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Entry: Mopping up the Israel Lobby Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/mopping_up_the_israel_lobby#9267 Post contents: Could one of the reasons for the problems described by Mersheimer and Walt be that Judaism has drastically changed? With the spread of Zionism around 1900, Judaism in effect followed German Protestantism in abandoning the core morals of the Judeo-Christian tradition and turning into a prop of nationalism. One of the lost morals was the idea that pride is the worst of sins -- this idea is stated emphatically and repeatedly in the Torah. The acceptance of pride again produces the personality traits you describe, such as arrogance, loss of empathy, hypersensitivity to criticism and its associated loss of the ability to do self-criticism, and an inability to think through the consequenses of one's actions. In the lobby's actions, we are now beginning to see the results of this development. An example of what I have in mind: when Dershowitz recently discovered hostility toward Israel among British academics, he threatened to bring in 100 lawyers and start suing them. Did this announcement increase or decrease the hostility toward Israel and Jews among British academics? (Note that the loss of empathy operates unconsciously. Dershowitz very probably does not realize that his actions are massively counterproductive.) The lobby's behavior seems to be just a symptom of an attitude change that is occurring in modern west. As you note, the harsh, brutal, arrogant "take no prisoners" attitude is now widely accepted by many Protestant denominations. Maybe Jews should have been more critical when they started abandoning their old traditions and assimilating with the West. Sent at: 2008 05 15