Where is the 'Jewish mind'?
In Israel, we suffer from intelligent but primitive political-security thinking that cannot deal with challenges.
By Yehezkel DrorMany studies have proven unusual success by Jews, since the Emancipation, in the areas of science and thought, relative to the populations of other nations. The survival of the Jewish people and its flourishing in exile prove the existence of a collective "Jewish mind," or an abundance of gifted people.
In Israel there are many areas of successful creativity: in the economy, civil society and a few governmental bodies. But the situation is different in the area of political-security thinking, where the question "Where is the Jewish mind?" presents itself.
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Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief Gabi Ashkenazi |
| Photo by: Archive / Alon Ron |
Hypotheses about the nature of the "Jewish mind" in the Diaspora contain explanations for its absence in the political-security arenas in Israel. According to some of these hypotheses, the difficult conditions of the Diaspora led to the development of talents that fit the circumstances, either as cultural traits or as individual, quasi-genetic traits. Some of the hypotheses emphasize the role of demanding, elitist Torah study.
But these processes did not apply to diplomacy, an area in which the Jewish people were not involved in exile. The ways of dealing with the government were mainly through go-betweens, and only a few Jews attained positions of political leadership. In other words, we lack a tradition of statesmanship, of educational institutions aimed at developing leadership, and of a quasi-"aristocracy" from which democratic leadership grows. The years of the state's existence are too few to fill this gap.
The result is a "primitively intelligent" political-security culture. Many of the officials are intelligent. There is no lack of common sense, since complicated problems require complex thinking.
But such thinking has not developed enough here. Instead, we suffer from intelligent but primitive political-security thinking that cannot deal with challenges.
The primitiveness is expressed in the failings of political-security thinking. For example, the inability to combine values and aspirations with a realistic view of the limits of the possible; restriction of creativity by conventions; reaction to developments instead of initiative; a lack of historical thinking that considers current issues with long-range perspective; treading in place when confronted with controversial alternatives; attachment to concepts; tunnel vision that blocks out important considerations; an imbalance between the power of political-security bodies and the inordinate influence of the army; failure to consult people with varied perspectives.
In addition, uncertainty is dealt with childishly, by adherence to one-dimensional "working assumptions" instead of planning for a variety of possibilities, both optimistic and pessimistic; there is a lack of skepticism and critical thinking about "the obvious;" contempt for others, including the enemy; resistance to abstract theoretical thinking as one of the essential bases of diplomacy; and underdevelopment of advanced professional expertise in terms of evaluation and planning.
There are also difficulties in achieving cooperation between political and security bodies, such as the Defense Ministry and the IDF on the one hand, and the National Security Council on the other, against the background of a coalition government. And, most seriously, the denial of failures.
The result is a "negative added value" of the whole political and security system, whose overall output is eroded by the friction between its units, in place of mutual synergistic reinforcement.
If Israel were not facing fateful decisions, all these could be seen as "childhood illnesses" that will pass in a generation or two. But that is not the situation. That is why there should be a revolution in the culture of political and security thinking, on all levels.
This requires changes in the government. But even without them, much can be done, including concentrating political and security issues in the hands of the prime minister, instead of distributing them among many ministers.
A situation that prevents integration; a new type of professional training for those responsible for evaluation and planning; rotation between political and security bodies, and between them and external think-tanks and research centers; defining "points to be considered in political and security decisions" as a helpful tool, not as a restrictive framework; in-depth discussions for cabinet members of political and security issues (this recommendation by the Winograd Commission was greeted with scorn in the Prime Minister's Office ); rebuilding some of the evaluation and planning bodies in a way that is appropriate for a complex reality and reduces friction, including a real strengthening of the National Security Council and its status; and both positive and negative incentives for decision-makers and their advisers - including removing those who stand out for their primitive thinking.
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Yehezkel Dror
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the phenomenon of ever-tightening relations between ARabs who take space in Israel and the squatters of West Bank and Gaza is the result of marital ties. I shall explain;;;; Matchmaking ads often appear in the Palestinian press saying: "Palestinian from a good home is looking for a bride for the purposes of a blue marriage." A blue marriage means a bride with a blue, Israeli identity card. This creates a new problem - that of Israeli citizens residing in the autonomous areas. Interestingly, the Palestinian security forces are very involved in this matter. Over the last two years, the frequency of Palestinian officers marrying Israeli Arabs - usually relatives - has increased. This phenomenon has aroused much concern in the Israeli defense establishment, though it can do nothing to change the situation. In Arab schools the tendency towards learning Arab history at the expense of Israeli history is becoming more prevalent. This is a steadily strengthening trend. What they do not learn in school, they are taught in supplementary education courses in the mosques. A most negative form of collaboration on both sides of the Green Line is transpiring in the criminal realm - especially car thefts. It apparently will not be long until the Israeli government - regardless of which ideology is in power - will be forced to confront Israeli Arabs with the stark choice - complete loyalty to their country, with all of its ramifications pertaining to the severing of ties with their Palestinian brethren, or drawing the necessary conclusions based on their loyalty to the Palestinian government.
Once your incompetence revealed,means Your Job is in Danger!Then the "Image"....reach War to All His Critics!Wrong Strategye-Lethal in some circumstances!Kinda of No Place for us,is all about I....!
Good article. My own take on Israel's issues is that when you combine a (perhaps) still-genetically influential desert culture/mind set and add to that a long history of persecution and a modern situation of unending conflict and sense of threat (yes folks, Jews and Israelis do indeed feel threatened), what you get with this mix is a phenomenally successful tactical ability which looks mostly at day-to-day survival, with little or no emphasis (or ability) to look at things strategically and long-term. The Palestinians are likewise in a similar situation and so you have a situation akin to two mutually antagonistic siamese twins always trying to get the upper hand over the other. You can see what the results are.
It's like an adult trying to stop a kid who attacks him. When the kid is 5 years old it is easy to stop him without hurting. But when the kid is 15 years old, he is too strong for his own good, and there is no way for adult to stop him without hurting. Arab society is 15 years old.
Mr. Dror's article is true to the present unfortunate conditions, those during which the Likud has led the nation. But looking back to the period of Yitzhak Rabin's 1992-1995 term as Prime Minister, as well as Shimon Peres' ill fated second term as PM, it does not seem to me that Israel's diplomatic savoir-faire was totally lacking.
What about Israeli government 30 years ago? They did not mince their words then and the entire world respected Israel. Now, with all these educated in leftist universities people in the government the diplomacy is in the gutter and security of Israel is severely compromised.
...qualified intellectually (or otherwise) to even BEGIN to "critique" the author's ideas--but I will say this: If he's even HALF right about what needs to be done to get up to speed in the political/diplomatic/security areas--then a lot of folks had better start putting in one HELL of a lot of overtime.
That was a long article spent describing the dominant trait in Jewish culture, which is narcissism. Smartest people in the world, most moral people in the world, God's special people . . . etc. It is this false self-image which leads to the majority of the problems Jews have, and have always had in the world.
Israel suffers from the same misconception as the US; military force can solve all perceived security problems. Each has developed a large military- national security- industrial complex. Israel has been intermittently at war since 1948 and the US since 1941. Unless and until they can overcome the entrenched special interests driving their foreign policies, they will both continue to get involved in military adventures that will ultimately lead them to disaster.
Racism begins when any group starts to think they are special, more worthy, more talented, more deserving than their neighbor. Segregated education of every ethnic and religious group in Israel is the root cause of all the conflicts Israel is experiencing now. Solution is to integrate all public schools, conservative and liberal, Muslim and Jew and Christian, all nationalities, races, and religions.
The sad truth about so called Jewish intellectual supremacy, is that it cane at hte terrible cost. As anybody who is serious in studying the phenomenon of very high IQ shoul know , that the ratio of individuals with very high IQ is constant in any given population. The nations with high population sach as China and India will have proportionally higher number of sach individuals. Also this general rule can be bypassed by interbreeding from relatively small genetic pool. This king of breeding will lead to disproportionally larger number of individuals with high functioning Autistc syndromes. Do you know that Einstine had an Autistic disorder and did not speak until the age of 3? Probably not! Of couse there are many more factors involved in that phenomena and those factors have to be discussed in a appropriate fashion. But in the final analisis, it is all about DNA.
Our politicians have not mastered the art of diplomacy maybe because we have been constantly in the state of war since our inception - Bottom line - it all comes to same old same old - Go back to 67 before war borders - give Palestinians thier land - divide Jerusalam and live a peaceful life - everybody will get mature in their profession including the Politicians - than we'll have statesmen.
Israel is completely dominated by aggresssion towards non-jews. The only answer of Israel to their problems with the Palestines,the Iranians iand othzers is war or threat of war. This is an impass for Isreal´s future and may lead to their destruction from inside. The military duty of all young Israelis and their subsequent brainwashing will not allow an other spirit. The complete infiltration of the political class by military is also an obstacle for a civilised and peaceful political intelligence.
It is not the past lack of relevant experience that has left the Israeli Diplomat's mind underdeveloped. The brilliance of the IDF leaders in past campaigns like when Ariel Sharon turned potential defeat into victory when he crossed behind the Egyptian lines to encircle the Egyptian 3rd Army shows that Israelis are capable of brilliance even in areas where they did not gain such experience in the Diaspora. The problem is the ''mentality'' which afflicts Israeli politicians and Business leaders alike. Their belief that anyone who is not 'macho' is a ''Freier'' prevents Israeli politicians from seeing beyond their own 'I know it all' mentality! Their failure to use their Jewish mind is self inflicted and is a desease which deludes them in all walks of life. They kid nobody when they act macho. Just because most people just don't challenge them they think they are getting away with it! They should get back to the Jewish values of generosity and humanitarianism towards the Israeli Arabs, Palestinians and their dealings with other International Leaders etc. This would open their eyes to what they could achieve even in the area of Diplomacy!!
That makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
...for "century"--I sort of agree with you--albeit, with a "cringe in my heart."
However the most serious deficiency in our thinking is found primarily in our lack of decency, compassion and courage to admit our faults, the suffering and rights of others and to come to terms with them in order to repair part of our past misdeeds and to end at last the conflict by parting the land, if not in name of humanism, at least for our children’s future.
you are lacking decency, compassion and courage to admit your faults, eventually you will believe them. For the sake of our children future it's time to break that vicious cycle. Stop accepting world grief and start living your life.
Majority of Israelis do not feel same as you do or identify with this silly Op Ed Hezkel had an urge to spit something out to get some bakshish off of Haaretz and he did though it doesnt make much of any sense and he talks about Seihel lolololol
"a lack of historical thinking that considers current issues with long-range perspective" --------------- How can you think historically when real history is denied to you? We learned this week that several government agencies have their own archives, which is illegal & means there is no central archive that is complete. Those agencies release material according to their own needs and also withhold what doesn't suit them, even after the expiry of the hitherto mandatory 50 years for information deemed too sensitive to be revealed. Those 50 years have now been increased to 70, by Mr. Netanyahu himself, without consultation or discussion. // Therefore the history we have learned is incomplete, flawed and distorted. What brain, however great, can benefit from history that has been purposely warped?
Too many idiots who invented the "New Historians" attitude and who got paid by the Ford Foundation and some enemies in EU to delegitimaze the Jews and its nation in other words most folks today would rather read chomsky or some other Aljheimer sicko than bother with true and real historical facts
Some say Zionist Jews managed to outsmart Americans but the truth is that Zionist Jews control America by means of deceptions and blackmail and never by means of intelligence. Zionists are repeating their own German and world history in America. Beware! Americans blame Zionists for the fast destruction of their country. The blame is echoed every where on the internet. This can not be hidden because Zionist Jews are over represented in key decision making positions in the U.S. They are leading the country into very expensive wars and a complete economic collapse.
.....THANKS for having the guts to call a spade a spade!!!! I admire your beliefsystem....and trust in truth..
“Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.” - Winston Churchill - Prime Minister of Great Britain
Some people will automatically dismiss that comment because of its stale rhetoric, but the U.S. does seem to be approaching a perfect storm for Jews. Right wing Israelis may imagine that some idea or cleverness will save the day but a heavy car with no brakes going towards a wall has no need of the "Jewish mind". Ultimately its a simple world. Israel has bought insurance from the evangelicals without realizing that they (evangelicals) are the beneficiaries in the event of a catastrophe.
You are either in a denial mode or you don't understand the Zionist's fragile strength in the U.S.A. I advise you to reach your own conclusion after doing your own research. Check who runs the white House, the State department, The pentagon, The Fed, the Treasury, the media, Hollywood and a lot more and compare to where the country is headed. America is slowly becoming a failed bankrupt rogue country.
lmpressively candid analysis, however blinded with hate.
I am afraid that you are correct. Listen to the Bibi tape when he said that he deceived America and how easily it could be led. Americana, I hope, are waking up. Hope not to slowly to prevent WWIII.
In fact one of their black mail tactics is that anybody who tells them truth and criticize them is called neo-nazi by them. They abuse equal opportunity in the United States to get free ride and colonize everything. To them America is just a tool to be used to serve Israel.