"Israel's birth came as redemption in the wake of an unprecedented crime — the Holocaust of the Jewish people. The 60 years that followed were punctuated by moments of pride and peril: victories in several wars of national survival, but also by continuing uncertainty about the country's future. Will Israel survive another 60 years if the next decades are dominated by nuclear proliferation, growing violence in the Middle East, intensifying popular passions among the demographically prolific Palestinians, and eventually, the fading of America's regional domination?"
- Zbigniew Brzezinski, "Israel at 60" Time.
The myths we tell ourselves on a civilizational level are political in nature. The Holocaust and 9/11 are the most famous modern examples.
Both stories served to cast Israel and America as victims of the Nazis and Muslims. And they have continued to function in that way well into the quarter mark of the 21st century.
I don't believe peace in the Holy Land and the greater Near East is possible until both stories are finally put to bed.
Stories are incredibly powerful motivators of human behaviour. If we keep telling ourselves we are victims of terror, of imperialism, of colonialism, of Zionism, of anti-Semitism, of history, of whatever boogeyman of the day, then we will always be trapped in that story.
The story that Palestinians tell themselves hasn't served them well. Granted, they're a colonized people, and they have made honest attempts at peace only to be rebuked by the state of Israel. But calling for the destruction of Israel, as extremist Palestinians and their supporters have done, only invites more violence.
And Israel is the master of violence. We know the October 7 attacks were largely its doing, not Hamas. But you don't charm a beast by blasting insults at it.
Palestinians and Muslims have to learn to embrace this beast, and hope it civilizes over time as its irrational anger and politically constructed collective trauma dissipates.
Where is the so-called Islamic hospitality for Jews?
Iran over the last fifty years has played a very negative role in this process. Under the Ayatollahs it has taken an irresponsible stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its leaders have ran over their own people with the Palestinian bus on their way to Jerusalem.
And American leaders are guilty of the same crime, putting the interests of Israel above their own people for more than half a century.
This summer America will turn 250, and it must change directions or it won't see 300. It is currently unrecognizable to the Founding Fathers.
I think the leaders of both America and Iran are smart enough to realize that their peoples reject war for foreign interests. They may be monsters but they're still shrewd political animals.
A war over the Holy Land will not serve neither America nor Iran. The region can't handle it. And the world won't tolerate it.
They need to find a path to peace and create a new story.
