Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Theories of Nations and Nationalism
- 2 Totem Sacrifice and National Identity
- 3 Symbols of Defeat in National Monument and Ritual
- 4 The Defeat Narrative in National Myth and Symbol
- 5 Implications to Politics and Diplomacy
- 6 Exceptions
- Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
5 - Implications to Politics and Diplomacy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Theories of Nations and Nationalism
- 2 Totem Sacrifice and National Identity
- 3 Symbols of Defeat in National Monument and Ritual
- 4 The Defeat Narrative in National Myth and Symbol
- 5 Implications to Politics and Diplomacy
- 6 Exceptions
- Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
In 1971, Newsweek journalist Stewart Alsop reported the complaint of a top U.S. State Department official who said that Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's “Masada complex” was undermining efforts to reach a compromise with the Arabs. Two years later, Alsop reported Meir's response:
…She suddenly turned and fixed me with a basilisk eye. “And you, Mr. Alsop,” she said, “you say that we have a Masada complex.”
“It is true,” she said. “We do have a Masada complex. We have a pogrom complex. We have a Hitler complex.”
Then she gave a small, moving oration about the spirit of Israel, a spirit that would prefer death rather than surrender to the dark terrors of the Jewish past.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Symbols of Defeat in the Construction of National Identity , pp. 232 - 259Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011