Strenger than Fiction / Israel's bunker mentality

[azurnoir]

There are two profound psychological blocks that do not allow Israel’s leadership to get off its disastrous course, once again proven by the Gaza flotilla disaster: one is sheer fear, the other is self-righteousnes

Israel has real enemies like Iran and Hezbollah. Human psychology is such that fear often leads to freezing and hanging on to the same course of action, even if it proves disastrous time and again. As a result Israel doesn’t listen to criticism - either from inside or from outside.

This inability to listen is reinforced by self-righteousness: Israel is stuck in the belief that it is right, and everybody else is wrong and hence incapable of admitting that Israeli policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians has been disastrous; that Israel should have engaged with the Arab League peace initiative years ago, and that a U turn needs to be made. Admitting that one has been wrong is always difficult; but Israel’s need for self-righteousness makes it even more difficult.

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But Israel’s leadership has gone into a bunker mentality. Like a city besieged in the times before telecommunications, nothing reaches its hearts and minds. To the extent they will even read Grossman, Oz, Levy and countless others, the reaction will be "all these pundits and intellectuals; what do they know about the world! We need to stick to our inner truth; we know what’s right for Israel. We don’t need the usual gibberish of intellectuals; soft-hearted, unrealistic people who don’t have a clue about how the real world works."

It may be more surprising that Israel’s leadership doesn’t even listen to its own professional intelligence echelon. During the media frenzy of the last days a crucial headline has received close to no attention: Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset’s Foreign Relations Committee that Israel is gradually turning from a strategic asset into a liability for the United States of America.

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/strenger-than-fiction-israel-s-bunker-mentality-1.293767