Self-delusions are nothing new

Submitted by Paul (United States), Apr 8, 2013 at 02:51

This psychological defect of assuming the best when the facts should lead to the opposite conclusion, has been noticed before in Jewish history. Yoni Netanyahu, Benjamin's older brother who died while leading the rescue at Entebbe, even wrote about it to his parents almost 40 years ago, when he was 27, a few weeks after the Yom Kippur War. A few excerpts:

"November 17, 1973

Dear Mother and Father,

"This is my first letter after the fighting has ended. . . . The war has finally brought a change of mind to a large section of the public, and this shift in thinking is all to the good. How far it has spread to the nation at large is hard to say, but we'll soon know—elections at the end of December. In any case, I see with sorrow and great anger how a part of the people still clings to hopes of reaching a peaceful settlement with the Arabs. Common sense tells them, too, that the Arabs haven't abandoned their basic aim of destroying the State; but the self-delusion and self-deception that have always plagued the Jews are at work again. It's our great misfortune. They want to believe, so they believe. They want not to see, so they shut their eyes. They want not to learn from thousands of years of history, so they distort it. They want to bring about a sacrifice, and they do indeed. It would be comic, if it wasn't so tragic. What a saddening and irritating lot this Jewish people is!"

But his letter was not all negative. He also wrote, "And yet, how strong and how great is the nation at moments of crisis. You can't imagine how the fingers tighten into an iron fist when the threat of violent days approaches."

Coincidentally, that letter, one of many in the book, "The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu," ended with a sentence that Obama quoted while in Israel a few weeks ago:

"Don't forget: strength, justice and staunch resolution are on our side, and that's a great deal."

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