An Israeli Arab in Haaretz doesn't understand Jews

I was struck by the first two paragraphs of this Haaretz article by Odeh Bisharat:

Israel, an overly emotional, easily rattled military power

Odeh Bisharat | Sep. 13, 2021 | 12:23 AM

I’m very disappointed with Israeli Jewish society. How is it possible to run a country that is said to be the world’s eighth-ranked military power if last week’s escape of six Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa Prison rattles it so? For days now, from the time they get up until they go to sleep, the country’s citizens have been living and breathing on whether the prisoners were still on the lam or have been caught.

How can a military power that threatens every neighborhood with its lethal army be maintained when the killing of a single soldier drives people out of their minds? Where is the sense of self-confidence, and where are the nerves of steel?

The answers to his two questions are the same and they do not require an advanced degree in sociology. 

Jewish Israelis consider each other to be family, and when any family member is in danger or dies, everyone is affected.

What family would shrug off danger to their members because they have "nerves of steel" or supreme self-confidence?

Israel's strength comes precisely from treating fellow Jews like family, and anguishing over the safety of each and every one.

Bisharat's wonder at this shows far more about his own psyche than anything wrong with Israeli Jews. 

Some people mistake Israeli Jewish concerns for the safety and health of fellow Jews as racism against Arabs. It isn't. Prioritizing your own family is not bigotry, but it doesn't mean that people outside your family should be treated with anything but respect. 

Perhaps the only Jews Bisharat associates with are fellow Haaretz columnists like Gideon Levy, Amira Hass or Rogel Alpher, who hate their fellow Jews with a passion and who cheer their deaths at the hands of Arabs as cosmic justice. 

I suppose if those are the only Jews one knows, those questions make sense.

---

---