ALL THESE trends are even more extreme in Israel.
The state of Israel was born in the middle of a long and brutal war. From day 1, its existence depended on the moral and material strength of its army. The army is the center of national life, the darling of its Jewish citizens. It is by far the most popular institution in today's Israel.
This reminds one of the German Reich of the Kaiser, where it was said that "Der Soldate/ist der beste Mann im Staate" ("the soldier is the best man in the state"). Perhaps it was not an accident that the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was an ardent admirer of the Kaiser's Reich.
In my ongoing internet dialogue with my lady friend in Lahore, I was again struck by the similarity of our two countries. Pakistan and Israel were born at the same time, in former British colonies, after a painful partition with much bloodshed, in which masses of people became refugees. Both are based on a religious-ethnic ideology and live in constant conflict with their neighbors
Both are democracies -- ruled, behind the scenes, by their armies and intelligence establishments.
EVERY YOUNG Jewish Israeli is supposed to serve in the army. Men serve for three years -- the most formative years in the life of the human male, the years of idealism, still unburdened by families, ready to sacrifice.
(In practice, almost 40% do not serve at all -- both Arab citizens and Orthodox Jewish citizens are exempted, though for different reasons.)
The army is the melting pot for native-born youngsters, immigrants from Russia, Morocco, Ethiopia and many other countries. During 1100 days and nights, the army forges their common denominator and their common outlook.
They come to the army already prepared. The Israeli education system is a factory for Zionist indoctrination, from kindergarten on. These 15 years, crowned by the three army years, produce a vast majority of narrow-minded, nationalist, ethnic-centered men and women. From there the professional military officer starts his career, however far it may go, taking his ideological baggage with him.
Leaving the army at 42 and starting on a civilian career does not mean shedding these blinkers. On the contrary, army officers remain army officers even when donning civilian garb. One could say that the officers, present and past, constitute the only real party in the country.
This is not the same army I swore allegiance to on the day it was founded. At the time, many officers were Kibbutz members, brought up in the spirit of socialism and solidarity. After 57 years of occupation, the army has become brutalized, many officers are settlers, many wear nationalist-religious knitted kippahs. The extreme right-wing religious parties make a deliberate effort to infiltrate the officers corps and succeed on a large scale.
MORE THAN 200 years ago, Count Mirabeau, a leader of the French revolution, famously said that Prussia is "not a state that has an army, but an army that has a state."
The same can be said today about the Only Democracy in the Middle East.
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