Thinking about the unthinkable

A lamentation for the State of Israel

There was a powerful, thought provoking article in Tablet Magazine¹, about the threats, possible fatal threats, to Israel. However much we consider these threats unthinkable, they do deserve consideration. Hiding our heads in the sand is not sound strategy. These threats include someone lobbing a nuclear device from a fishing boat off the coast of Haifa at the mainland, attacks from ISIS and other terrorist organizations from places surrounding Israel, or simple low-tech knife attacks on the streets of Jerusalem. Israelis might get sick of living with daily danger from the Arab kids next door with a knife and might decide to move in droves to a safer place. Israelis might decide that they have had enough; the Zionist dream is no longer worth fighting for. The BDS movement, the blatant blindness of Western intellectuals, academics, people who should be the smartest, yet are so easily deluded, present perhaps an even greater danger, because tall walls, anti-missile rockets, or secret agents provide no defence against this. So how can we have faith in the long term survival of Israel. There is no easy answer to this question, certainly no fashionable answer. Can one point to a religious answer, God's special relationship with the Jewish people? You don't have to be religious to see the miraculous nature of a Jewish state coming into existence in the aftermath of the greatest slaughter of the Jewish people and the large scale destruction of the Jewish world. You don't have to see the Divine hand at work in Israel's survival, and indeed its flourishing. There are rational explanations for all these, but the reality is that Israel exists and survives against all odds. And we have to believe that it will continue survive; that the world will recognize, as much of Europe is already recognizing, Israel's special role as the only democratic, sophisticated, progressive society, a bastion of European culture, in a volatile region. It is conceivable that in a generation, perhaps sooner, Israel's neighbours will want what Israel has, a comfortable standard of living, a chance to bring up their children in peace, provide them with education and hope for a better future. They would want, what Israel has, a stable (if divided and argumentative) democratic government, an educated people, and the prospect of a good life. A region at peace, like the formerly war-torn Europe, is not beyond imagination. We can only think the unthinkable and have faith in the future.

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http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/195438/lamentation-for-israel?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=97a19c9025-Sunday_December_20_201512_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-97a19c9025-207191705