The existential question

It is impossible to understand Israel without appreciating that a high proportion of its population feels a profound sense of existential threat. Those who fail to appreciate that basic fact cannot understand Israel’s motivations.

Most Israelis feel that existential fear instinctively as it seems part of their everyday life. There is no need to draw it to their attention. But many non-Israelis, even those sympathetic to Israel, sometimes struggle to understand it as it is generally outside their experience. Leftists often deny even the existence of this sentiment completely or dismiss it as the result of lifelong indoctrination.

Of course there is scope to argue Israel’s sense of vulnerability is exaggerated. There are those who maintain that Israel, as a substantial military power, can ward off those who threaten to destroy it. This is a separate although related question. But those who want to argue that Israelis do not even perceive their plight in this way go against a huge weight of evidence.

This article will focus on the sense of existential fear itself. The question of possible overstatement is one for another day.

One starting point, albeit perhaps unconventional, is popular culture and in particular song. In how many other countries could a popular song include these lyrics?

And this has stood by our fathers and us

For not just one (enemy)

Rose against us to annihilate us

And the Holy One Blessed is He

Saves us

Saves us from their hands

The words come from Vehi She'amda, a passage in the Haggadah, the book read at the Passover Seder, that was turned into a popular Israeli song in 2009. There are several different versions but the video version at the foot of this article includes English sub-titles.

This is only one song, and it is particularly explicit, but there are numerous others with similar themes. They talk about dealing with fear, seeking divine help and having no other country (to go to) – even if my country is burning and the Song of Hope (Shir Tikvah) .

Then there is a song which has become a phenomenon since the end of last year. Tamid Ohev Oti ([God] Always Loves Me). Its essential message is that God is always looking out for the Jewish people.

Readers will have noticed that many of these songs use religious language. But it would be a mistake to conclude that they only appeal to orthodox Jews. On the contrary, when people feel they are facing an existential threat they often turn to religious ways of understanding their predicament. Such lyrics have a wide purchase across Israeli-Jewish society.

In any case these examples – and there are many more – should not be a surprise. The Israeli state was created out of the embers of a genocidal anti-Semitism and ultimately the Holocaust itself. It was a state founded by survivors of a systematic attempt to wipe Jews off the face of the earth. It is therefore a serious error to dismiss this fear as the result of indoctrination to inculcate false consciousness.

Political Zionism, with its goal of creating a Jewish state, emerged in late nineteenth century Europe in parallel with modern anti-Semitism. The first Aliyah (literally “ascent”, a wave of Jewish migration to Israel) to the biblical Land of Israel started in 1881 coinciding with a wave of anti-Jewish riots in Imperial Russia.

The largest scale mass killing of Jews before the Holocaust itself was the murder of over 100,000 in anti-Jewish riots in the Soviet Ukraine from 1918-1921. These were largely, although not entirely, committed by forces opposed to the Russian revolution.

It was anti-Semitism’s 'triumph', if it can be called that, and the abject failure of the left to challenge it, which spurred Israel’s foundation. The Zionist movement took the view that only a Jewish state would allow Jews to protect themselves against such forces. No one else was willing to put themselves on the line.

Admittedly Israel was founded over 77 years ago so, if all had remained peaceful, that perceived existential threat would be expected to fade. Unfortunately Israel has a history of being subject time and again to threats from Arab nationalists, Palestinian leaders and most recently Islamists. Given the history of anti-Semitism and of Israel most Israelis are understandably inclined to take such threats at face value.

The Hamas-led pogrom of 7 October 2023 in southern Israel only intensified this sense of acute vulnerability. The terrorists killed about 1200, mostly Israeli Jews, with another 250 or so kidnapped. It was the largest-scale slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas was essentially carrying out its promise, explicitly stated in its never-rescinded 1988 covenant, to slaughter Jews. Since then its leaders have repeated on numerous occasions its desire to repeat that slaughter.

As I wrote back in October 2024, Israel has been engaged in a seven-front war against enemies avowedly intent on its destruction: in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon, the West Bank (where there are Islamist forces), the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. And of course the head of the snake for this self-proclaimed “ring of fire”, to deliberately mix a metaphor, is Iran. Israel’s assault since 13 June has severely depleted the power of this Islamist state but its leaders have nevertheless made frequent threats to destroy Israel.

After over 20 months of hard fighting Israel has managed to severely weaken these opponents but things could have been much worse. Hamas and Hizbullah – a much more powerful force – had hoped to coordinate the 7 October attack but fortunately for Israel the Lebanese Islamist group hesitated. That gave Israel time to rapidly mobilise reserves to its northern border. Iran also could have potentially joined in at that point. That could easily have led to chaos with many thousands of Israeli dead rather than just hundreds.

And it was Israel’s existential fear which motivated it to build a multi-layered system of air defence: the Iron Dome for short-range attacks, David’s Sling for medium-range and the Arrow against long-range missiles. If Israel had not gone to enormous effort and cost to develop and install this system its casualties would also have been far higher.

It should be clear by now that Israelis have rational reasons to have a strong sense of existential fear. They have faced not just threats but actual murderous attacks on many fronts. It is only through considerable determination and resilience that Israel has managed to contain such dangers.

It is possible to make the case that the level of fear is sometimes overdone but that does not explain the left’s denial. Its failure to even recognise this sense of existential fear, when it should be stunningly obvious, is yet another example of their anti-Semitism denial. Even the 7 October pogrom itself is frequently cast by anti-Israel activists as the act of a liberation movement. The fact that Hamas pledged to slaughter Jews, killed many and continues to threaten to murder more is seen as insufficient evidence to suggest anti-Semitism.

Israel has a right to defend itself whether or not its existential fear can be exaggerated. But those who want to truly understand Israeli society need to appreciate that this sense of dread has a profound hold over the population. It is not possible to properly explain Israel’s motivations without taking that reality on board.