Déjà vu all over again

In a world that seems to have gone crazy, where rules of social discourse are distorted, it is important to see what is actually going on. As any good lawyer will tell you, look for a pattern of past behavior to figure out what will happen next. If you chose to “be optimistic” when there is nobody to talk to, you do so at your own peril.

As these thoughts were percolating in my mind, I was preparing a talk I was giving to my study group on the prophecy of Amos. To my amazement, the first two chapters felt like the headlines of that day’s newspaper. The same enemies of the land and people of Israel, with some of the same names, most notably, Gaza (!) were up to the same homicidal attempts at our annihilation. And there were many of them who often collaborated with each other, the better to accomplish the same end.

The current war (yes, it’s a real war) between Muslim countries and Israel, being fought on many fronts, has the whole world talking. “Knowledgeable” pundits are being interviewed as though any of them can definitively explain or predict anything. It seems that most of the western world has forgotten, or was never aware of, some very basic truths which are now, after millennia of being ignored, coming back to life if only we are willing to see what is really at play.

The world as we know it is completely different from what it was in ancient times, and the Middle East lies in a very ancient neighborhood. This is of paramount importance in understanding the current situation. In these areas there were no Presidents, Prime Ministers or Legislators. There were clans, tribes and other familial groups who were loyal until death to their group. They had a leader who expected his tribesmen to remain loyal, even when facing another local clan. Clans only cooperated in battle if they were fighting the same foe. It is in this atmosphere that the phrase “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” was a way of handling danger. It was also a natural form of life insurance, if you will.

Today’s political Western diplomacy is anathema to this way of thinking. While old grievances and hatreds fester among the various clans, the modern, Western politician has an absurdly simplistic and overly optimistic conception as to what is possible in this region of the world. As though, with gentle prompting, the Capulets will agree to be amenable to peace talks with the Montagues, shake hands and break bread. This is absurd. The only way to understand anyone, especially a group, is to see them as they see themselves, not as you wish or need them to be. This will not make sense to the Western onlooker. That’s the whole point. This is not an issue of making sense; it’s not a Western issue. The brain has no part to play here. It is purely visceral. In today’s neuro psych parlance, the continued existence of Jews in Israel is a major trigger to an ancient wound.