A lot of this is government created. Don’t get me wrong sure the protege fears but the government enforces fear and reinforces it. This is the way government works around the world. To escape blame for economic collapse or lack of action “we need a distraction”… “oh, I know… hates a good one or fear or a mixture of both.” It’s government playbook 101. Romans did it, Egyptians did it for things as simple as the weather.
Bad weather, “let’s have a gladiator event and for rain. It will distract the citizens.” Replace responsibility with blame and distraction.
This was incredibly well articulated. What struck me most is how seamlessly you connected Glover’s moral framework to what’s unfolding right now both abroad and here at home. That parallel between Gaza and the Chicago raids hit hard; it’s a reminder that empathy isn’t just a concept, it’s a daily choice. The “conversation of mankind” feels like exactly what we’ve forgotten how to have one rooted in humanity instead of headlines. Thank you for writing something that refuses to look away, but also refuses to lose hope.✨
I arrived at a similar conclusion but took a different approach in my book “Stairway to Peace: Zionism, Transcendence, and the Human Condition”. It traces the Israeli and Palestinian stories, focusing on their shared moral struggles, and proposes a new path to peace: a hybrid Confederal Federation built on mutual recognition, cultural protection, and ethical governance.
Where many books analyse the violence, mine tries to rethink the civic and moral foundations, introducing ideas like Ethical Zionism revival, moral humility, and new democratic safeguards, so we can move beyond describing the conflict and actually chart a way out. I continue exploring and refining these ideas in my essays on Substack. I invite you to explore them.
Jonathan Glover, in Israelis and Palestinians: From the Cycle of Violence to the Conversation of Mankind, sees Zionism as a modern political movement for a Jewish state, responding to historical persecutions like pogroms and discrimination. He credits Herzl as its founder, who advocated for "a state of their own" tied to biblical traditions (e.g., Passover's "Next year in Jerusalem"), positioning it as a nationalist response linked to Jewish identity but separate from Judaism as a religion or cultural tradition.
Glover doesn't label Zionism inherently racist; he critiques the violence cycle and collective blame, urging against demonizing entire groups (e.g., peaceful Israelis or children not accountable for state actions) and emphasizing moral nuance. Critiques of its implementation (e.g., settlements, occupation) are framed as fueling mutual resentment, not racism per se.
Thanks for that summary of Glover’s view. My own book, “Stairway to Peace: Zionism, Transcendence, and the Human Condition”, follows a different thread. I see Herzl as the turning point where Zionism shifted into a purely political project and began a slow moral drift that helped lead to its present, often destructive form. I trace its roots further back to Nathan Birnbaum, who coined the name, and to early Cultural Zionists who saw themselves as Ethical Zionists, seeking cultural renewal and justice rather than state power.
Building on that history, the book proposes Ethical Zionism reborn and a hybrid Confederal Federation where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian identities are protected, each enjoying self-determination, under an ethical, secular civic framework. It aims to move past analysing the violence toward designing a just and sustainable future. I continue to expand and test these ideas in my essays on Substack.
If you’d like a good window into how I’m developing the ideas behind Stairway to Peace, I’d recommend “From Fear to Freedom: Can the Israeli Psyche Be Healed”. It looks at Israel as a traumatised society and argues why a return to the moral roots abandoned when Herzl turned the movement into a political project, could offer a way forward. I’m also working on a larger essay, When “Zionism Collides with Zion: A Reckoning of Meaning and Memory”, which will lay out the full historical and theological arc behind that vision.
A lot of this is government created. Don’t get me wrong sure the protege fears but the government enforces fear and reinforces it. This is the way government works around the world. To escape blame for economic collapse or lack of action “we need a distraction”… “oh, I know… hates a good one or fear or a mixture of both.” It’s government playbook 101. Romans did it, Egyptians did it for things as simple as the weather.
Bad weather, “let’s have a gladiator event and for rain. It will distract the citizens.” Replace responsibility with blame and distraction.
This was incredibly well articulated. What struck me most is how seamlessly you connected Glover’s moral framework to what’s unfolding right now both abroad and here at home. That parallel between Gaza and the Chicago raids hit hard; it’s a reminder that empathy isn’t just a concept, it’s a daily choice. The “conversation of mankind” feels like exactly what we’ve forgotten how to have one rooted in humanity instead of headlines. Thank you for writing something that refuses to look away, but also refuses to lose hope.✨
The deployment of force against citizens exercising their constitutional rights should alarm anyone who values democracy.
https://www.pressenza.com/2025/10/wake-up-america-democracy-is-disappearing-before-our-eyes/
I arrived at a similar conclusion but took a different approach in my book “Stairway to Peace: Zionism, Transcendence, and the Human Condition”. It traces the Israeli and Palestinian stories, focusing on their shared moral struggles, and proposes a new path to peace: a hybrid Confederal Federation built on mutual recognition, cultural protection, and ethical governance.
Where many books analyse the violence, mine tries to rethink the civic and moral foundations, introducing ideas like Ethical Zionism revival, moral humility, and new democratic safeguards, so we can move beyond describing the conflict and actually chart a way out. I continue exploring and refining these ideas in my essays on Substack. I invite you to explore them.
Jonathan Glover, in Israelis and Palestinians: From the Cycle of Violence to the Conversation of Mankind, sees Zionism as a modern political movement for a Jewish state, responding to historical persecutions like pogroms and discrimination. He credits Herzl as its founder, who advocated for "a state of their own" tied to biblical traditions (e.g., Passover's "Next year in Jerusalem"), positioning it as a nationalist response linked to Jewish identity but separate from Judaism as a religion or cultural tradition.
Glover doesn't label Zionism inherently racist; he critiques the violence cycle and collective blame, urging against demonizing entire groups (e.g., peaceful Israelis or children not accountable for state actions) and emphasizing moral nuance. Critiques of its implementation (e.g., settlements, occupation) are framed as fueling mutual resentment, not racism per se.
Thanks for that summary of Glover’s view. My own book, “Stairway to Peace: Zionism, Transcendence, and the Human Condition”, follows a different thread. I see Herzl as the turning point where Zionism shifted into a purely political project and began a slow moral drift that helped lead to its present, often destructive form. I trace its roots further back to Nathan Birnbaum, who coined the name, and to early Cultural Zionists who saw themselves as Ethical Zionists, seeking cultural renewal and justice rather than state power.
Building on that history, the book proposes Ethical Zionism reborn and a hybrid Confederal Federation where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian identities are protected, each enjoying self-determination, under an ethical, secular civic framework. It aims to move past analysing the violence toward designing a just and sustainable future. I continue to expand and test these ideas in my essays on Substack.
If you’d like a good window into how I’m developing the ideas behind Stairway to Peace, I’d recommend “From Fear to Freedom: Can the Israeli Psyche Be Healed”. It looks at Israel as a traumatised society and argues why a return to the moral roots abandoned when Herzl turned the movement into a political project, could offer a way forward. I’m also working on a larger essay, When “Zionism Collides with Zion: A Reckoning of Meaning and Memory”, which will lay out the full historical and theological arc behind that vision.
https://open.substack.com/pub/khaelimat/p/from-fear-to-freedom-can-the-israeli