Israelis have an expression about someone who is somewhat delusional about reality: “Hoo (he) hai (lives) b’eelooj (in an illusion – Hebraizing the English word). That’s my reaction when I read Tom Friedman’s op-ed piece just now. Of course, it’s not just Friedman, but all the supporters of this ridiculous, wasteful, unnecessary war. Now that it is close to ending, and it is clear that Israel will accomplish none of its purported goals, the war-mongerers need to salvage their pride, and claim “‘Twas a great victory.”
Here are Friedman’s words with my commentary: “On the morning after the morning after, Lebanese war refugees, who had real jobs and homes, will start streaming back by the hundreds of thousands, many of them Shiites. Tragically, they will find their homes or businesses badly damaged or obliterated. Yes, they will curse Israel. But they and other Arabs will also start asking Nasrallah publicly what many are already asking privately: “’What was this war all about? What did we get from this and at what price? Israel has some roofs to repair and some dead to bury. But its economy and state are fully intact, and it will recover quickly. We Lebanese have been set back by a decade. Our economy and our democracy lie in ruins, like our homes. For what? For a one-week boost in ‘Arab honor?’ So that Iran could distract the world’s attention from its nuclear program? You did all this to us for another country?’” Friedman and his ilk, viz. neo-liberal hawks, love to talk about the burgening of democracy in the Middle East as a justification for aggression and war. Unlike the neo-cons, they purport that they aren’t interested in projecting America’s power. Rather, their goal for war is projecting America’s “values” such as freedom and democracy. They love to point to the recent elections in Lebanon and the Siniora government as an example of the good results of intervention. In my series on “Hypocrisy and Empire” I wrote extensively about why I oppose such views. In essence they provide a moral smoke screen for the true goals of intervention by the Empire – the spread of corporate capitalism and its interests. In “one article in that series”:/1110342678/ I specifically wrote about the so-called “Cedar revolution.” The gap between Siniora’s Beirut and the Shi’ites in the south is huge, and Friedman conveniently ignores that gap. In Friedman’s own paper there recently was an article about why Hezbullah is so popular among poor Shi’ites. Support for Nasrallah is not about “Arab pride” but the bread and butter issue closest to every father and mother’s heart – feeding their children, educating them, keeping them healthy. Hezbullah gives the people jobs, health care, education. The government in Beirut gives them nothing. The elites who are behind the Cedar revolution hated Nasrallah before and will hate him no less now. But his core constituents won’t curse him – it wasn’t his bombs that destroyed their homes and killed their childrens. It was bombs made in the U.S. and given to Israel. They know better than Friedman what this war is really about – the consolidation of power in the hands of those who already have. They understand that a defeat of Hezbullah will take away whatever shred of dignity is left to them, and return them back to the days when they were treated like dirt by the Christian and Sunni elites. They also know on behalf of which side “Israel was intervening.”:/1110940123 They understand too, perhaps more than most Israelis do, that Israel is not a sovereign state, but a “tool in the hands of the U.S.”:/1108960530/ Finally, they don’t view Hezbullah as fighting as a surrogate of Iran. Hezbullah, in their eyes is fighting for them, and them alone. Now of course Friedman has to justify in his own mind why Israeli’s won’t be asking themselves these same questions: “What was this war all about? What did we get from this and at what price? We Israelis have been set back by a decade. Our economy and our democracy lie in ruins, like our homes. For what? For a one-week boost in ‘Israel’s Deterrance’ So that the U.S. could distract the world’s attention from its failures in Iraq? You did all this to us for another country?’” Friedman’s response is that Israel’s damage from this war is merely cosmetic, hence Israelis won’t ask themselves these question. How illuminating! If in fact the damage to Israel is as minimal as he makes it, then why is Israel declaring this war to be a war of survival? If Israel can recover so quickly, if Hezbullah is such a puny threat to Israel (and it is) then how can Israel’s supporters like Friedman, justify the vast destruction it brought upon its neighbors? I have made it quite clear that I don’t for a minute believe this war is about Israel’s survival, nor would I contend that Hezbullah now or in the future representa an existential threat to Israel. But the damage to Israel has not been minimal by any measure. First and foremost, the death of 150 Israelis, the serious wounding of hundreds more, is a devestating and tragic human blow in such a small country (Friedman’s cold indifference to the human cost of this war (and the war on Iraq) on all sides is despicable). As for the economic costs, for the residents of the North in particular, the economic impact of this war is ruinous. For Israel as a whole, the costs are huge. Israel’s economy was not in such great shape to begin with. After years of downturn, Israel’s tourism industry, vital to its economy, was finally turning around. Once again it will be set back. Foreign investor confidence in Israel, the other vital part of the economy, which was recently rising, has been shaken once again. And the U.S. taxpayer will not so quickly pick up the vast economic tab for this war, as it has in for past Israeli wars. Nonetheless, Israelis for the most part won’t ask these questions for many of the same reasons the Shi’ites won’t. Just like the Shi’ites totally identify with Hezbullah, Israelis totally identify with T’Zahal, the Israeli army. Just as the Shi’ites see themselves as victims and the war as an extension of all their past suffering, the Israelis see themselves in the same light. Just as the Shi’ites will curse their neighbor as the enemy that rained down on them destruction, and not curse their leaders, the Israelis will do the same. And just like Nasrallah exploits the sense of victimhood of his people to consolidate his power, so too do Israel’s leaders.
