Haavara FAQs: Watch this encounter between Prof. Edward Said and Bibi Netanyahu in the 1980s

In the early 1980s, the renowned Palestinian-American scholar Professor Edward Said was reportedly invited to debate Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations. Netanyahu declined the invitation, and when asked why, he allegedly responded with a chilling remark: "I think he might try to kill me":

Israeli soldiers enjoying torturing a Palestinian; compare the look on the victim's face with the one on the soldiers' faces! Did Nazis enjoy it like this during WWII!

It is worth noting that the earlier clip was extracted from a much longer interview, which we highly recommend watching. Towards the end, starting from 56:45, Prof. Said mentioned a powerful encounter with an Israeli academic who said something similar after the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the defeat of the PLO: the Israeli was terrified of Palestinians (not the Arab states), although they were defeated! Said was baffled: how could he think like that? Perhaps if Edward were still alive, he would have recognized why, especially after the Oct. 7th Raid. Israelis know well: although they have created a powerful enterprise, it is still fragile on many fronts! Actually, the "Jewish state" is more fragile than ever.

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The core question this incident raises is not whether Netanyahu's fear was justified, but why such a fear exists among some Israeli leaders and intellectuals. The argument can be made that this fear stems from a psychological projection --a belief that Palestinians, if they had the power, would act like they perceive their own actions. This idea finds support in the statements of many former Israeli officials who have publicly reflected on what they might do if they were in the position of a Palestinian. For instance, a former head of Israel's Internal Security Service (Shin Bet) once offered a hypothetical scenario of his own potential actions if he were born a Palestinian. Ehud Barak, Moshe Dayan, Benny Morris, and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer were known to have said something similar:

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This perspective challenges the conventional narrative. How can a state with a formidable military and technological advantage express such deep-seated fear of a population it holds a significant power advantage over? This paradox leads to a critical examination of Ze'ev Jabotinsky's "Iron Wall" theory. This doctrine posits that a strong, unassailable military presence is necessary to force Palestinians to accept the reality of a "Jewish state".

However, recent events, particularly the October 7th Raid, have brought the foundational premise of the "Iron Wall" into question. The idea that a trillion-dollar defense apparatus could be breached with relatively simple weapons demonstrates that an impenetrable wall is, in fact, a myth. The event suggests that the security paradigm based solely on military superiority may not be as effective as its adherents believe and that a different approach is necessary to achieve lasting peace and security.