Why Unrealistic Hope Can Collapse Into Despair
A Hebrew opinion essay argues that Israel’s recent awakening under air-raid sirens reflects a wider national disillusionment after the Hamas attack on Simchat Torah 5784. The writer says the country has moved from a kind of sleep into a painful but clarifying recognition of truth versus deception, and that most Israelis no longer buy the illusions they were told.
The article cites an interview with Dr. Gadi Taub on Daniel Dushi’s program as an example of this shift. Taub, who says he was born on the left and spent many years there, argues that the Israeli left, influenced by Western liberalism, adopted a cosmopolitan optimism that assumed the world was moving toward peace, globalization, and cooperation. In that view, conflicts were temporary and could be solved with territorial concessions and agreements such as Oslo or the two-state idea. He says that fantasy collapsed because it ignored Middle Eastern realities, with the public being hawkish and unconvinced by peace slogans.
By contrast, Taub presents the right, in his telling, as a useful pessimism, meaning realism and realpolitik. He says human nature and international systems do not change easily, deterrence matters most in the Middle East, and peace is not natural but the product of uncompromising military strength. He adds that Israel needs a realpolitik government, and says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu functions as a bulwark reminding people of the need for political and security strength.
The essay then turns to a Talmudic story in Bava Batra about the swallowed followers of Korah, who are heard proclaiming, “Moses is true and his Torah is true, and we are false.” Using Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook’s interpretation, the writer says Korah’s revolt came from an ideal too lofty and not realistic enough, which turned into destructive judgment when it collapsed. The lesson, the article concludes, is that trying to force ideals ahead of reality leads to ruin, while patient realism can eventually produce true hope and optimism.
