October 7 revealed the history we forgot
An opinion column by Amnon Lord, published in Israel Hayom, argues that the October 7, 2023 attack exposed a deep failure of historians and intellectuals in Israel to understand the existential security reality, not just a military and intelligence failure. The author quotes Gadi Eisenkot as saying that "after October 7, a two-state solution is a delusional thought," but warns that the lesson is not consensual and there is a risk of returning to courting Palestinian terrorist organizations. Lord claims the failure is primarily of historians who lost the historical context of the conflict with the Arabs and Islam. He cites David Ben-Gurion, who learned from the 1929 riots that the idea of destroying the Jewish settlement had become widespread, and predicted that Jews would be blamed for being in the Land of Israel. The author criticizes Israeli intellectuals for ignoring that Israel was a victim of genocidal aggression from Arab states and the Soviet Union, and accuses history commentators of creating an intellectual climate that influences intelligence officers and academia. He notes that the only historian he has seen change is Benny Morris.
An opinion column by Amnon Lord, published in Israel Hayom, argues that the October 7, 2023 attack exposed a deep failure of historians and intellectuals in Israel to understand the existential security reality, not just a military and intelligence failure. The author quotes Gadi Eisenkot as saying that "after October 7, a two-state solution is a delusional thought," but warns that the lesson is not consensual and there is a risk of returning to courting Palestinian terrorist organizations. Lord claims the failure is primarily of historians who lost the historical context of the conflict with the Arabs and Islam. He cites David Ben-Gurion, who learned from the 1929 riots that the idea of destroying the Jewish settlement had become widespread, and predicted that Jews would be blamed for being in the Land of Israel. The author criticizes Israeli intellectuals for ignoring that Israel was a victim of genocidal aggression from Arab states and the Soviet Union, and accuses history commentators of creating an intellectual climate that influences intelligence officers and academia. He notes that the only historian he has seen change is Benny Morris.