Reut Institute Maps Israel’s Intelligence War Against Enemies

Richard Silverstein has written an important piece on Tikun Olam-תקון עולם:  about the strategy of the Israel Lobby.

The last time I felt this way was when The Israel Project had the guts to make Frank Luntz’s hasbara opus public, thus laying out almost the entire game plan of the Israel lobby.  Now, comes word of a new report by Israel’s Reut Institute, spooky think tank devoted to speculating on who’s trying get Israel and how we get ‘em first.

Reading the summary of this report gives one the sense of listening in on a bunch of generals and intelligence officers plotting Israel’s global strategy against the bad guys.  Of course, the main problem is that the bad guys aren’t just the ones hiding in caves in Pakistan or building bombs to kill Israeli civilians.  For Reut, the bad guys are, well–you and me.  That’s what makes this report so monstrous.  Yes, I use that term deliberately because this isn’t some document produced by David Horowitz or Moshe Feiglin, a bunch of crazy loons no one takes seriously.  This is a manual for Israeli pols and spooks outlining how to fight the enemy.  And I gotta tell ya, when they say enemy, they mean it literally.  We are in the cross hairs along with all the usual suspects like Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.  This is pro-Israel paranoia and it strikes deep:

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your heart it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
Step out of line, the Man come and take you away.
–For What It’s Worth, Buffalo Springfield

Just like the IDF made no distinction between civilians and fighters in Gaza, the new tack by Reut seems to treat all Israel’s critics as, if not terrorist, then fellow travelers and accomplices.  The rhetoric is feverish, apocalyptic.  You’ll notice how many times the word “existential” is used in the Bibiesque context.

Testimonial from Israel's disgraced former president

The only truth in the entire report is the introduction which posits that the greatest danger to Israel in the recent past has been the Gaza and Lebanon wars because they have served to unify Israel’s enemies as never before.  But every idea proceeding from this thesis is bogus starting here:

There are two main generators of attacks on Israel’s legitimacy. The Resistance Network – which operates on the basis of Islamist ideology and includes Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas; and the Delegitimization Network - which operates in the international arena in order to negate Israel’s right to exist and includes individuals and organizations in the West, which are catalyzed by the radical left.
…The erosion in Israel’s status internationally is driven by the coalescence of two parallel process:

• The Resistance Network advancing the ‘implosion strategy’ that aims to precipitate Israel’s internal collapse through a policy of ‘overstretch’: To achieve this, the Resistance Network increases the burden of the ‘Occupation,’ delegitimizes Israel, and develops an asymmetric use-of-force doctrine in the military arena and towards Israel’s home front. These groups take their inspiration from the collapse of the former Soviet Union and apartheid South Africa.
• The Delegitimization Network aiming to turn Israel into a pariah state by undermining its moral legitimacy and ultimately aspiring towards eliminating the ‘Zionist entity.’
• …The Resistance Network relies on military means to sabotage every move directed at affecting separation between Israel and the Palestinians or securing a two-state solution.

• The Delegitimization Network tarnishes Israel’s reputation, ties Israel’s hands in defending itself against military assaults, and advances the ‘one-state solution.’

This attack on Israel’s political and economic model is effective, possesses strategic significance, and may develop into a comprehensive existential threat within a few years.

Note here that it is Israel’s enemies undermining the two-state solution and not Israel itself.  Can you think of anything more deluded?
So far, the rhetoric is overblown, but the analysis is standard hasbara.  But then it takes an unusual tack:

A harbinger of such a threat would be the collapse of the two-state solution as an agreed framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the coalescence behind a ‘one-state solution’ as a new alternative framework.

What’s especially strange about this notion is that Israel is doing everything in its power to avoid a two-state solution, which in turn drives Israel’s critics into the arms of the one-state solution as the only remaining viable option (the view of some critics, though not necessarily my own).  So Reut has set up a beautiful tautology: if Israel’s enemies coalesce around a one-state solution it will be the ultimate expression of hatred of the state of Israel.  But Israel itself will do everything in its power to avoid a two-state solution.  The logic is beautiful, twisted and totally self-fulfilling.

Where will the next anti-Israel weapon come from after the Gaza and Lebanon wars lose their resonance?  Israel’s Palestinian citizens of course (do I hear, “fifth column” anyone?):

You should read the whole article.