Thoughts on Violent Tendencies

August 11, 2006 - 8:15 AM by

David Lisbona wrote this thoughtful post about Israelis and their relationship to violence:

Israeli society is probably by Western standards , and definitely by Middle Eastern standards, a fairly peaceful one. I am almost certain that the number of murders or wife/child-beating per thousand of population in Israel is less than in Russia or the USA, and definitely less than in Egypt or Lebanon (in peaceful times). I’ll be happy to bring you precise statistics.

That being said, violence in Israel (within families, by schoolchildren) is said to be on the increase. Liberal psychologists have ascribed this to the force used and lack of respect by Israeli soldiers towards the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

If you would ask 100 Israelis in the street whether they believe that the use of force and violence is an acceptable way to solve problems, I believe the vast majority would give a resounding no. However, if you would ask those same Israelis whether the use of overhelming force is acceptable against the civilian Palestinian or Lebanese population, far more would approve, some even enthusiastically.

I wouldn’t call this racism but I would admit that Jewish Israelis are culturally conditioned to fear and distrust Arabs. Almost 100 years of violent Arab opposition to Jewish settlement and independence in the historic Land of Israel/Palestine doesn’t help. There is also an old trusim in Israeli society that “the Arabs only understand power”. Certainly we in Israeli society believe that power, force and violence and much more respected, accepted and used in Arab than in Western society. The Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988 (in which 2 million people ! were killed) and the current interethnic carnage in Iraq seem to support this thesis.

Right now many Israelis are very angry and very frustrated at the lack of success in curbing the incredible power and arsenals that Hezbollah has accumulated in southern Lebanon. We are very afraid of the threats being made against our existence. Like any other species (human or animal) we value more highly the lives of our species than that of competitive ones. In existential crises, we get into the mindset “It’s either us or them”. So, amazingly and terribly, talking to otherwise liberal and pleasant Israelis these days , you will find not a few who propose razing Lebanese villages (including their remaining residents) to the ground if Hezbollah fighters are shooting from there.

Israelis are,by and large, a peaceable and fairly tolerant people. Our fear and frustration is driving us to contemplate terrible things. Nobody will risk extinction in order to remain humane – survival is the ultimate primal instinct. A lot has to be done to calm Israeli fears – unfortunately Jewish history and the behaviour of our Arab neighbours reinforce our fears.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality 

Comments

One Comment on Thoughts on Violent Tendencies

  1. Gray on Sat, Aug 12th 2006 12:53 PM

    2. “Israeli society is probably by Western standards , and definitely by Middle Eastern standards, a fairly peaceful one. I am almost certain that the number of murders or wife/child-beating per thousand of population in Israel is less than in Russia or the USA, and definitely less than in Egypt or Lebanon (in peaceful times). I’ll be happy to bring you precise statistics.”

    Hmm, Middle Eastern Standards? I don’t think there is one, the situation is different from country to country. But you’re right, definitely more peaceful than Russia and the US. Check this statistic:
    http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita&int=-1
    Now, Israel isn’t in it, but Wikipedia says there were 174 homicides in 2004. computed with a population of 6.35 million, the rate is 0.0274/1000. This puts Israel between Finland and Slowakia. There aren’t many Middle East States in the table, but Yemen is more violent and certainly Lebanon, too (in other tables, it’s always near the top). However, Saudi Arabia has far less murders and Quatar is the least violent state of all, so it’s a mixed result. After all, every murder is one too many.

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