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Jude Folly's avatar

well said...

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Jude Folly's avatar

they could have saved the cost of research and hand wringing ...

'As Yeshayahu Leibowitz predicted decades ago, "the occupation—and above all the settlement project—have profoundly eroded the moral fiber of Israel, corroded central institutions of the society, and undermined our integrity as a political community." '

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/12/17/israel-without-illusions/

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Adrian Monck's avatar

Leibowitz was certainly prescient. But there is value in documenting the mechanism, not just the prediction. The research shows how it happens: the specific psychological processes; the measurable increases in domestic violence; the institutional changes in the military.

Also, Leibowitz was dismissed as a fringe voice for decades. Now Israeli researchers are saying the same thing from within the system and putting data to it. Sometimes societies need to hear hard truths from their own institutions before they’ll listen.

The ‘hand wringing’ is Israeli professors and researchers grappling with their own society’s trajectory. Worth documenting, I think.

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