative and the little hope that I had of peace has definitely faded.

vh: "that a mandate is not a precursor to a state as in the case of syria labanon iraq and others carved from the ottoman empire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Victor is unique amongst zionists in acknowledging that the Mandate for Palestine was merely one of a number of similar Mandates. Victor is correct that the Mandates (all of them) were intended to lead to sovereign states. The Mandate for Palestine was, however, unique in that it contained two additional provisions: 1) a "Jewish national home" "in" Palestine 2) everything east of the Jordan river was exempt from (1). Read the Mandate text: There was supposed to be a (provisional) state called "Palestine", and it was ALSO to serve as a sanctuary for Jews. But the key word used in the text was "ALSO" i.e. the Mandate didn't commit the Mandatory to establish that (eventual) sovereign state of Palestine as a "Jewish state", but merely that Jews could come and live there.

Your 54 is classic and the most defining statement on the Palestinian situation. His stammering incoherent rebuttal to your clearly logical argument indicates that he knows and that he will do or say anything to sidetrack the readers.

This article is fantastic. I was always made to feel like I was completely crazy because of my view on the situation. It's good too see that someone has to guts to say it how it actually is.

I do not think it requires psychiatrists to explain the Israeli behavior. Here is the explanation: 1. Israel's hidden agenda is that of Leiberman, which is never to leave the occupied territories. 2. Lieberman and his right wing racists in the government are determined to take over tha land and to hold the Palestinians as refugees and slaves on their own land. 3. Israeli leaders from Peres to Sharon to Barak to Natanyahu are fully occupied in deceiving the whole world and wasting time while stealing land and instituting a sterilized apartheid. 4. All what the Israeli leaders do is to deceive the world while at the same time work hard to promote a hidden agenda of not allowing any resolution. In the meantime, Israel is slowly making the occupation irreversible 5. As to how to explain this Israeli behavior, it is now becoming clear that Jews feel that they are superior to Palestinians, Arabs and Moslems. It is Jewish supremacy.

there were 100,000 who flew ethnic cleansing they started and than failed to complete. Some flew because they feared for own life, after committing atrocities, others flew because they felt that living in Jewish neighborhood is a humiliation to an Arab ( you do not know of Arab racists, do you ) The 100,000 who flew, are welcome to return, and we not only do not expected any trouble, we want them to return. Whatever they do is their choice. But than, these 100,000 have nothing to do with daily shootings. They flew it... but I don't think you will get what I say without a good doctor of mind. The bottom line, Arabs lost war on Israel, long time ago. Your revanchist agenda and protracted murder of Jewish nation on ethnic grounds by Arabs is as asocial in its rooting as any other troubled mind.

gideon KNOWS the answers, ga; he poses the questions rhetorically in a futile attempt to open the eyes of the many whose perception is muddled by singleminded fanatical support of israel's self-destructive policies. that you seem to feel he needs to provide answers to those questions(and others who attack him for posing them), indicates that his attempt to stimulate insight into the disparities highlighted by each, is completely lost in the depth of ignorance and/or racist values of many.

Historical, history and hystoronics. Seems that throughout history, both recorded and oral, dilemas exist. Now what makes a dilema a dilema? It is usually associated with a situation which is not so to speak, "cut and dry". Israel is facing enemies, all these enemies have their self interests as well as a collective interest. Until these enemies state to the contrary, their collective goal is to destroy Israel. Their speech is not cryptic, they publicize their thoughts and dreams. Israel's dilema is how to face this situation. One side says be strong & hold onto the land won in victory. History shows us that states that decrease in size eventually vanish. The other side says "Peace at all costs". So the dilema is what is the cost? Israel essentially exists as a refuge for Jews, not as a shining beacon of democracy in a shadowed corner of the planet. When critics fail to realize this fact, they become drawn to illusions & often hysteronics.

Here is a simple summary that you seem to have not understood - Some professions should generally be subordinate to politics, but not necessarily to morality. For example the military. If a general tells a private to kill someone, generally the private should act. The private should not say "But that contradicts my 3 months of experience ...". Other professions should not be subordinate to politics. For example the Soviet Union had a mental illness called something like "failure to understand the wisdom of communism". If you are going to see the human mind through a racial / political / religious / commercial /etc lens, then you need to not be a psychiatrist, and instead be a racist / politician / rabbi / businessman / etc Its enough that most psychiatrists are incompetent. Not necessary they should be politicians too.

Projecting: To externalize and attribute (an emotion or motive, for example) unconsciously. Mr. Levy is guilty of dime store philosphying and of course playing doctor well into his adult years. Part of the Post Freud generation intent on naval gazing. Pre '67 nostalgia, perfumed soaps and sandpaper toilet rolls. Hum de dum de doe, Pruning olive trees as I go.

Are you going to demonstrate when the Jewish community in Ireland hold a meeting of support for Israel and have their businesses boycotted? Perhaps you are going to demand their arrest as war criminals.

You will find this madness anywhere! Just read commentaries on articles in the israeli media, or on youtube, twitter or in postings in boards. It always starts with a quite rational discussion and ends with even jews accusing jews of antisemitism. There's no rationality at all and the majority can't even answer the simple question, if jews and nonjews have the same basic rights as human beeings.

I know, Israel is being paranoid! The arab states and the Iranian government does not really want to destroy the state of Israel. The Germans did not really want to kill all those people. Israel keeps misunderstanding other people's intentions. The arabs want a strong and thriving Israel. I have no idea why Israel fears their neighbors?

I'm not sure what the psychiatric theory is for strategic behaviour. But that is what we have. Settlements were built in Sinai but when there was a peace agreement, they were abandoned, despite the protests of settlors. Strategic behviour puts appropriate pressure on the Pals and there is a risk that if the Pals do not at some point commit themselves to peace and renounce violence, they will and SHOULD lose their "dream" of creating a silk purse (a peaceful and productive) state our of a sows ear (the terror group they are).

My problem with you is that you live on land that was taken from the native population. They were killed, treated like animals and their children were taken from them and given to your white Christian cousins. Today they live in poverty and have a high precentage of alcoholism. There is so much prejudice towards them, that many try to assimilate and hide their culture and family lineage if they can pass as white. Leave and go back to Europe where your nasty relatives originated! The difference is that the Jewish people are the original inhabitants of the land of Israel and Palestinians also have a legitimate claim. What claim do you have over your land and house that you family stole from its rightful owners?

Then there are the psycopathic posts from some who beneath the thin veneer are just snakes in the grass.

Oh yeah true!! and probably at least by that you may finally become human beings.

Paranoia is characterized by irrational belief of sources of danger. What do you call the belief that danger is everywhere, when danger is everywhere? A realist, is of course the answer. History, has made Israel and Jewish people anxious. Hence, its psychology is informed by reality. To suggest that Israel has irrational concerns its simple bullcrap or empty headed nonsense. Just look at the Arab world and the violence that permeates it. In any event, all behaviour has a psychiatric explanation. The Islamic world's psycholgy is far more detached from reality than its intended victim.

Israel's presence in Jerusalem and the WB is not colonial. On the contrary the Pal presence is colonial and ultimately follows the path paved by the violent conquest of "Palestine" by Arabs in the 7th century. Jews predated that by thousands of years and continued to be present in small numbers, after their ouster. Those numbers dwindled due to their treatment and ultimately their exclusion from Jerusalem and the WB, an exclusion based, not on their conduct, but their Jewishness. You have the world upside down Cynic. And all that doesn't get into the direct reason Jews were in the WB and Gaza as of 1967 and stayed thereafter. You & yours, apologists for terrorists, like to turn the world on its head but what you do is transparent & doesn't stand up to analysis.

Hats off to you Mr.Levy for speaking the truth. May God bless you

"If we didn`t have a neighbor who keeps shooting Jewish people from 1948 practically daily this question would not have even being asked." You can hardly refuse 800,000 people to return to their land and do not expect trouble...

And you answer your own question: '... just that the whole world is meshuga, and only galloping iron-shod Israel is "sane"...' Let me ask you my own question then. What does it mean if someone thinks they're the only sane person?

hahahahaha....way to go gideon...more drivel out of your mouth...if you were PM, all of israel and eventually the west, would be on carpets facing east 5 times a day...

which the Israeli feed on. And to maintain their power Israelis must constantly find new levels of paranoia to feed the Israeli public. Currently it was Iran, previously it was some bloke from Iraq, before that some Colonel from Libya before that some Egyptian who said he was palestinian, before that a bloke who lived in Syria, before that some Egyptian, before that it was acombination, before that it was the British. Israel is a nation ruled on fear and suspicion, coupled with various bnationalities who are historically suspicious of each other. For instance the current Prime Minister came second in the Israeli elections on the promise of attacking Iran, Israel's latest bogeyman. Israeli politicians rule by invoking fear, Israelis like to live fearful lives.

Israelis comport themselves like their own parents: When they are adults they clip around their children's ears and alternately kiss them two minutes later on their other ceek. The kids, subjected to conditioned love, are spoilt with gifts filling their shelves due to their parents' guilt, resulting in immatured personalities, often detatched from reality and healthy emotions. Socio-political affections are reflected through "magia-li" mentality, Chutzpah and lack of responsibility and positive future visions.

"loyal Arab minority?" - who is the fool Yes. I remember well how Israeli Arabs rallied to the nation's need during the Yom Kippur War. The current belief on the part of some Israelis that ALL Arabs are enemies and NO Arab can be a loyal citizen is a blatant expression of the level of insanity that Mr. Levy writes about. One of the manifestations of the national mental condition is the degree to which the Israeli right is determined to do all it can to offend and harass the Arab minority. While in the past Israel might be accused of a benign neglect of it's Arab minority, recent governments have gone out of their way to be abusive. It is essentially insane for ANY democratic government to turn on a minority group for racist reasons. It is not only wrong, it is dangerous. The right-wing belief that ALL Arabs are Enemies could well become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

4° Israel has desperately fought for its image and standing? Apparently the psychiatrist helped Israel to overcome it's desperation. It doesn't care anymore. 5° The potentially disastrous Goldstone report? So fare no harm happened. The disaster remains potential. It's all rational. No psychiatrist needed.

Huala Arash,you finish me.?Do you want to be my therapist ??

3° Liebermann is not a nice face to present to the world? Remember that the world had already been acustomed to not so nice israeli faces like Arik Sharon, during the first Lebanon war and the second Intifada. It's all rational, no need for a psychiatrist.

2° The poor get poorer? They are too week to protest. The arab minority is put down, humiliated, excluded, it, treat it unfairly treated? As long as the show a surprising loyalty to the State, they don't represent a political problem. It's all rational, no need for a psychiatrist

When you remove the blood-thirsty antagonist from the narrative, of course the defensive actions of the remaining party seem paranoid, illogical.

I don't object calling a psychiatrist for explaining paradoxical behaviour. But first I suggest that we try an explanation by just using plain common sense. 1° How can we explain that the government makes commitments and does the contrary? A psychiatrist would call it mythomania. I call it lying.The rational explanation for the lies: it pays time in order to realize the real agenda of the governement: Territorial expansion, based on Jabotinsky's time-honored revisionist ideology, confirmed by the democratic election of a suitable majority in the Knesset. The settlers sow fear and extort the country for so many years? Because they do implement the revisionist goal on the ground. All the Arab nations have presented a historic peace proposal, and Israel refuses to even discuss this? Because it goes against the territorial ambition of Israel, that's why. Judge by the deeds, not by the words. are too week to protest.

A little history: In Brussels during WWII a jew named "Jack der Mooser" (Jack the traitor) was regularly driven around by the gestapo throughout the city. He pointed all the addresses where jews were living. If a curtain was closed he told the gestapo to check it out, probably some jews were hiding there. Why did he do that? Only a psychiatrist would know. The end of the story was that after denouncing all the jews, he, himself was send away by the same gestapos to Auschwitz and never came back. Let this be a lesson for you, Levy, hopefully you will come to your sences.

Thanks for your sophisticate advise.Mr.Levy is not an easy case.?Do you agree ?

of Clinical Practice (which was thankfully highlighted from my brother's first year MD school year), it became known to me that it's difficult to diagnosis the behavioural problems or perhaps there's multiple disorders which direct Israel to act at times irrationally. In my opinion, settling the WB after the Six Days War was misguided because we then occupied the Palestinians. Continuing to expropriate territory while a significant sector of Israelis and the rest of the world (except former U.S. Republican Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin) deems it an illegal act is not something healthy. In any case, it's argued that success is achieved through cognitive behavourial therapy which involves talking and putting into action the goals which are intended for oneself and for others. That's my psychiatric contribution for today. The invoice for $150 will be in the mail! And that's on the cheap side.

Maybe psychiatrists can explain Levy's hate.But who is going to pay for this??? Haaretz??

This,what you said,is exactly what i was trying to convey.

...it's a date with a lie detector that Israel requires. It isn't rocket science: Israel talks a good game about peace, but its political class have consistently favoured the appropriation of stolen lands. No justice, no peace. K.

Could be that the country is too close to a river called (De)ni(a)l(e) :) Or could be traced back to national childhood traume as the "child" was plunked into, and then fished out of, that self-same river. David

Israel worries that the Arabs are not friendly. I am afraid to say that a certain amount of disagreement must be expected when you steal their land and ruin their livelihood.

The idea of a two state solution is dead. The Palestiians do not want it. They want if you r3ead the arabic message put out by Fatah a one state solution. They have just honored a suicide homicide bomber by naming a new street after him. The Egyptians do not want it. They have come out against a Palestinian state in Gaza and are busy fortifying their border to prevent tunneling and attacks on Egyptian forces. The Jordanians pay lip service to a Palestinian state on their border that would lead to the end of the Hashemite KIngdom. Israel does not want it because of the experience that they received when they left Gaza. They wiuld go backt to the pre 67 time period when arab snipers on the walls of the old city fired into Jewish sections of Jerusalem, and syrians fired down on farmers working in the galilee beneath the Golan Heights. The only ones who really want two states are some American and European states who believe in the tooth fairy, and people like Gideon Levy and the left

One of the most brilliant assessment ever, word by word !!!! David

anything of substance?

P.S. Gideon here is another 40yrs of Israeli dysfunctionalism and undering of peace to avoid doing what's right and lawful. The Scranton Mission on behalf of Nixon (1969); Sadat's land for Peace & mutual recognition (1971); Carter's call for a Geneva Conference (1977); Saudi King Fahd's peace offer (1981); The Reagan Plan (1982);The Baker Plan (1988) ; The Baker Plan ('89) The continued Taba Negotiations (2001). The Saudi Peace plan on behalf of the Arab League (2001); The unofficial Geneva Init. (2003) The Oslo Accord (1993) And killing of Rabin (1995); 22 Arab initiative on Behalf of Syria (2201) and the 3 other Syrian Initiatives of (02 -04); the Roadmap '04 by the US & Quartet which Sharon's & his buddies have proclaimed they anesthesize in formaldyhe to render it inactive. What atrocious evil doing in Israel and today it is the end of the line for all this as no one I know is going to dismiss it or indeed excuse it......Dutch

don't always agree with GL however this article hit the nail in the head; Israel is in decadence. I salute you gideon

Israel still rules . As a frequent visitor to Israel and traveler to many other countries , I can attest , there is not another place more exciting , smart , cultured , and lively as Israel is . As for faults they do not have more then any others . Beside it is a small country dealing with a huge immigrant population and Arab criminality . .

for speaking the truth.

is the relentless undermining of peace and the same chronic avoidance to do what is just and lawful and stop the settlementsand withdraw from the Palestinian Territories as is mandated in UN Security Council Resolution 242 and the 4th Geneva Convention. So yes, it looks schizophrenic but I believe it is a measured response to deceive Israelis and the rest of the world but Israel will be always judged on its actions like the rest of us and on that point it is a chronic failure and dysfuctional state whose leadership has no interest in land concession or peace with its neighbors and this is what people around the world and Jews in the diaspora must come to terms with today as there's no more excusing this outlaw state today It has become an insult to the free and civil world after what it did to Lebanon in 2006 and last year to Gazans and their civil society. (See how it tried to uproot the people in the territories in 1967 as it did in 1948. Same -same http://www.alternatefocus.org/SittaShow.html ) Dutch

At this point,don't believe it is possible. Israel said they will freeze expansion of settlements for ten months,then announce a few days later announce more settlements expansion on stolen land, then just recently announce another project of 700 units on stolen land. Then balme the Palestinians for not wanting to negotiate a peace deal.Tell me, if somebody want to make peace why would they conntinue to steal land from you, a conscious mind would not build on stolen land and try to negotiate peace.I'm sure normal people do not behave this way.But let's give Israel credit for being the masters of deception and let's give the international community failing marks for allowing Israelis to decieve them at will.

I'm not a psychiatrist but for sure he has to be diagnosed as a "Dangerous Meshogeneh". He's a pyroman who wants to burn down his own house. Levy, learn from history: Your ennemies, included the ones included in this talkback, don't see a difference between a right-wing and a left-wing jew, they probably would get you first.

It's a world where best friends sell you out leaving you vulnerable to your enemies. Who needs the past to justify a supervigilant stance? There is plenty of sh_t goin' on right now. Levy keeps our heart open though its a world centered on the mind, usually in survival mode.

"Perhaps Mr. Levy should apply his psycho-analysis to the Palestinians and find out why they are so fixated on destroying the "Zionist entity" which is a forlorn hope." Judge Jeff Northridge The Palestinians need only sit back and watch the show. Bi National State with world support and Israel looking in from the outside as per usual---but it will be too late. Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, our poor little Israel. Looks like your sabatical did not work. Still as blind as ever. That is what happens when you spend your time back slapping with fellow war mongers at the so called Olive Branch.In breeding can be fatal. Oh well --aren,t you folks in for a fine shock in the not too distant future.

His name is Gideon Levy, not Gordon Levy...:)

There is a culture of entitlement here according to which the average Israeli acts as if he / she is entitled to whatever they want while remaining incapable of considering what the impact of the fulfilment of their wishes might be on others. The examples of this are manifold. For example, check out the Tel Aviv crowd with their dogs. Many of them own huge cold weather animals totally unsuited to the searing summer temperatures let alone life in small appartments in a city with very limited green space. You only to look at these poor dogs panting in the summer heat to think of the Palestinians. If this is how little the average Israeli cares about his / her pet.... We are a very sick society of people with a people of infantile, selfish mentality. The settlers are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mental illness.

That says 'if you have two Jews, you have three arguments." It is also true that Israel has ALWAYS been plagued by the inconsistencies and competing desires ANY society will have. But Mr. Levy has illuminated just how extreme the inconsistencies, and contrary policies and actions of Israel have become. The knee-jerk responses, especially from the rabid-right, are strong evidence of the validity of his observations. Israel for some time has been just ploughing along on a course long lost and towards a goal few can see. A nation which had a yearly debate of whether Syria or Egypt will attack this year, has become a nation which debates who it will attack this year. The absence of major threat has created an obsession with minor threats. The nation pours it's wealth into Settlements which the majority see little use for, or actually oppose. This might be either pathological, or more likely, just inertia in a society which is paralyzed. Paralysis is not healthy.

It's not paranoia if Islamo-fascists really are trying to kill you. In this case, the Palestinians would like nothing better than to kill all of the Jews and "raise the banner of Allah" over all of the old Mandate of Palestine including Israel proper. Perhaps Mr. Levy should apply his psycho-analysis to the Palestinians and find out why they are so fixated on destroying the "Zionist entity" which is a forlorn hope.

Because Gideon Levy does not know what load of crap he continues to inflict upon us. A disgrace

It is curious that Israel in the early 1960s seemed far less scared and far more confident than now. The nation had been founded, and survived. The terrorist threat was in steady decline. Progress was everywhere. The great crisis and triumph of the 1960s were the run-up to the Six Day War, and the war itself. This led to a certain hubris. The cocky sabra attitude became a bit arrogant. While Israelis knew the cost of the Six Day War, they also felt assured for the first time that they could quickly prevail. This sense of omnipotence was not curbed, but reinforced by the Attrition War. Then came the traumatic Yom Kippur War. A sense of superiority and security which the quick victory in 1967 had instilled was shattered by a war where the very existence of the nation was in question. A horrible war with huge casualties. This trauma led to the destruction of the left coalition which had guided Israel since before the beginning. It led to the rise of the right and incessant anxiety.

It is the right which needs to learn. Judea fell to Rome because the then Jewish leadership became more and more extreme in its demands and actions, justifying ghetto-ising the land in the name of their version of their deity. Rome ended up crushing Judea because of the extremism of a leadership,who in acting the way they did condemned their people to indescribable oppression for nearly the next 2 millenia. As America is often regarded as the New Rome, beware of antagonising it. There isn't even the possibilty of Persian support this time, as Bar Kochba had hoped. In history any Jewish/Israelite entity only ever thrived once it had made treaties and had some degree of respect for its neighbours.

Well , USA patriot in Dakha , Bangladesh. 1) I dont' believe you are a psychatrist 2) Even if you were, your logic that makes you qualify dhlawrence the psychatrist as just another israeli etc...has no weight since gideon levy is also just another israeli. which one needs psychatric treatment ? you say one, I and many others say the other.

For once I agree wholly with Levy.

levy would be the first one the palestninians will shoot should they succeed in getting what levy wants them to get.

Israel's illegal acquisition of other folk's territory, show he is quite correct....Not that they seem to notice, which is even more telling.

"semantic from down under as to the difference between homeland and state" Oh dear. You do have a problem ... "that a mandate is not a precursor to a state as in the case of syria labanon iraq and others carved from the ottoman empire!!" The mandate over Palestine, was ONLY over Palestine & it did not say a separate Jewish 'State' Never the less, you and your G-d and your fellow travelers were sold out by the Jewish People's Council declaring Sovereignty over the boundaries recommended by UNGA res 181. Res 181 is STILL enshrined in the Declaration of a a Jewish State. //?MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have the honor to notify you that the state of Israel has been proclaimed as an independent republic within frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947, and that a provisional government has been charged to assume the rights and duties of government for preserving law and order within the boundaries of Israel //

That's what Gideon Levy is. And he's very good at it. Unconnected questions fired at random , as if especially constructed so as to make it impossible to answer and thus fail the questioned. If Gideon is so clever, why doesn't he answer these questions and enlighten us with the answers instead of 'enerving' the whole population ?

If yes then it can be dured. If no then it can be cured. It just needs a "medical team" willing to do the necessary invasive operation.

learn from history.

Perhaps as a psychiatrist you can't find a diagnosis because Gideon Levy makes very sane, rational arguments for his article. Physician heal thyself! You seem to need a diagnosis more than Mr Levy. Try starting with self dillusion

WAR economy

semantic from down under as to the difference between homeland and state . that a mandate is not a precursor to a state as in the case of syria labanon iraq and others carved from the ottoman empire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you want to apply a medical psychological label to Israel's condition, Gideon. Good article.

Always enjoy reading Gideon's articles,they speak the truth

Maybe Israel's enemies behaviour could explain Israel's behaviour. Not that Israel declared war on the 22 arab countries + Iran, but the other way round. Have a look at Israel's enemies. Sudan: 300,000 black Christians killed by arab muslim so far. Syria: The father of dictator Baby Assad (yes, in the arab world the countries belong to one family) killed 20,000 arab muslim dissidents in one week. For every palestiaian arab Israel kills they kill two. Civil war in Lebanon, Algeria, Somalia (one of the 22 countries), Jordan in the '70s, etc. How many arabs killed by arab car boms in Iraq today? The mass graves in Iraq: Arabs killed by arabs or Kurds killed by arabs. They hang gays in public squares, maltreat their women. They even kill their own daughters and sisters for "honour", those savages.

into the country, the wars would have been won and the arabs would already be building up their societies excluding terrorism as its chief national export. Levy, you are the one in need of help lacking critical senses- the sense of sight fails you as you cannot see rockets falling or wars initiated by our foes. you lack the sense of sound because you do not hear the enemies of Israel proclaiming their ultimate destruction of Israel. you certainly lack the sense of logical thinking by being so bitter & intolerant against anything that rests to the right of you- a simple word describes your ailing and failing existence- nonsense! You lack Jewish values and do little to protect the society you live in. You are a vaudeville act- a poor actor on stage and a dying breed of 'journalistic' incompetence- No one can explain your behavior with facts or with therapy- Jews like you just go against the grain and vanish into oblivion. Enjoy your trip!

Only psychiatrists can explain Gideon Levy's behavior!

The one needing the psychiatrist is YOU for writing such an irrelevant and inaccurate article.

Most Israelis love their country and understand that the enemy is the PA and Hamas. Gordon Levy thinks Israel is the enemy, why? Could a Psychiatrist explain this behavior?

As always, Gideon is right on the mark. Israel is a failed Zionist dream, feeding on the insanity of the criminal settlers and their enablers in America and elsewhere.

of course. If we didn't have a neighbor who keeps shooting Jewish people from 1948 practically daily this question would not have even being asked. While we certainly tempted to solve this inconvenience, we believe that the answer is not in violence that secures future of one nation unchallenged by the other. Perhaps in this regard we are taking a road that wasn't really available when state of Holland was conceived. At that savage time, the lack of nukes was supplemented with vigorous exercise of wooden bats with iron nail on its tip on the heads of ethnic competitors.

Another brilliant, intelligent, brave, courageous article by Gideon Levy, I have emailed it to many friends everywhere in the world.- Congratulations to Mr. Gideon Levy, and to Ha'aretz for publishing it.-

Dear levy. me my friend Sultan believ you are right 100%, like what happened in Gaza, too much money spent for construction of setellment and by the end of the day they were broken down and money wasted, same thing will happen in the west bank the settelment will be broken down and the money spent will go in vain..i keep wondering where are the wise men of isreal..all my life thought that the isrealis are smart people but they proved me wrong..not only the leaders need mental help but the people too..

How sane is it that men would blow themselves up murdering innocents with claims of defending islam and way of life when the way of life they appear to be defending is poverty, female oppression and polygamy? How do those with money and harems convince them to do that with merely a promise of 70 virgins in heaven/hell? (most men would think 70 wives would be hell) Why don't they fight to have just one wife and and peace with israel to better their financial situation to provide well for their family? Why do they choose to die only so a few wealthy have more? It's more complicated than that I'm sure but that's just something I wonder about.

- If Israel accepts a 2-state solution which would involve withdrawing from Palestine, why is it spending millions of dollars building more roads and homes it will then lose? That one just needs a lie-detector test on Netanyahu.

Does Mr. Levy really think that a two state solution will solve all the problems and that there will be peace? If so, he's very wrong. The Arabs (both in Israel and in Arab countries) do not want a Jewish state here at all, no matter how tiny it is.

israel could abandon its selfish and greedy tendency and start practising the virtue of sharing and so learn how to be happy. thank you.

It is easy to blame the "state" but the truth is that the state does nothing. The individual people in the state are responsible. The acts of the people in itself are not so special, I do not think they are crazy. It is what people do when they think that they can get away with it. You Gideon write in a newspaper that try to be well balanced. The truth is that Haaretz is one of the newspapers that keeps telling the people that what they do is normal. Even you ignore the red elephant in the room. Can the Israeli state morally be a Jewish state?

whatever treaties or declarations existed before DID NOT contain the word STATE. Had the zionists been happy to have a homeland instead of a separate state, Jewish folk could be living anywhere in Palestine. As it is, Israeli Jews do not have the right to live wherever they please except in Israel. You, your silly notions and G-d were sold out by the Jewish People's Council May 14th 1948.

The mentally ill are the ones who think they can bring peace by killing themselves.

Congratulation for this brilliant article. All Israelis should read it three times daily in homes, school-classes, university seminar-rooms and in the army. The settlement issue, Michael, is but a single symptom. The causal therapy should focus on: deeply rooted "Chutzpah and Magi'a-li Syndromes" in our society, comprehending the deep meaning of "Rule of Law" and "Universal Human Rights" and excluding the viral impact of religious indoctrination of our youth leading to fanatic fundamentalism, hatred, pathologic nationalism and racism by returning to Enlightenment, Humanism and a pedagogy privated of nationalism & prejudice. Our kids need a return to values, fairy tales, classic literature as models and tools for future social confrontation when they mature, rather than foolishing idiotic internet-games and aggression triggering toys so common in Western societies which lost self-criticism and control and, above all in Israel: the willingness and ability to compromise on peace.

No Psychiatrists will ever understand Israel Psychs just may be able to understand human behaviour, but will never understand the mind of God whose Spirit has been guiding Israel and will do so forever.

This article confirms my belief in my own sanity. I often wondered how a country could do such contradictory things. I could never rationalise spending billions creating colonies which must be negotiated away if there is ever to be peace. I am free to believe that the leaders of this country are either liars or lunatics.

"israelis are at the half road to be a paranoid population out of fear, security and hypocracy". (USAP) Please explain the meaning of the word "hypocracy", so we can know at the half road to what we are.

it's got no heart, no conscience, no soul, no scruples, no humanity, no empathy, and quite possibly no God. when a deficiency of these is combined with an immeasurable amount of greed, self-centeredness, and selfrighteousness, as is the case with israel, the inevitable outcome is manifested by behavior that is totally contrary to the basic values of human society in general and having absolutely no regard for law, justice, ownership, nor the rights of others. what you get is an entity that sees everything as belonging to it, takes what it wants, thinks everyone who objects is singling it out, and will lie, cheat, and pretend in order to cover its tracks and give the appearance that it's just like everyone else. there's a forensic term used for this sort, and it's certainly not insanity.

Not even psychiatrists can explain Israel's behavior.

WOW...spot on...best article Ive read in a LONG time..on any subject, anywhere...it's ppl like Gideon Levy that should make Israel worth fighting for by the world's jewry...

Sure, Israeli society suffers from some of the usual mental problems that come with puberty, like insecurity, hormonal imbalances etc. But the main problem is much worse. We suffer from a large and growing tumor (the settler endeavour) and although we managed to cur away part of it (Gaza), the other part seems to overcompensate rapidly. We should treat this proliferating body mass that has been getting a life of its own and is taking over then (more or less) healthy part of our society, no amount of psychiatry will do much here.

It is interesting that none of the readers disagreeing with Mr. Levy take the time to logically refute his argument. They insult his intellect and integrity while hiding behind pseudo-names and fictional addresses. A psychiatrist is not necessary in order to conclude that they confuse thought process with bad toilet training. As to the point Mr. Levy so brilliantly makes, I tend to agree with those answers that suggest that the present government is not insane, thought some of its actions strongly suggest just that, but that our leaders are lying when the say they want peace in place of land.

And it needs to be reined in as a serious risk for self harm.... (Someone mentioned a padded cell above, My feelings exactly) Dutch

... first of all you come from Vienna to the mad Middle East... secondly, I don't believe in lying-down-with-problems... healthier to rant-and-rave until they are solved...

Absolutely BRILLIANT!!

Mr.Levy has never said it better ....perhaps a padded cell for those culprits ....

... that often with psychiatric disorders there are diseases that let the patient recognize that it is sick, and those will improve with treatment; however, the ones that the disease does not let them recognize that they are sick will generally do worst and may not achieve recovery. In this case I fear the later.

Israel, find a psychiatrist who can ease a dysfunctional patient from being a victim to living free as a survivor.

Israel doesn't need a psychiatrist it only needs the big dady (US) to stop spoiling the little girl and believe me the little girl will have a chance to cure herself and grow up.

Twenty years ago, when I made aliyah, I wrote already that Israel doesnot need more weapons to defend itself, but an army of compassionate psychotherapists and healers. The paranoia and schizophrenia Levy detects, has a very real cause: almost 2000 years of having been persecuted, culminating int he shoah. And now living in an unfriendly neighbourhood of Arab countries where the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are openly sold. But still we should work on our inner terrors and fear of being wiped out totally, because only then we will be able to have a more rational policy. A more compassionate attitude is neccessary than Levy manages - he is (in my opinion) too angry to be able to be part of this compassionate healing force. (and I understand why - he has seen too much misery.) But psychiatrists won't help - they just give pills. Psychotherapists and shamanic healers, that is what we need!

Mr. Levi is barking at the wrong tree. One does not need to be observed or psychoanalyzed to figure out why he talks a 2 state 'solution' while continuing to build/expand settlements, or why one fails to internalize the Goldstone report and draw conclusions. The answer is quite simple- one is lying about a 2 states solution, having no intention, none, to see the Palestinians get their own state, and one denies that human rights violations and war crimes did in fact take place in Gaza because that is the only way to continue on and be able to look at one's face in the mirror, pleased. The answer is simple- it is impossible to treat sociopaths. You have to deal with the consequences of their actions- either quaranteeing and isolating them or punish them severely. No other way.

How do you explain that every time the right elects a government, that government does what the left wants. How to you explain Israelis that time and again cause such suffering to other Israelis and are causing the destruction of their own country.Only psychiatrists can explain

....has become THE main characteristic of the Israeli people (and also parts of the Diaspora) over the past few decades. And he didn't even mention the main point in that regard, namely Israels position on (East) Jerusalem.... But let's be fair, the Israeli people aren't to blame alone for their chronical irrationa- lity, the Holocaust and 60 years of unsolved conflict with the Arabs have also contributed to that sad state of affairs. However, I don't believe that the Israeli people need a psychiatrist, in order to overcome their little "soft spot", just a dose of common sense would be good enough. Please try to find it (again)....

How right you are. Where are you W.Josef Abileah (the only pacifist in Israel) to read this article? You would have loved it.

Lie down and tell me about it!!

Israel has a monkey on its back.... It's addicted to greed. Being in denial, it keeps telling everyone that it really doesn't have a problem ("We really want peace"), but giving something back is so hurtful that it really can't be done without intervention

Mr Levy, who force you to live in the country that need psychiatrists observation

giddy when you are able to rationalise? your questions might get sensible answers! when binding treaties in regard to israel dating from 1920 onwards are honoured , then many other answers might easily fall into place !!!

Gideon, please keep 'em coming. I have followed your articles for some years now and I am always amazed by your courage.

Israel do not need a psychiatrist but on the other hand, you shud seek help. All the things you wrote defy logics and realities. Totally turned a blind eye on the cause and consequences of today's situation.

You are voicing the frustration that many in the country are feeling. i hope things will improve, if the leaders are willing to.

decades of US veto in the UNSC. Israel needs a de-tox. Withdraw the US veto vote in the UNSC.

Are you talking about charles neocon, warmonger krauthammer on fox fake news?

You must be a non practicing psychatrist because you yorself are a classic case of denial which is An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings. I suggest you review your college books or call a real psychiatrist for help!

... defies straight-forward analysis... shock-treatment has gone out of fashion... maybe something more esoteric would explain out self-inflicted wounds...

# 1 - dhlawrence, Being a professional psychologist, I can say, Levy is absolutely correct what he described about the present israeli leadership and its jewish citizens in general. israelis are at the half road to be a paranoid population out of fear, security and hypocracy. However, dear # 1 - dhlawrence I could diagnose your disease and it is simply that you are one of this israeli population and that's why you could not diagnose Levy's problem, he actually does not have a disease what you have.

These are certainly symptoms of a collective psychosis. However, one needs to make three qualifications: first of all, this condition is not new, but actually quite long-standing; second, it is not merely the leadership, but a majority of the population, that suffers from it (possibly because of absorbing too much excessively Judeocentric pseudo-history in school); and third, it has been of some instrumental value to the USA, which always appreciates 'humanistic' pretexts for its global military interventions.

Krathammer quit psychiatry because he thought it was useless. He said so under his own byline in his end of the decade message a few weeks ago. He's an arrogant snob who wouldn't criticize Israel for any reason. Loser

I am an atheist, but thank god for Haaretz. only in Israel can you have a reasoned debate on the subject of Israel. every place else you are immediately shouted down as being racist, antisemitic, self hating etc. It's good to see that free speech has survived somewhere.

... just that the whole world is meshuga, and only galloping iron-shod Israel is "sane"...

There really is no excuse for the Israeli colonial enterprise in E.Jerusalem and the West Bank. And if Jung and Freud were alive today, then I don't think they would deny that Israeli settlements in occupied territory are a violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention - the Israeli people don't need psychiatric help - but just need to face reality.

... advise you to just stick to simple cases with which you can cope... ... we are far too complex for you...

There really is no excuse for the Israeli colonial enterprise in E.Jerusalem and the West Bank. And if Jung and Freud were alive today, then I don't think they would deny that Israeli settlements in occupied territory are a violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention - the Israeli people don't need psychiatric help - but just need to face reality.

"And how have an insignificant minority - the settlers - sown fear and managed to extort the country for so many years?" Well, you just have trained shtadlanim at every level of government, from the PM downwards... For settlers it's a shnor profession above all others... you just have to call them "super-zionists", to insinuate them everywhere...

They may receive the Nobel prize if they could explain Gideion's extraordinary lunacy

You are a psychiatrist?!? I hope you don't charge full price. Your analysis is as lacking in dispassion, and yet less insightful, than the article. The subject of "Israel's psychoanalysis" is extremely important and anyone who muddies the water is harmful.

And there I was wondering if I were insane for thinking the same. It has become increasingly sad reading responses from readers on Haaretz articles only to see the incredible lack of fairness, humanity, insight and logic behind them. The attitude of 'all is mine, and yours is mine too, say yes or I'll blow you to pieces' as at least a cause for the resistance it experiences from a disowned people, is mind-boggling.

long ago. Unfortunately, with the aid of AIPAC, the patients have taken over the asylum. I truly hope that Dr. Obama can get the patients back into group therapy!

For example: 'The psychiatric specialists might be so kind as to try to explain how a country with leaders committed to a two-state solution continues to direct huge budgets toward building more settlements in territories it intends to vacate in the future.' Israel's 'commitment to the two state solution' is purely for external consumption, and she has no intention of vacating the territories. Etc. There's nothing defying analysis.

Well Gideon a great psychiatrist and political writer,Charles Krauthammer,can explain Israel's behavior and I don't think he finds anything wrong with it. But alas he is not inflicted with he sickness of the left and is able to think clearly and not through the fog of self depreciation and lack of self worth. Your hand wringing for the enemy...your lack of conviction to insure Israel's safety and long life puts you in the sand box with Hass and others like her. You remind me of the Jews from the National Lawyers Guild in the U.S. ready to defend the indefensible just like Mirian Siefer who will be defending abulmutallab the underwear bomber.

A psychoanalytic look at Israel is enlightening, but it is only useful when it is done without an agenda.

Dear Levy You write as if you where from Finland,Estonia,New Zeland.... All the questions you put are like those who where born and live outside Israel. "civil marriage, no buses or trains operating on Shabbat", annexing Highway 443, From the bodyguard of the IDF Chief of Staff to the killers of their own children..... You mix everything and ask your "questions" just to show how right your ideas are,how smart are you and how patriot you are. I'm a psychiatrist and really do not find a diagnosis for you.Maybe,a professional "enervator'