There is a difference between the way that a street
gangster challenges the world when standing on the roof of a building, and when
hiding in the basement of the building.
Waving a gun, standing on the roof of the building, he
defies anyone who might come up and challenge him. Blustering about his strength, he warns
anyone who might dare to come and get him in the basement.
These are the two extreme situations in which Israel
found itself, figuratively speaking, during the last half century. In addition,
its propaganda machine often found it caught in limbo between the two extremes.
Such situations necessitated mouthing off the nonsensical utterances
simultaneously from both sides of the mouth, which is what the machine has been
doing to impress several audiences at the same time.
Israel's high point came after it conducted a Pearl
Harbor style sneak attack on its neighbors, inflicting heavy damage to their
fighting capability. The Jews thought of the attack as being –– not an
engagement that was to start a six-year-war, which it was –– but a six-day-war
that was to end all Middle Eastern wars. This turned out to be a fantasy, of
course. But while it lasted, the Jews saw themselves standing on the roof of
the region, challenging anyone who might dare to take them on.
Little did they know that the Egyptians, who were
attacked eleven years earlier by the two colonial powers Britain and
France––with Israel tagging along to learn how these things are done––had
prepared themselves for this kind of surprise. They had foreseen an attack
coming on the Sinai Peninsula, thus equipped a fighting force and trained it to
engage the enemy in a war of attrition that should inflict serious damage on
the invader, without the benefit of being protected by an air force.
In fact, that's what happened on the ground during the
six years that followed the Israeli attack, but you wouldn't know it listening
to the Jewish propaganda machine. Desirous to speak of big gains scored by
Israel during the War of Attrition while fearful of the anticipated Egyptian
counter-attack to liberate the Sinai, the propaganda machine started to spew
two contradictory discourses simultaneously.
Whereas the aging rabbis in charge of the machine were
turning cautious, a new mob of young pundits was taking over from them and
throwing caution to the wind. Whereas the rabbis were warning the “Friends of
Israel” they might be called upon to increase their contributions to Israel,
and work on pressuring America to come to the rescue, the mob of young fanatics
spoke of an invincible Israel that will protect itself, protect America and
protect the world from the attacks of a mythical beast that is at once so
powerful it can destroy the world, and so weak that Israel will crush it under
its thumb.
That dual condition continues to this day but has been
modified to lean more toward the cautious side. It is happening because the
developments that have taken place in the Middle East during the last decade,
were so overwhelming, they could not be ignored. It is that Israel is being
deterred by tiny ragtag armies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, while some people
continue to dream that Israel can push back against them as well as against
Syria and Iran. And that's not all because the dreamers also believe that
America will eventually get into the fight and obliterate all of Israel's
enemies.
With the rise of antisemitism around the world, and
the rise of tribalism in America, every position having to do with the Middle
East, has been adopted by one faction or another in America. Thus, a typical
article nowadays might contain the simultaneous assertion that Israel is
invincible and that it is in danger of being defeated in the blink of an eye.
In fact, this is what you'll detect in the article
that came under the title: “Hezbollah's plan for precision missile factories
risks new escalation in 2020,” written by Yaakov Lappin, and published on
January 14, 2020 on the website of Jewish News Syndicate.
As if Israel’s propaganda machine were standing on the
roof of a building, here is what Lappin says:
“Hezbollah remains deterred by Israel's military
might, but if it proceeds with the missile factories, it would be taking an
enormous risk of escalation by inviting Israeli action … Israel is a powerful
regional power, and its enemies understand its military might well. However, the
intent of the Iranian axis to build up its capabilities is creating new
potential for escalations despite Israel's powerful deterrence against its
enemies”.
As if Israel’s propaganda machine were hiding in the
basement of a building, here is what Lappin says:
“At the top of the list of immediate threats is the
Iranian-Hezbollah plan to construct precision-guided missile factories on
Lebanese soil … Giving Hezbollah and the Iranians the ability to accurately
threaten strategic spots in Israel with guided missiles built on Lebanese soil
looks like a step too far in the force buildup program by Israel's enemies”.
The possibility that these people are not
contemplating is that the building may collapse. Instead of joining the human
race in the open field of normal life, they take the risk of losing their lives
whether they stand on the roof of the building or hide in its basement.