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Hamas vs. Israel: Psychological Asymmetry in Action

(JNS) Irwin J. Mansdorf - "Psychological asymmetry" refers to the difference between what is real in theory and what is real in practice, depending on perspective and ideology. When it comes to Israel and the Palestinians, one example is the ability of an inferior military force to fight a superior one by resorting to tactics that the latter cannot and will not undertake. Arab terror entities, which care little for international humanitarian standards, benefit from this asymmetry by having no restraints when it comes to targeting civilians. They also care little about and even exploit to the point of sacrifice the well-being and lives of their own people, using them as cover in their missile-launching aimed at Israelis. When civilians in Israel are victims, psychological asymmetry sees them as collateral victims of a formidable military force. But when civilians of the militarily weaker Hamas are hurt, they are seen as "true" victims of the supposedly worthy underdog. Hamas realizes this well, and in the past has used images of wailing mothers and injured and dead children to promote the perception of the military superiority of Israel as being unfair and illegitimate. Yet Hamas' increased bombing of major population centers in the center of Israel inversely weakens their ability to claim unique victim status in the psychological realm. The writer is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs specializing in political psychology and an adjunct professor of psychology at Long Island University.
2021-05-19 00:00:00
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