Israel is not and cannot be Sparta

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu crossed a colored line (not sure if it was red or yellow) warning that Israel may soon have no alternative than to become a globally isolated “Super Sparta” with “autarkic features.” That term is applied to countries with little or no engagement with international trade.

His statement scared everyone here because if one desires to model a city state like that of ancient Greece, Athens would be a better choice than Sparta. Netanyahu seems to have forgotten his history here. In the end, it was the ideas of Athens that triumphed over those of Sparta. Athens is what survived from ancient Greece, not isolationist Sparta.

I’ve asked this question before rhetorically, and raise it once again: Who do we think we are that we can defiantly stand against the condemnation of the entire world for an extended period of time, regardless of the merits of our cause, and survive?

Each day new restrictions on our international activities, or threats on such restrictions surface anew. Spain just cancelled a $285 million defense order placed earlier with an Israeli company. The EU is discussing cancelling the partnership agreement that has been in place for decades that permitted imputing Israeli goods into Europe, our largest export market, duty free. Will the next step be banning Israeli imports altogether?

The Prime Minister is traveling to the US next week to speak at the UN and his plane will take a longer, more circuitous route there for fear that certain countries in Europe will deny him the overfly rights. Seriously? Is that where we are now? We’ve already seen examples of Israeli tourists turned away from hotels abroad where they have had confirmed reservations…..or even been denied a haircut in Australia.

Couple all of that with the continued discussion in government circles here about “Greater Israel” and the displacement of the Palestinian population in Gaza and see new concern among our peace partners as well.

This week Ahram on line, an Egyptian news source featured an interview with Egyptian Prime Minister Madbouly. They noted: “What is being said regarding ‘Greater Israel’ is being closely monitored and studied to develop various countermeasures to address the issue,” Madbouly told a briefing with the editor-in-chiefs of Egyptian newspapers and news websites on Tuesday. Madbouly stressed that “under no circumstances will Egypt allow the displacement of Palestinians or the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”

To make life more complicated, at the UN this week there was a committee ruling that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, in spite of our remonstrations to the contrary.

Meanwhile our seemingly endless war with Hamas continues unabated as our forces carry out the government’s plant for the takeover of Gaza City, and the likely subsequent creation of a military administration in the entire Gaza Strip. More than 60,000 reservists were called up once again to carry out the plan on the ground after a week of airstrikes that succeeded in leveling hundreds of buildings throughout Gaza City.

Most recently reports by Hamas indicate the in response to our effort to take control of Gaza City and root out the remaining Hamas infrastructure, the (possibly) 20 living Israeli hostages are being brought out of the tunnels to act as human shields for Hamas. Lord only know what they may be doing with the bodies of the other 28 who have died there.

Inside Israel anti-government demonstrations continue regularly with large turnouts of angry citizens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Generals, intelligence chiefs and defense officials all oppose reoccupation of Gaza. Surveys show that approximately 70% of Israelis would prefer a deal to free the hostages, force Hamas to disarm, and end the war — and, if Hamas refuses, to enable Gazans who wish to do so to leave. Yet the Prime Minister speaks with disdain about the protestors and implies that their actions are strengthening Hamas.

We all remember that in early 2024 the Prime Minister said that Israel was “one step from victory.” It is now 16 months later and, at least to most of us living here, it does not feel that we are close to victory at all, or that fully eliminating Hamas is even a realizable goal and, of course, we also see total frustration about the plight of the remaining hostages, both dead and barely alive.

Israel is not and was never meant to be Sparta. Tradition tells us that we will always be an outlier among nations, we know that. We also know that to exist here we will probably always have another war to fight and another enemy to temporarily subdue until the next time. We also know that the world cares not one wit about dead Jews.

Yet in spite of all of that, we do know how to build, maintain and then grow a thriving democracy whose technological prowess is the envy of the world. The Prime Minister needs to understand that throwing that all away in an effort to be Sparta will, if implemented, go down in history as the worst strategic decision that Israel has ever made.

History has noted that Sparta was eventually brought down by a number of factors, including internal strife, economic decline, and foreign invasion. We are already suffering from internal strife and initial economic decline in certain sectors while being threatened by foreign invasion from time to time. While we remain strong for the moment, it would be utter stupidity to believe that we can base a future society on total independence from the rest of the world.

The sooner we realize that and begin mending our fences, as it were, the faster we can return to some semblance of normalcy and move on until, of course, the next time. As citizens of this country we deserve nothing less from our elected leaders and if they are not up to the job they need to be replaced and the sooner the better.