Israel Matzav

PSRN syndrome

In a world where Arab regimes are collapsing, or not collapsing because they're bribing their people (Bahrain) or conciliating them (Jordan); where they are murdering their citizens (Libya) or not murdering them (Egypt); intimidating them into silence (Iran) or not intimidating them and letting them speak (Iraq) -- no-one claims to know what the Arab world thinks or where it is headed.

And yet, in the middle of this storm there is one unalterable fact: the solution to Israel's problems (whatever they may be), to the Arab world's problems -- and for many denizens of J Street, the solution to most of the world's ills -- is simply and only the creation, RIGHT NOW, of a Palestinian State. If that one thing happens then all will be well with the Jewish world, the Arab world, and much of the entire world; the lion (6 million Israeli Jews) will lie down with the lamb (338 million Arabs); the Muslims of France will eat croissants and stop setting fire to cars; the Muslims of London will drink tea and stop setting fire to the underground; and the Muslims of Chechnya will drink vodka and stop trying to set fire to Russia.

Rational political discourse tries to define problems and propose solutions -- and we can assess the quality of the discourse by looking to see whether the problems and solutions are logically connected to each other. But when the same solution is offered to solve every problem in the world and its exact opposite, it becomes clear that what's operating in the mind of the people proffering that solution is not logic. It's an obsession with that solution. The J Street conference was not an exercise in political discussion; it was a ward, holding but not treating people suffering from an intellectual monomania.

Labels: J Street, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, pro-Israel pro-peace

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:39 PM