Frontpage magazine interviews Kenneth Levin, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a Princeton-trained historian, and a commentator on Israeli politics. He is the author of the new book The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege.
By any means, read the whole thing. We bring here some excerpts:
FP: What inspired you to write this book?
Levin: It was obvious to me at the start, as it was to many others, that the Oslo agreements could only lead to disaster. I said as much in a Jerusalem Post op.ed. a few days before the 1993 signing of the first accords on the White House lawn. That there was something very deluded about the thinking of Israel’s leaders and their pro-Oslo constituency became more evident as Oslo proceeded. Arafat and his Palestinian Authority immediately used their media, mosques and schools to promote hatred of Israel and violence against Jews and continued to make clear their objective remained Israel’s destruction. The level of terrorism increased to unprecedented dimensions. Yet Israel responded with more concessions [link]
FP: Tell us how and why people under siege often end up internalizing the hatred against themselves and delude themselves about the malicious intentions of their enemies?
Levin: They do so because they are eager to feel some control over a painful situation which is, in reality, out of their control. Chronically abused children - more specifically those subjected to parental abuse - typically blame themselves for their victimization because to do so supports a fantasy that if they reform, if they become "good," their parents will treat them differently. To look at their predicament more realistically would force them to accept their helplessness to change their terrible circumstances, and children, and adults as well, prefer to fend off acknowledging such bitter realities.
Similarly, within populations under chronic siege - whether minorities marginalized, demeaned and attacked by surrounding societies or small nations besieged by their neighbors - some will invariably seek either to avert their gaze from the severity of the threat or rationalize the threat and blame themselves or others within their community for the danger. Their doing so reflects wishful thinking that if only they would reform sufficiently the danger would be alleviated.[link]
FP: What do you think is the psychology of a left-wing Jew?
Levin: The sources of leftist predilections among Jews are manifold. In the early modern era in Western Europe, in the late eighteenth and into the nineteenth century, liberal political forces tended to be more supportive of granting rights to Jews than were conservative groups, and so Jews gravitated toward what became liberal parties. With the recognition that the help offered by the liberals was limited and Jewish disabilities remained, some committed Jews drifted further leftward, believing that genuine Jewish equality would come only with a more radical restructuring of society. They also believed that Jews could win more acceptance by allying themselves with the other disadvantaged groups in society, particularly the working class, in a common struggle for relief.
But the politics of the radical Left - of socialism and communism - was particularly attractive in Western Europe to some of those who, in the face of anti-Jewish depredations, were eager to divest themselves of a Jewish identity. [link]
We have been saying all along that Israeli political class and the Jewish establishment in this country have been acting crazy. Now, we have a shrink from Harvard to confirm our diagnosis. Problems of the elites are many. But the help is on the way.
Are you a member of the self-appointed Jewish political elite? Are you a progressive? Are you reading the Jewish Russian Telegraph?
Good, you've made your first step to recovery. Now, go and read Dr. Levin's book and see how sick you were all this time.
posted by: jrtelegraph
It becomes more and more obvious that Westerners (Jews included) who try to make agreements and friendships with Islamists suffer from Stockholm (or call it Oslo) Syndrome.
Unfortunately, big chunk of Jewish elite is affected by this psychiatric disorder. They are not fit to lead us. They jeopardise the future of our children.
Anna
Posted by: Anna | November 27, 2005 at 09:41 AM