Where Do Israel, Jewish People Stand at This Moment? 

Henry Srebrnik, [Toronto] Jewish-Tribune

It’s always important to be realistic and not give in to wishful thinking when it comes to the security of Israel.

Though I don’t think of myself as an alarmist, I’m sorry to say that things do not look good right now.

We must take the long view and see trend lines in Israel’s strength vis-a-vis its foes.

Despite Israel’s military prowess, there has been a slow but steady shift in the balance of forces between Israel and its most implacable enemies. All we need to do is look at Gaza.

In 1956 and 1967, Israel swept through the small area with hardly any resistance, even though in both cases the Gaza battles were just part of much larger wars.

Even during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israel suffered horrific initial losses, Gaza, as well as the border with Lebanon, remained quiet. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah had yet been created. Nor was Iran in the hands of a Shi’ite theocracy.

And between 1949 and 1991 – when Saddam Hussein lobbed Scud missiles at the country – Israel’s home front was safe from military attack.

Yet now, after three weeks of warfare in Gaza, Israel has been either unable to militarily vanquish Hamas, or else felt it simply couldn’t afford to do so, due to a combination of diplomatic pressure and effective Palestinian manipulation of world opinion. And this, even though Israel wasn’t involved in fighting anywhere else.

I don’t think that Israel gained much from this offensive, especially when judged against the condemnations of the operation, even by western countries. It’s little more than the status quo. I doubt that Egypt or even the US will be able to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

Something similar happened in the war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in 2006. While Israel was unchallenged in the air, the ground war was inconclusive – and Hezbollah today has more rockets than it did back then.

It turns out the weapons suppliers – Iran and others – to groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are doing a far more effective job, and providing more “bang for the buck,” than the old Communist bloc did when the Soviets were arming countries like Egypt and Syria.

Also, as one war follows another, there is another worrisome trend: more and more diaspora Jews, particularly younger people, in Canada and elsewhere, are signing anti-Israeli petitions and joining ‘anti-Zionist’ groups, with some even supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.

It’s easy for us to write them off as “self-hating Jews.” Some are. But for many others, it’s a version of the so-called Stockholm Syndrome, where people begin to identify with their tormentors – “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” – and hope to be spared.

Such Jews, usually fairly assimilated into the larger society and often with little schooling in Judaism or Jewish history, find intolerable the stress of iving and working amongst people who increasingly see Israel as an aggressor, rogue, or ‘apartheid’ state.

The relentless ideological attacks on the Jewish state – not to mention increasingly blatant antisemitic rhetoric – are taking their toll. No one wants to be ostracized by colleagues, fellow students, or co-workers.

To ease this psychological burden, such Jews are in effect ‘converting,’ to use religious terminology, from ‘Jewishness’ (except as a vestigial identity) to ‘cosmopolitan diaspora multiculturalism.’

None of this bodes well, either for Israel or for the rest of us.