Thursday, August 03, 2006

Fear revisited

I think my earlier explanation about fear and aggression was not clear enough. Let me try again:

We Israelis HAVE ALMOST ALWAYS BEEN AFRAID of Arabs. Hizballa is not doing anything new.

I remember being afraid as a 4 year old child in the bomb-shelter during the 1973 war.

During the first days of this war, we Israelis were certain that our country and our homes are about to be completely destroyed by the Arab armies.

The strong IDF you see today, is the result of the Israeli public's refusal to accept "a 1973" ever again.

The IDF is pre-emptively striking Hizaballa targets to make sure 1973 never happens again. This is probably based on a misguided view of the world - but you cannot ignore the fact that THIS IS WHAT THE PEOPLE IN THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT REALLY BELIEVE TO BE TRUE. They REALLY BELIEVE that Israel WILL BE in serious danger UNLESS we act.

I believe the Israeli government's tactics are wrong - but that's not the issue. I'm simply trying to explain to you what is the absolute truth in the eyes of the Israeli government - AND MOST OF THE ISRAELI PUBLIC.

Zeinobia asked why we fear when we have such a powerful army. The answer is simple: we have such a powerful army BECAUSE we are afraid of what will happen if we didn't have such an army.

Zeinobia - what we did in Lebanon is not fear: it is the result of our fear that our country will be destroyed if we sit quietly and do nothing. Just as you truly believe Hizballa are true warriors for justice (and I respect that belief now), you must understand that the majority of Israelis REALLY BELIEVE that Israel WILL BE in serious danger UNLESS we act. The terrible destruction you're seeing in Lebanon is because of the way Israelis interpret Arab (and Muslim) intentions. Ahmadenijad's threats to wipe out Israel are only seen by Israelis as PROOF that this interpretation is correct.


-I.B.

4 comments:

Egyptian-in-USA (Egyptian Muslim Human) said...

Engineeringchange,

I hope they listen to you in Israel.

Israeli Blogger said...

@EngineeringChange: if the situation here comes to the horror you describe, the whole world will suffer greatly.

Imagine the economic shockwaves, and the wars and hunger - all around the world - that will be triggered by something of the sort. A nuke here won't be the end of World War III - it will be the trigger.

It is not just Israel that should be afraid of this scenario: it's the entire world.

Israeli Blogger said...

Oh, and EngineeringChange - I forgot to note: in order for Israel to give the Palestinians their demands, the Arabs must forgive and forget. So according to this line of thinking, we're in a deadlock, and the whole world is doomed.

A solution must come from "out of the box" thinking.

Zeinobia said...

how to forget and forgive and our kids,women and elder are killed on a daily basis
everytime we try to forget and forgive ,the IDF,IAF, Mossad ,you name it do something that make the Arabic people don't forget in fact remember