Myopia
An affliction is running rampant and has developed an uncanny resistance to any sort of countermeasures.
Michael Kuttner
No treatment, whether medication, surgery or preventative action can cure the malady once it has infected individuals. It has reached epidemic proportions in every part of the globe.
Myopia is a common vision problem in which close objects look clear but far objects look blurry.
Most Israelis can clearly see the agenda of jihadist perpetrators and their supporters while the UN and its fellow travellers have only a blurry outline of which countries are behind terror and its fatal future.
As we know all too well from our history the temptation to throw in the towel when the going gets tough is always there. As the Israelites traversed the desert in their forty-year trek to the Land promised them, there were several occasions when complaints, revolts and despair surfaced. There were those who nostalgically looked back to the “paradise” of Egypt. There were others who wanted to surrender to their enemies as they faced the armies of Egypt and Amalek. Others complained about the lack of meat. Finally, ten of the spies sent by Moshe to survey the Land threw their hands up in despair and spread a defeatist narrative about their ability to prevail.
Looking at the situation today one can clearly discern similar patterns playing out both within Israeli society and internationally.
Robust political dissension has always been a hallmark of Israel’s democratic fabric. Media commentators, breast-beating myopic dreamers, fleeting visitors talking only with certain sectors of society and those hankering for some sort of paradise in the Diaspora all have one thing in common.
They prefer to beat the doomsday drums of depression and despair while they proclaim the impending demise of Jewish sovereignty. At the same time, they rubbish the “unenlightened” majority who insist that they are here in Israel for a purpose and who are only too cognizant that Jewish survival has always been an existential battle. If Israel holds no special place in Jewish history and is replaced by a myopic belief that life is far better and safer in a world increasingly hostile to Jews, then, of course, the 10 spies’ narrative wins. If galloping Diaspora assimilation is unimportant then it is no surprise that the vast majority of those who jump ship look with disdain on those who remain attached to their spiritual traditions.
Detractors love to bewail the rightward drift of the Israeli electorate but generally refuse to acknowledge exactly why this is happening. The hallucinatory mirages of Islamic jihadists embracing love and tolerance, incubated by left-wing groupies, were always going to shatter once reality landed. Refusing to learn from past pogroms and hate-infused indoctrination, they naively believed that in order to wipe away our original sin, all we had to do was surrender more land and pour money into bottomless corrupt pockets.
Feeding crocodiles and hoping that they will not eat you has never been a winning strategy and so it tragically proved yet again on 7 October and the subsequent venomous vitriol unleashed against Israel and Jews since that black day.
Without a doubt, Israel faces gigantic challenges, but they are no more catastrophic than those faced by our ancestors in previous generations.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that there needs to be more accountability in various sectors of society.
Elections whenever they are held will hopefully result in a cleanout of failed politicians and those who refuse to own up to their misdeeds. The stranglehold that Charedi parties and their Rabbinical patrons exercise over their followers has become an impediment to integration and a source of scandalous shame. The spectacle of thousands of able-bodied young men shirking military or community commitments can no longer be tolerated. If the Zionist enterprise is so treif, then the best alternative is to re-establish the shtetls in such “holy” places as Poland, Ukraine and Russia.
The Arab parties in the Knesset which identify as Palestinians should pack up and move to the “enlightened” PA where they can enjoy the delights of a Zionist free ethnically cleansed “democratic” autocracy.
The Chief Rabbinate needs to be released from the political corruption it is currently suffering from and transformed into an institution which attracts rather than repels the majority of Israeli Jews. In other words, it needs to be released from the clutches of vested out-of-touch interests and instead, be led by spiritual leaders who inspire and live in the real world.
Aliyah will increase as threats to Jewish life worldwide becomes a critical factor.
These changes will occur sooner rather than later and are part of an inevitable and unstoppable transformation.
At the same time that Israel faces these domestic challenges the myopic musings and blurred visions articulated by an increasingly deranged UN membership continues unabated.
One listens with wonderment and amazement as latter-day appeasers lecture and warn Israel not to react in the face of unrestrained terror.
Blinken and sundry American officials demand that Israel not escalate tensions with Hezbollah. It is an unbelievable moment of imbecility that faced with thousands of rockets aimed and fired at Israel and the evacuation of thousands of civilians from the north, the country being threatened is expected to turn the other cheek.
Compounding this idiocy are the dire warnings that any sort of reaction by Israel risks a response from Iran. This astounding assertion confirms that not one democratic nation is prepared to deal with the real culprits. The pathetic inability to destroy Houthi piracy is a perfect example of this rampant refusal to face up to the primary sponsor of terror. It explains why Iran is unimpeded in its march to nuclear blackmail status and its declared objective of destroying the Zionist “entity.”
The road map to catastrophe is a repeat of the 1930s reactions of the democracies when they refused to see, acknowledge and deal with Nazi Germany’s intimidations and ultimate aggression.
If you want a perfect example of how myopia can distort even the most sensible individual look no further than the current American Ambassador to Israel. This Biden Administration devotee who also happens to be a genetic Jewish Democrat supporter, recently made an assertion that can only be described as totally detached from reality. It exemplifies the sorry shambles international diplomacy has now descended to and explains why Israel cannot count on any sort of meaningful support.
Ambassador Lew asserted with presumably a straight face that “Palestine with Fatah/PLO in charge would be a defeat for Hamas.” It would miraculously then open the door to a messianic vision of all Arab & Islamic countries embracing Israel and the region basking in unprecedented peace and tolerance.
This miraculous transformation mind you can only occur if Israel accepts the creation of Palestine in the heartland of Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem.
What could possibly go wrong?
Look at the Oslo disaster and the handing over of Gaza to PA control as roadmaps of what would inevitably follow the establishment of “Palestine.” It is a certain recipe for collective Jewish suicide promoted by the usual useful idiots.
This type of myopia is incurable and the sooner we face up to it the better for all concerned.
We desperately need a much clearer vision in order to successfully combat the machinations looming ahead.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
