Analysis & Opinions - Newsweek
Lost Tribe
Are Israel's battles costing the country its soul?
I am in love with Israel. Yet the events off the shores of Gaza last week, in which Israeli commandos stormed a blockade-busting aid ship and killed nine activists, were a painful reminder that I also belong to a class of Israelis that is deeply concerned about the direction of our country. Increasingly, our conflict with the Palestinians is separating us, not only from our moral faculties, but also from the rest of our senses.
The patterns are clear: more people are getting killed in shorter periods of time, and we care less and less. According to Israeli data, it took 22 days for the Palestinian death toll to hit 1,100 in the last big round of violence between "us" and "them," the 2008–09 Gaza incursion. The same number of casualties accumulated over a full five years in the first Palestinian uprising (1987–93), which was then the largest Israeli-Palestinian clash since 1949. Over time, our hearts have grown harder. In the first intifada, Israeli military police launched internal investigations whenever Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire. Yet there have only been a handful of such investigations during the last decade, and none is likely to take place over last week's killings.
Israel's almost complete lack of empathy for the "other" has not always been the case....
Continue reading: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/05/lost-tribe.html
Want to Read More?
The full text of this publication is available via the original publication source.
For more information on this publication:
Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation:
Eiran, Ehud.“Lost Tribe.” Newsweek, June 5, 2010.
- Recommended
- In the Spotlight
- Most Viewed
Recommended
Journal Article
- Cold War History
'China Marching with India': India's Cold War Advocacy for the People's Republic of China at the United Nations, 1949–1971
Audio
- The Washington Times
History As It Happens: What if? Kennedy and Vietnam
In the Spotlight
Most Viewed
Blog Post
- Views on the Economy and the World
High Oil Prices Can Help the Environment
Journal Article
- Quarterly Journal: International Security
Future Warfare in the Western Pacific: Chinese Antiaccess/Area Denial, U.S. AirSea Battle, and Command of the Commons in East Asia
Journal Article
- Research Policy
The Relationship Between Science and Technology
Are Israel's battles costing the country its soul?
I am in love with Israel. Yet the events off the shores of Gaza last week, in which Israeli commandos stormed a blockade-busting aid ship and killed nine activists, were a painful reminder that I also belong to a class of Israelis that is deeply concerned about the direction of our country. Increasingly, our conflict with the Palestinians is separating us, not only from our moral faculties, but also from the rest of our senses.
The patterns are clear: more people are getting killed in shorter periods of time, and we care less and less. According to Israeli data, it took 22 days for the Palestinian death toll to hit 1,100 in the last big round of violence between "us" and "them," the 2008–09 Gaza incursion. The same number of casualties accumulated over a full five years in the first Palestinian uprising (1987–93), which was then the largest Israeli-Palestinian clash since 1949. Over time, our hearts have grown harder. In the first intifada, Israeli military police launched internal investigations whenever Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire. Yet there have only been a handful of such investigations during the last decade, and none is likely to take place over last week's killings.
Israel's almost complete lack of empathy for the "other" has not always been the case....
Continue reading: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/05/lost-tribe.html
Want to Read More?
The full text of this publication is available via the original publication source.- Recommended
- In the Spotlight
- Most Viewed
Recommended
Journal Article - Cold War History
'China Marching with India': India's Cold War Advocacy for the People's Republic of China at the United Nations, 1949–1971
Audio - The Washington Times
History As It Happens: What if? Kennedy and Vietnam
In the Spotlight
Most Viewed
Blog Post - Views on the Economy and the World
High Oil Prices Can Help the Environment
Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security
Future Warfare in the Western Pacific: Chinese Antiaccess/Area Denial, U.S. AirSea Battle, and Command of the Commons in East Asia
Journal Article - Research Policy
The Relationship Between Science and Technology