The Israeli State is designed to tirelessly kill, and kill. It has killed over 55,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Its theatre of violence now encompasses Iran, upon which it rains death and destruction, along with, from yesterday, the United States. Israel will emerge relatively unscathed and likely triumphant, as it has on many occasions in the past, not least because of America’s assistance to it. Yet its victory, as in the past, will be Pyrrhic. Israel will never have the peace and security it wishes for.

This is because Israel suffers from acute security anxieties, which emanate from the pathological vision of its destiny. The Jews view themselves as God’s chosen people, who were promised by him in biblical times the sacred land of Israel. The creation of Israel in Palestine is interpreted as evidence of God fulfilling his promise. This belief, as late Israeli scholar Uriel Tal pointed out, implies the sacred land can’t be shared with non-Jews, who are to be exterminated, expelled or enslaved, actions that have, yes, God’s approval.

Israel’s foundational vision has spawned a State that’s forever doomed to be paranoid. It must engage in interminable violence even after notching up victories, for Israel can’t rest until the sacred land has been rid of all defiling presences, with possibilities of their return crushed. This is a spectacularly tragic story, given that the Jews, in the 1880s, were just three per cent of Palestine’s population.