Apocalypse Israel
Is the current crisis leading us all to disaster? With our civilisation in terminal decay this could be just the beginning.
Anyone who is compos mentus will observe what happening in Gaza and would most likely describe Israel’s wanton violence as an act of lunacy. Lunacy is one of those antiquated terms that according to the Cambridge English dictionary means ‘stupid behaviour that will have bad results’ and ‘extreme foolishness or mental illness’, both of which could be applicable not just to the Israeli leadership but also to other western leaders. But science has moved on somewhat, as has the law. Yet it was only in 2012, that ‘lunatic’ was removed from US legislation. These days ‘insanity’ is used in legal parlance whereby a person in some jurisdictions can claim mental imbalance as a defence against a more serious crime such as murder. Indeed Cambridge uses the example of ‘He was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity’, after the definition: ‘the condition of being seriously mentally ill’. This then brings us into the realms of International law.
In 2022, the book The Insanity Defence: International and Comparative Perspectives, was published by Oxford University Press. Chapter 15 delves into The Insanity Defence under International Criminal Law. This is relevant as many are seriously questioning the state of mind of those who would casually endorse mass murder and genocide on an industrial scale. This also fits into the personality type of the psychopath. This definition from Psychology Today reflects closely on the wider political consensus:
Psychopathy is a condition characterized by the absence of empathy and the blunting of other affective states. Callousness, detachment, and a lack of empathy enable psychopaths to be highly manipulative. Nevertheless, psychopathy is among the most difficult disorders to spot.
Psychopaths can appear normal, even charming. Underneath, they lack any semblance of conscience. Their antisocial nature inclines them often (but by no means always) to criminality.
As the book notes, the charge of insanity has been divisive. It would be difficult to establish such a charge as:
the leaders and middle managers of atrocity crimes are often high functioning, intelligent, and well organized political and military perpetrators who are unlikely to be suffering from a serious mental disorder; they are more likely to be psychopaths.
However a defence for insanity was framed under Article 31 of the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). But even here, the provision is limited. Another problem with the charge is, what to do if someone was acquitted for crimes against humanity due to their mental impairment. In short, ‘the role of the insanity defence remains unresolved under international criminal law.’
The basic conclusion here is that those engaged in and who are complicit in war crimes are literal psychopaths. It’s important that people become aware that this is an actual personality disorder, not some some derogatory term being thrown around. Incomprehensible to some though it may seem, people like Netanyahu are probably perfectly sane. This is explored further in a Conversation article that covered a study into ‘five dark personality traits’ found in predominately military personnel. These traits included:
psychopathy, narcissism and machiavellianism (the power-hungry personality). Socio-political attitudes such as right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation – believing that “superior” groups should dominate “inferior” groups – also belong to this class.
A lot of evidence has built up on this since World War 2. It is also noted that armed forces tend to recruit the ‘best killers’ based on military psychologists personality profiles that fit the ‘dark traits’ as these people are ideal for ‘getting dirty jobs done’. Then there is the recruiting of personnel with established criminal records.
It’s not just psychopaths that are problematic. There’s the Narcissistic element as well, as this other article from the Conversation delves into. Indeed there are some overlapping personality traits between the two. But probably the main difference between the two is that narcissists crave attention whilst psychopaths are more likely to hover in the background - the power behind the throne rather than sitting on the throne itself. But the one common denominator is power. Power acts like a narcotic, producing what could be described as a power junkie.
Power and crime in politics has been the subject of much conjecture and even academic study. I’m not going to cover the topic in depth. But suffice to say it should be clear to anyone with even a superficial understanding of international affairs, what is going on behind the scenes as western political leaders posture credulously at the pounding that Gaza has been subjected to. International law has been selectively rendered redundant. This isn’t surprising as that has always been the case. The US rules based order is the only relevant scripture in an anarchic world.
Power is expressed in two ways, overtly or covertly. Overt power is the posturing of the totalitarian regime. Covert power is how western democracies control their populations, through elaborate and sophisticated propaganda. Democracies also display overt demonstrations of power in the form of war and sometimes the oppression of demonstrations and protests. As the old saying goes, power corrupts. But this corruption is carefully concealed in the west behind the propaganda screens. It has of course always been a problem in the past, closely linked to colonialism. But as this article from Oxford University Press points out, ‘Corruption has risen to the top of the British political agenda’ these days. Ultimately the more widespread it becomes, the more it acts like a disease undermining the social fabric of our civilisation. To that end, the United Nations actually has a Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The opening paragraph sums up the predicament:
Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish.
It acknowledges that, ‘This evil phenomenon is found in all countries—big and small, rich and poor.’
As we watch western politicians defend the mass murder and what many experts are saying is an unfolding genocide in Gaza, its rather difficult not to see the disease becoming a pandemic. That’s precisely what we’re seeing unfold in Israel. It’s no secret that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been investigated for corruption. But he’s not alone. Unfortunately even the Palestinians have been infected by the disease, or more specifically the Palestinian Authority, an issue I covered in some detail here:
Invariably power abuse can lead to the downfall of people and institutions. This becomes ever more pronounced when actors behave with impunity. This graphic from the paper, On power and its corrupting effects: the effects of power on human behavior and the limits of accountability systems, (published in Communicative & Integrative Biology, by Tobore Onojighofia Tobore) sums up the process:
The paper makes some important observations. In particular, anyone can be afflicted by the effects of power, regardless of moral conviction:
Even with a strong moral identity, exposure to cash can provoke unethical intentions and behavior. Even with a strong moral identity, it is still possible that in the presence of a threat to ego or power, seemingly good people with power can abuse power by acting aggressively. Evidence suggests that in efforts to avoid a status or power loss powerful people may be willing to use coercion and go extra lengths even at others ‘expense. Also, appetitive aggression, the nature of lust for violence, is an innate part of human behavior and humans by nature have a high propensity for proactive aggression, a trait possessed in common with chimpanzees.
On a larger scale, this is how civilisations collapse. As this article from ‘History’ outlines, societies outlive their sustainability, which often leads to the depletion of resources then conflict. Israel is a microcosm of what is happening globally. The US warships off the Gaza coast aren’t there to obliterate the Middle East - at least not yet. They are there to commandeer the vast gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. The US and Israel, along with the rest of the world will decline towards what many scientists are saying will be climate Armageddon - an apocalypse in other words.
Before we meander off into a metaphysical wilderness, lets look at what these terms actually mean. Armageddon is derived from the ancient city Megiddo in northern Palestine. It has been a site of major battles in the past and according to the Book of Revelation, "Megiddo was identified as the location of the end of the world because it had been the epicenter of armed conflict throughout Israel's history." There may even be links with the site to King Solomon. This may be the origin of HAMAS founder Ahmed Yassin’s claim concerning the destruction of Israel, as noted in my previous article:
the Qur'an shows that Israel will be destroyed in 2027. Apparently this is also indicated in the Torah. Theodore Herzl predicted that Israel would become a state in 50 years at the first Zionist congress. His prediction was accurate. Who would bet against Yassin given the political events current unfolding in Israel at the time of writing?
The story of the apocalypse is generally associated with the Bible and Christianity and the Book of Revelation. The word comes from the Greek apokalypsis, which literally means revelation. But its roots are in fact Jewish, associated with the ancient Jewish Prophets, who foretold coming disasters, but not in terms of the end of the world or end of times. Apocalyptic events though appear to have their roots in actual events. Take the story of Noah’s flood. There is evidence that this was most likely associated with the ending of the ice age, when sea levels rose rapidly and the Mediterranean flooded. This is when the dots begin to join. Palestine/Israel has such a vital and checkered history going back millennia that appears to be an ever revolving circle. Now once again the Holy Land has become the focal point of an epic struggle that could determine the future of our civilisation. And climate change could herald a present day apocalypse, with the Middle East as an inflection point. Chris Hedges sums it up perfectly:
The genocidal assault on Gaza is another chapter in the century-long ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by the Israeli settler colonial project. It is accompanied, as is true for all settler colonial projects, by the theft of natural resources, land, water and the natural gas in the Gaza Marine fields, 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, which could contain up to 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In a world of diminishing resources, especially water in the Middle East, and the dislocations caused by the climate crisis, Gaza is the prelude to a frightening new world order. As democracies wither and die, as economic inequality expands, as poverty and desperation mounts, the global ruling class will increasingly do to us - once we become restive and attempt to rebel - what they are doing to the Palestinians.
It will take a lot to shine a light into our cocooned comfort zones. But now that the mask has slipped, the elites are jerking around like someone with an epileptic fit. Still the propaganda is churned out, yet the criticisms against the powers that be on social media are unprecedented. We can see the pattern of the power process noted above unfolding in real time. But the key questions that needs to be asked here is how the campaign in support of Palestine will unfold. What will happen when the current crisis ends? Will the momentum dissipate as it so often does? And how do you convince people that some of the people they voted for have the same personality disorders and mindsets of dangerous criminals locked up in high security prisons? Perhaps my case study on South Africa may tackle some of these questions.
We are all at a crossroads in our history. The concerns outlined in this article are all too real. We ignore history at our peril. But perhaps more relevant is the expression, “the most important history is the history we make today”.
Notes
This article and the previous article aren’t part of the planned series that I had posted on a previous platform, which is now subject to an update and rewrite. I made the decision to post short pieces as the 2023 ‘Nakba’ unfolds in Gaza and which will most likely continue in the West Bank. It is absolutely vital that the corporate media is challenged, with independent outlets getting as much exposure as possible. If these articles resonate with you, please share widely.