The Bravado of Israel’s Enemies
Iran’s President Ahmadinejad’s recent statements include, “The era of the Zionist literature and the Zionist political mechanism and the Zionist bullying policies has come to an end,” “I just want to tell you that holding a birthday party for a dead person is of no use. These gatherings can not revive a corpse,” and “The Zionist regime is dying. The criminals imagine that by holding celebrations … they can save the Zionist regime from death.”
Mahmoud al-Zahar said today, “The Palestinians and the Arabs have crushed the Jews’ assumption of supremacy… The Zionist legend of invincibility has been destroyed. Now more than ever I tell you – will never recognize Israel… We will form the Palestinian state on all of Palestine’s territories and the sun of liberty will burn the Zionists. To them I say – you will lose. You will leave and we will keep hounding you. The blood of our slain sons will haunt you forever.”
These sorts of statements are nothing new, and we’ve been hearing variants since before Israel even existed. It is valuable to recognize what makes people say things like this.
Obviously, Israel is not going anywhere. While there are political threats to its borders and terrorist threats to its citizens, Israel’s existence is in no doubt for the foreseeable future.
The biggest testimony to Israel’s strength and self-assurance comes, ironically, from its own self-criticism. Only a people who are secure can look at their own faults and admit mistakes publicly, and no one admits mistakes – real or imagined – more publicly than Israelis do.
The Second Lebanon War is a case study in the difference between how Israelis look at themselves and how Israel’s enemies look at it. From a military perspective, the war was a draw – Israel inflicted a great deal of damage on Hezbollah and the cease fire agreement drove Hezbollah north of the Litani, but it was not the crushing defeat that Israel desired nor was it enough to stop Hezbollah from re-arming quickly. But by no stretch of the imagination was Israel “defeated” unless your definition of defeat is very unrealistic.
Yet, Israel underwent much public self-criticism and self-evaluation after the war to learn from its mistakes.
Conversely, Israel’s enemies celebrated their “victory,” masking the loss of hundreds of Hezbollah fighters with huge banners across Lebanon .
This is not a reflection of reality – this is bravado.
People who act this way are fundamentally insecure. They cannot distinguish between putting up a brave front and real bravery.
They tell their people about their impending victories in an attempt to shore up their own delusions and to avoid any real self-examination, which would lead to despair. They surround themselves with people who will agree with their public posturing. They inflate events that are meaningless as long as they support their fantasies, and they ignore any evidence to the contrary.
A hallmark of this institutionalized bravado hiding insecurity is not only the lack of self-criticism but deliberate acts against those who dare criticize. Hence we see Iran’s brutal attacks against dissidents, Hamas’ threats against journalists, and Hezbollah’s total censorship in areas under its control.
This bravado is so institutionalized in the psyches of its practitioners – and so much a part of the honor-shame mindset that helps spawn it – that they cannot understand that Israeli self-criticism is a reflection of its strength. To them, any criticism is shameful and only an utterly defeated people can admit mistakes. The more delusional actually start to believe that Israel is weak and they then start thinking they can defeat it.
The bigger the bluster, the weaker the core that the blusterers are trying to hide.
This does not mean that they aren’t dangerous. Of course, they can – and do – inflict damage.
But their bravado is not an indication of their strength. On the contrary, it proves their weakness.
Filed Under: General
About the Author: Elder of Ziyon may or may not be a real person. He (or she, or it) blogs at 
good points.
“The era of the Zionist literature and the Zionist political mechanism and the Zionist bullying policies has come to an end,” “I just want to tell you that holding a birthday party for a dead person is of no use. These gatherings can not revive a corpse,” and “The Zionist regime is dying. The criminals imagine that by holding celebrations … they can save the Zionist regime from death.”
….and other country songs if you buy now.
David, I’m sorry that I have nothing better to say than: I agree with every single word you wrote and only wish I could have said it as well as you do. Made my day! exactly! etc.
All the best to you and your father.
Lila,
I did NOT write this post. Elder of Ziyon did.
I have deliberately placed Gravatars under the post titles to distinguish between authors, because it is unfair for me to get credit for the writing of others.
Oh sorry to both of you.
I didn’t get used to it yet. I’ll be more careful next time. I didn’t mean to be unfair.
Free Speech, written into America’s Constitution, was seen as a strength! And, believe it or not, back in those days, America was the baby in the woods. And, the big kahuna was England.
A few hundred years later, you can still see the wisdom of America’s Founding Fathers. Because, among other things, words are like farts. When people can say just about anything they want to say, it tends to reduce tensions … not making things worse.
Of course, when you couple anti-Semitism to force, then that changes the equation.
And, IF Iran gets to have its nuke, that indeed changes the equation.
But I just finished reading RAID ON THE SUN. By Rodger Claire. About Israel’s attack on Osarik. In 1981. The book is very detailed. In it, you’d learn that Shimon Peres stuck a knife into Menachem Begin. And, Ezer Weizman leaked the information on the details of the first attack, planned for May 10, 1981.
Begin had the guts to re-plan this. With only Arik Sharon, himself, and Ivry, privy to the details. The Israeli Air Force accomplished the impossible on June 7, 1981. And, the response from the USA? Condemnation. Across the board. Including Reagan, who winked and blinked. And, complained. As did Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
Olmert is working very hard to see that Israel’s security arrangements are worked into the fabric of Bush’s design. Which is, in fact, to leave in place a “footpath” for the next administration to follow. And, General Jones is the one who is dealing with what America will be offering to Olmert.
It’s not as if he doesn’t have his hands full.
And, “speech” isn’t gonna get you anywhere, either. It’s there just so people can shout themselves out.
While in Iran? You think the nut-in-a-dinnerjacket doesn’t have problems at home? Inflation is running at 18%. For starters. And, very few people are happy with the ayatollahs. But they don’t have a 2nd Amendment, either. Showing ya that the multitudes remain powerless.
While the Internet grows by leaps and bounds. Because people really are looking around for news.
Though the story of the Summer of 2006 never did get fully developed. Olmert was supposed to use the IDF to go into syria. To remove Assad’s head.
And, in the measure of all things? Riyadh, being handed syria, to run, would have been a worse outcome.
Something tells me Bush isn’t stupid. Nor will he ever talk. Let alone let on that Riyadh’s been blackmailing him with rising oil prices. Which hurts our economy. And, makes it difficult for Americans to pay all their bills.
Let alone, how Riyadh “absorbed” the billions Bush threw into the economy, now. With $500 and $600 checks to everybody! Which, initially, helped out at the pump.
There weren’t any other outcomes for Olmert to take in the summer of 2006. Because? Changing heads had some real downsides to it! Just as using the IDF, now, to gain ground in Gaza, is self-defeating. Abbas would be given this territory. And, the IDF wouldn’t even be thanked. Just like Saniora. Their hatred for Jews never diminishes. Sorry. It’s like Vegas. You go there, and the only guarantee you get is that you lose money.
‘the sun of liberty will burn the Zionists’
Could he be meaning the iranian atomic bomb?
In that case he’s an idiot.
Israel is’t big enough for the pals not to suffer almost the same fate as the Israelies would in such a case.
Somewhere there should be pals smarter than that but unfortunatly they are not the ones holding the guns over there.