A People Apart

Abstract

Israelis believe their country faces serious threat and they will succeed in overcoming these threats. The mechanisms employed for dealing with these two attitude clusters are explored. Based on a national sample (N = 1,116), three mechanisms are shown to dominate: perceived success, denial, and a belief system identified as the People Apart Syndrome. The syndrome consisted of two constructs: God-and-us, relating to a special, mystical relation perceived by many between God, Israel, and Jewish history; and go-it-alone, dealing with feelings of isolation and the belief that ultimately Jewish destiny depends on the Jews. Psychological factors were shown to be much more powerful than demographic variables in explaining these distributions. The widely shared syndrome captured the tone of Israeli political discourse and the mindset of a large portion of the population. Its distribution among place of birth groups by policy preference and religious observance revealed the pervasive nature of the syndrome.