Today most Israelis are realistic about the Arabs and Palestinians and the Israeli economy. Americans live in a fantasy world about foreign affairs and the economy.
I would
like to suggest that the Israelis moved from ideological dupes, Lefty
lemmings, in 1966 to their current state of open-eyed realism because of three
wars. Americans might be in for the same eye-opening movement in the next few decades.
The first force for change in Israel was the 1967 Six Day war that taught Israelis that only a strong military with preemptive strikes could save them from the savage nations that surround them.
The 1973 War reinforced that understanding and created an understanding of the need for a far reaching powerful, untethered and active intelligence service. The pseudo-peace treaty with Egypt that followed has been a long lesson in learning that Arabs are lying savages only kept in abeyance out of fear of retaliation. The cold peace with Egypt is a sorry lesson in Arab perfidiousness.
The final lesson for the remaining Lefty peaceniks in Israel was Intifada II. The lesson there...the Palestinians are savages, implacable enemies, like all the other Arab nations and can never be trusted under any circumstances. Waste ten years negotiating peace when their only goal was war.
The September 2001 Arab attack on New York and Washington may be the equivalent of the Israeli Six Day War. The first painful lesson in dealing with Arabs. We have a long way to go and a great deal more tragedy before we can reach the level of realism that Israelis have today.