12 Comments

Super interesting and well done. Funny, because I recently explained my feelings about Israel by saying that it is "my tribe." And I feel that the West, as a product of the French Enlightenment is also my tribe -- the two tribes have many points of intersection, although this essay perfectly points out where they diverge. Having read Herari's "Sapiens" gave me idea of "tribe". I think we all function in a tribal way. It's in our DNA. For some it may be religious, for other political, etc. etc. The problem with the West is, tolerance is a huge tribal characteristic. That's dangerous. We cannot tolerate the intolerant. We have to be able to exercise tolerance when it is safe to do so, and revert to crushing the enemy when that is required. That's a tall order, but it's the one we have to deal with.

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At this point Israel would be insane if it accepted a two state solution. Palestinians have been screwing them selves for a century now, so I say bleep them.

I used to lean towards the Palestinians until I dug into the history. I’m amazed how Putin bombs civilians and Dubya killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians & Israel is under a microscope, held to a far higher standard.

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I agree with this 100% Who wants a two state solution? Israel knows it won’t work, Hamas doesn’t want it. They would carry out killing sprees constantly if that happened. I agree that the West has no understanding of the Tribal mindset of the Arab nations. Why, Why have they not learnt the lessons of history

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Just remember the Arab proverb: "you kiss the hand you cannot bite" !

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This perfectly summarizes Western foreign policy since 1945: “Europe’s surrender-at-every-opportunity approach and America’s appease-at-every-chance approach…”

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Yup. What happened to the spine that bombed Berlin, Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

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I can't give enough praise for such a well written essay that identifies so many truths that the West just doesn't get. Thank you for such an informative and literate piece. It was so refreshing after reading an almost middle school level of writing by a so-called foreign policy "expert" in Washington, DC. It was a totally political piece bashing the right for opposing Biden's position on the Israeli war.

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If Baruch de Spinoza had listened to the tribal voices of the Jewish community in Amsterdam, his wonderful 'Ethica' would never have enlightened the world. (To deviate from the common, that's life.)

But Nachum Kaplan certainly has a point: the Middle East is mainly tribal and the West has to often acted as if enlightenment could be brought at gunpoint.

The good news: Israel is not (yet) a tribal society, and it should remain so for its own sake- tribal societies are stagnant or worse. ( If it were, the 20 % or so non-Jewish inhabitants couldn't possibly fit in Israeli society as well as they do now.)

Tribalist parties advocate regression and exclusion; just listen to Trump, Wilders, Orban, Meloni.

To be dependent on the whims of the chieftain, that' s not exactly the environment were science, freedom of thought (or the Jewish community for that matter) flourish.

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You write:- 'Israel needs to act like what it is: a heavily armed ethno-religious minority tribe. The endgame is for Jews and Arabs to be strong, living side-by-side in their respective homelands.' Both of these statements are wrong, and the latter is contradictory. The Jews are a thoroughly Multi-Racial community, linked by a belief in a single G-d as revealed by Him in The Torah. We are therefore NOT a single 'Tribe', which is errant Racism. The endgame is for the Arabs and the Palestinians to accept Israel and Jews on our own Homeland where we have been for almost four Millenia. Because Palestinian Hamas want a Genocidal War against The Jewish People, (and in fact have an alliance with The Nazi Party to achieve just this which we have monitored in London) The Palestinians will not and cannot have a 'State', Arab 'Tribe' or not.

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Fabulous - Logical, straightforward, on-point and and mind-bogglingly simple. Written by someone who knows what he is talking about - obviously not a "Westerner"

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The Jews are a thoroughly Multi-Racial community, linked by a belief in a single G-d as revealed by Him in The Torah. We are therefore NOT a single 'Tribe', which is errant Racism.

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Excellent and true

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