Us, us and us
The fundamental human value of seeing others as human beings just like us is disappearing; some people even consider it a betrayal.
By Nimrod Aloni Tags: Israel newsFaced with the pictures of the barely conscious and bloody and beaten naval commandos on the deck of the Mavi Marmara, it's doubtful that anyone in Israel doesn't feel heartbroken, with his stomach turning and rage percolating, and the desire for revenge rising. This isn't a matter of political opinion, and it doesn't only apply to people serving in the navy. It also does not stem from knowing one of the soldiers personally. It's part of belonging to a community, to the Israeli family, in which everyone has a human face and a genuine human presence, just like each of us, our children and our close friends.
And now, with your empathy at its height, pain still fresh and rage boiling - think about, even just as a theoretical exercise, our Palestinian neighbors, for the most part enemies for these 43 years, who every day see their children and parents shot, beaten and bloody, barely conscious and completely helpless, under our occupation. And if they are indeed human beings, in the intellectual spirit of conjecture, they bleed when shot, and they scream in pain when beaten and call out to be freed when imprisoned. And when they are treated with contempt they feel humiliated and miserable. So imagine how their hearts break, stomachs turn and rage boils as their desire for revenge fills their lives and daily routine.
There is nothing new or revolutionary about this intellectual exercise. All it requires is a simple step away from a tribal mentality and family feeling toward a universal moral awareness, about which uncounted artistic, philosophical and religious texts have been written. In other words, to look at the other, even if he is a stranger or an enemy, as a human being in the full sense of the term, exactly like you and your near and dear ones.
And here lies our big problem; here is where our process of barbarization begins. This fundamental human value of seeing others as human beings just like us is disappearing; some people even consider it a betrayal. From so much self-love and narcissism about the Land of Israel, the dogma of Israel and the Israeli people, we have sealed our eyes and ears and shut down our minds and consciences until we can no longer see or hear others. We can no longer be attentive to their point of view and give legitimacy to the logic of their claims and cultural narrative.
We are so full of ourselves and so good at understanding our own arguments that others have become invisible; for us, there's no one else but us. No one wants peace more than we do, the Israel Defense Forces is the most moral army in the world, and no one can investigate our actions better than we. As Jews it's obvious that we're allowed to settle everywhere; of course it's our right to wipe out enemies in every country and on every continent, and anyone who denies this is nothing but an anti-Semitic non-Jew or a traitorous Jew consumed by self-hate.
One of the editions of the television news recently showed a group of extremist settlers who arrogantly and contemptuously challenged U.S. President Barack Obama's peace initiatives with the words, "This kushon won't dictate our fate here," using a derogatory term for black people. Some people say these are simply extremist settler youths from the illegal outposts, like those who console themselves that only a small handful of Beitar Jerusalem soccer fans who curse Arabs are really racist and tell themselves that Interior Minister Eli Yishai is an exception in his racist incitement against immigrant workers. Friends, let's not fool ourselves: For some time, this has not been a vilified handful, but rather a large camp of fanatic pioneers. The majority first becomes reconciled to them and then adopts their ways.
The settlement enterprise is an impressive product of every Israeli government and the crowning success of everything connected to the perpetuation of the occupation and the undermining of any genuine option for peace under two states for two peoples. Add to this a survey conducted two months ago in which more than half of Jewish high school students would revoke Israeli Arab citizens' political rights, and we get a clear picture of what people almost everywhere in the world see and we manage to hide from ourselves. We don't see others, especially the Palestinians, as human in the full sense of the word, so, just like the ultra-Orthodox community vis-a-vis secular people, we, the Israelis, seek more rights for ourselves than we grant others.
In sum, when the mind and conscience are enslaved to nationalist narcissism, others become invisible to us, and we look like bullies and become lepers in the eyes of others. One's heart breaks over the insensitivity that's having a field day here, and its many victims - ours and the others'.
The writer is director of the Institute for Educational Thought at the Kibbutz Teachers College in Tel Aviv.
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And the worst is to forget what exacerbated nationalism have produced.
Israeli's must get involved and turn this trend around. If not, it's very easy for a society to slowly sink into de-humanizing others. When one thinks about why and what happened in the 30's in Germany, one can see a society controlled by a vicious propaganda machine of the State. We outsiders to Israel see the same rhetoric and trends by Israel towards the Palestinians. Yes, they hate Jews, but so do Jews hate them with equal passion. A big question for many of us is does Israel have a moral compassionate thread that gets drowned out by the state sanctioned violence. Finally, Israeli's need to see that the Settlers are a cancer on their society.
We are just too invested in being victims. The Israeli victims and the Palestinian victims. The psychology of victimization is amoral. This is not what the Torah teaches, but it is what we are doing. "Because we are victims, we have the right to hurt them, defile them, treat them like objects." This applies to both sides, to reprehensible suicide bombing and to our less reprehensible, but still unacceptable, deaf ear to Palestinian suffering. The only way that a victim overcomes his plight is to turn the tables, and then a new victim is created. This stupid and boneheaded cycle has been going on for too long. We can make it stop one person at a time.
As a muslim living downunder and articulating exactly same thoughts to members of the muslim community in Melbourne on every occassion -that we must look at jews as humans and not some deviant, racist oppressors who must never be negotiated with and must be eliminated simply because they are jews. This gung-ho'ism and ethnocentricity is not unique to right wing jews - it is much more evenly spread across majority of the muslim world where Israel and jews are considered illegitimate and not having the right to exist. Your article is really a wonderful attempt at highlighting the 'humanising' side of the conflict - the ability to see someones elses pain and suffering as if it was your own. Personally, I am very very impressed with Jews as a nation/group who are outnumbered by a factor of 100 by Muslims but manage to excel at many levels and able to create a nation amongst the enemy states, excel in science and technology, build a mighty war machine, have the most sophisticated intelligence agency globally, be a democratic and open society and still manage to produce over 100 noble laureates. But spot on in articulating this.
The author is absolutely correct in his evaluation. Israeli's self absorption, nationalist narcissism, arrogance, and growing lack of humanity is going to be the undoing of your country. More and more people around the world are realizing these ugly attributes and now question the basis for your country's existence. Israelis are casting themselves from their own country. What an irony.
Does anyone notice that the "us, us, us" mentality goes WAY beyond an Israeli preoccupation? How 'bout the idea of a JEWish state in the first place? It's not really fair to single out Israelis when the same narcisism is on display in Miami, LA, New York City, etc.
Something that inevitably leads to the dehumanization of 'others'. And perhaps the scariest thing mentioned by the author is the ease with which a whole society can lose its conscience and its humanity. He says it with the single line, "the majority first becomes reconciled to them and then adopts their ways". Now call me anything you want, but THIS is exactly what leads to something like the Holocaust when it's left to progress unchecked. It's also what's beginning to happen in Israel today - visible in the news from almost aspects and levels of society - it's even visible in segments of the diaspora. "The majority first becomes reconciled to them and then adopts their ways" - think about it.
Bravo.
I'm looking for articles in the Arab media expressing similar concerns for the Jews expelled from practically every Arab country. Can't find any! What a surprise!
I only would like to add that in addition to think only about themselves Israeli Jews feel that all the world is against them. To the contrary, there is a tremendous depository of sympathy and good will toward Israel and Israeli Jews. I am afraid that the policies of the Israeli government are eroding these sentiments.
but how can anyone make the Israelis face the truth, rather then put their collective energy into denying it?
israelis, including the late first and foremost terrorist of the Middle East, Menacham Begin, lost touch with human feelings during the raid of Deir Yassin in April, 1948. Every Israeli action towards the Palestinians ever since has devalued the Israeli moral characte. If Israel wants to be a part of the world conscience it needs to see its brethern as it sees itself.
So Israel has become ruthless. It seems the vast majority of Israeli's approve. Only a vanishing minority of Israeli's cling to the concepts of human decency and compassion. Perhaps compassion and decency come easier to a people used to being oppressed than those whom have become used to being the oppressor.
If only you could teach Palestinians to value human life even half as "bad" as Israelis value it. Instead you are preaching to the choir, demanding Israelis raise their standards even higher and increase the gap between them and Palestinians even more. What good will that accomplish? One of the main reasons for this conflict is lack of understanding between societies of 21st and 12th centuries. Increasing the gap between them will only make things worse.
what had this JEHUDON to say others than that I am an anti -semite? I am jewish born, persecuted by the nazi's for my jewishness. I live in Israel ,father if five and grandfather of eight. PROF.ALONI GIVE US A WAY OUT OF THIS DISTRUCTIVE THINKING. Moshe ben Baruch Ashkelon
Prof.Aloni, you are so right. Every word is straight out of my heart and my commoncense as well. But what can I others do than to sit in my armchair and to shake my head? GIVE US A WAY OUT. Moshe ben Baruch Ashkelon
Only if all sides were applying the same code of conduct by the same standards of perception and value for life. I think that "we" are still 2, if not 10 steps ahead of "them"
How can you be so sure that you're the one who is right? And steps ahead of 'them'? All I can hear is Israeli people who are 300% sure of everything they say, but even the smallest piece of criticism is anti-semitism. It's a cliche, but really all wisdom starts with self knowledge and especially with self criticism. I find it very sad that some people are so convinced that they're right without even taking someone else's arguments into account. Or like the article says, without even considering the other one as a human being. Then I wonder, who is the beast?
The "them" have at least a sliver of an excuse: they're poor, they're fragmented, and the "we" has a nasty habit of pushing them around. And what does finger pointing achieve, anyway? Isn't Israel meant to be a particularly moral nation?
The 'Promise' was that if Israel would accept the laws of God given to them through Moses, that God would give Israel the 'Promised Land' and live among the Israelites. Not only has Israel turned away from the laws of God (Mosaic Laws), Israel has steadfastly refused to obey YHWH's orders that they are to drive out the people of the land of Canaan and not mix with of intermarry with them. Now, not only has Israel still refused to drive out the sojourners (arabs, egyptians, syrians, jordanians, etc.), but Israel has turned to its own imagination and human laws to deal with them. How can you expect success under those circumstances?
The them that you are two or ten steps ahead of is the terrorist among them. Not all of them. Yet it is the collective them that suffers from Israeli oppression and are being dehumanized by many Israelis. It should not be impossible to understand that the majority of "them" suffer without any wrongdoing of their own and that this is immoral.
"I think that "we" are still 2, if not 10 steps ahead of "them"? I admire you for recognizing the truth of what's been said, but then you immediately make a statement that exemplifies what the author decries. Human empathy cannot be broken down into degrees? It either exists within us, or it does not. There ARE many Palestinians who possess it, just as there are Israelis.
Concerning your "value for life, you forgot the value for "Jewish" life. And as far as you, being 10 steps ahead of "us", you are right. The Israelis killed far, far more Pals than the Pals killed Israelis.So stop your ethnocentri self-flattering.
No - That's part of the problem. Israel is judged by a different standard.
...then perhaps you have sympathy for the brave Palestinian "freedom fighters" in the FLPA who hijacked the Achille Laura cruise ship. They looked for Jewish Americans and found a Mr. Klinghoffer who was an invalid in a wheel chair. This did not stop them from dumping him into the Meditteranean. How about the bombers in airports, restaurants, buses,..... Yes, aren't they just poor souls. Open up your eyes you blind morons. Yes "We" are 10 steps better then "them".
But what does one do when the people have become so fanatical that they have lost the ability to see. How do you make changes quick enough to save Israel , and how do you change such feelings within a people who have been brainwashed since birth into thinking this way? Does the writer himself have any ideas?
I totally agree with both the article and the talkbalk, as kiwi girl says - how do we move away from this as the situation just seems to get worse and worse??
israel has been consumed with arrogance and greed.... drop that and israel survives.... will it happen?... your guess is as good as mine
Ur perception of Israeli society doesn't match the facts. The lack of political will for peace is in direct proportion to the security threats faced by israel. In every recent poll taken over 65% support a two state solution. Israel has always had a heLthy majority who support Palestinian autonomy, just not at the Expence of Jewish autonomy.
Ur perception of Israeli society doesn't match the facts. The lack of political will for peace is in direct proportion to the security threats faced by israel. In every recent poll taken over 65% support a two state solution. Israel has always had a heLthy majority who support Palestinian autonomy, just not at the Expence of Jewish autonomy.
Ur perception of Israeli society doesn't match the facts. The lack of political will for peace is in direct proportion to the security threats faced by israel. In every recent poll taken over 65% support a two state solution. Israel has always had a heLthy majority who support Palestinian autonomy, just not at the Expence of Jewish autonomy.
"direct proportion to the security threats faced by israel." Proportional to the threats Israel tells itself it has in order to justify it's usurping of the Palestinians. The two state solution they support is based on Israel keeping territory it has illegally acquired by war and through illegal annexation.