The 1937 Peel Commission partition plan was accepted by Ben-Gurion as a "first step," while he privately wrote: "After we become a strong force, we will abolish partition and expand into the whole Land of Israel." from a July 1937 letter to his son, Amos. The full passage, in its original Hebrew, is longer and has several translations, but a widely accepted English paraphrase from historian Benny Morris in Righteous Victims (1999), p. 138, includes: > "A Jewish state in part of Palestine is not the end but the beginning… I am certain we will not be prevented from settling in the other parts of the country and the region... We shall expand to the whole country in the course of time… The state will only be a stage in the realization of Zionism and its task is to prepare the ground for our expansion into the whole of Palestine." Ben-Gurion also said (in a 1937 Mapai party meeting, per Morris): > "We accept the partition in principle, but the boundaries must be drawn by us... Partition will not be the end, but the beginning."
How Group Narcissism Can Become Genocidal 1. Inflated sense of historic grievance – "We have suffered more than others." – "The world owes us safety, respect, even deference." 2. Victimhood turned inward and outward – Inward: trauma mythologized into identity. – Outward: any opposition becomes existential threat. 3. Boundary obsession – Others are a contamination. – Purity, legacy, or divine mission must be protected—even if violently. 4. Ends-justify-means thinking – "We’ve survived this long—we must do what it takes." – "They would destroy us if they could, so better we do it first." 5. A historical 'mandate' – Whether divine (chosenness, dharma) or civilizational (we're the last bulwark), this gives a moral green light to horrific acts. Examples Across History Nazi Germany: Aryan group narcissism fueled by humiliation post-WWI; Jews became the contamination threatening national renewal. Modern Zionist: Jewish trauma and survival turned into an absolutist claim to land, with Palestinian presence reframed as existential danger. Serbian nationalism in the 1990s: Orthodox Christian victimhood myth used to justify ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats. Rwandan genocide: Hutu propaganda stoked fear of Tutsi dominance by invoking past injuries. The irony (for narcissists that's a lot like tinny but heavier). The very mechanisms that help groups endure under persecution, myth, grievance, boundary maintenance, can become the fuel for committing the same atrocities they once suffered.
A friend told me about a talk she went to in London and I just found it by chance. I find interesting mentioning something backed by my experience meeting and having long chats with at least three Israelis in the early 2000s who were on their 30s. They expressed a sentiment that they didn't hang around with the younger, post military service, groups saying to the effect they "were raised under a different system".
Actor Liam Cunningham on Gaza: 'The world cannot stand by and allow this to continue' Updated / Saturday, 31 May 2025 15:40 Irish actor Liam Cunningham has said the world "cannot stand by" and allow the ongoing war in Gaza to continue. The United Nations has said the situation in Gaza is the worst since the war between Israel and Hamas began 19 months ago, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave where famine looms. The Dublin actor is currently in Sicily, Italy, where final preparations are being made for a flotilla of aid, mainly containing medical supplies, to depart for Gaza. Cunningham and climate activist Greta Thunberg are among those on the boat to support the flotilla of aid, which is scheduled to depart on Sunday morning. Speaking on Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin on RTÉ Radio 1 from Sicily, Cunningham said that the hope was the flotilla would get through and not be attacked – as was the case with the Freedom Flotilla ship, The Conscience which was damaged in a drone strike off the coast of Malta on 2 May. "If anything happens to the boat, it's not a confrontation – it's a deliberate attack," he said. Liam Cunningham is "indifferent to any criticisms" over his support of Palestinian people. Asked about whether he had experienced any pushback professionally for the stance he has taken in solidarity with the Palestinian people, the actor said: "I'm indifferent to any criticisms over this. "If you look at it realistically, I play dress-up for a living. I love my job. I commit as much energy as I possibly can, but that's the bottom line." The Game of Thrones and 3 Body Problem star continued: "I'm in my sixties. Like like a lot of people, I've paid off my mortgage. I own my car, I don't have any bills. "I do not have an iota of interest in any consequences that will come because of this. I have to be able to look at my grandkids when they when they hit their teens and say to me, 'What did you do during this?' "I do not want to be one of those people that said, 'I didn't do anything'. "In World War Two, there was an excuse that you didn't know what was going on with the Holocaust - an obscene event that was going on - there was an excuse to say, 'I didn't know'. "Your only answer to your grandkids, or your kids, when they grow up is, 'I didn't care'." Cunningham added: "The world cannot stand by and allow this to continue." " What is clear now is that the generator on the aid ship "The Conscience" was targeted in international waters. That's an Israeli operation as knowing just where to hit like that takes military sophistication.
"When we revolt it’s not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe" is from Frantz Fanon's seminal work, The Wretched of the Earth. Fanon, a psychiatrist and revolutionary from Martinique who worked in Algeria, understood violence not just as political but as psychological, a rupture caused by systemic dehumanization. The full sentiment around that quote speaks volumes in the current context: the idea that what gets called “madness” or “terror” is often a final expression of moral injury, silence, and suffocation, while those seated comfortably call for calm as if their own peace wasn’t built on someone else’s strangulation.
I met some young Israeli guys in the early 2000s in India, just after they had finished their military service. They were planning to become settlers, not in the West Bank, but in Jerusalem, targeting Palestinian owned homes there. I saw them working out at a beach gym, trying to bulk up their unimpressive frames, despite having just finished national service, presumably to become more convincing bullies. We chatted each day for a week. Over and over, they told me I wouldn’t be able to do what they were doing, that my conscience would get in the way. I must say that I felt bad for them being caught up in some maniac's plan. It seems Louis met the chief maniac.