Judith Norman and Alistair Welchman (Jewish Peace News) write:
"This opinion piece (link below) discusses what is perhaps the most significant psychological mechanism acting to help make the Jewish community support Israel’s occupation: the fear of collective annihilation. Seth Freedman argues that a culture of fear like this has a life of its own, independent of whether it is grounded in something real, and, indeed, has a tendency to create objects of fear where there are none. Of course this psychology is very much in the interests of those who seek to perpetuate the occupation and who encourage this culture of fear. Thus, a people as victimized, oppressed, dispossessed and essentially powerless as the Palestinians under occupation is magnified into a monster that threatens the existence of a nuclear-armed state. This is a neat argument, and explains, for instance, the disproportionate hysteria over the Qassam rocket attacks.Must Read: Seth Freedman: Culture of fear | guardian.co.uk
While it is fairly easy to use blunt geopolitical reasoning explain the motivations behind the occupation, it is always more difficult to explain why so many Jews in Israel and around the world support such cruelty. Analyses such as this go a long way towards such an explanation."
"History has handed the Jewish people the fear of annihilation on a plate – but while the fear exists, what is feared may not..."Photo Credit: Israeli soldiers scuffle with Palestinian protestors during a demonstration. (AFP)
