Avi BITZUR

National, Community, and Individual Resilience – From Uncertainty to Unity Amid War: The Israeli Case – Operation Iron Swords, 2023

Introduction

National, community, and individual resilience – from uncertainty to unity amid war: the israeli case – operation iron swords, 2023. Explore Israel's national, community, and individual resilience, shifting from internal division to unity after the 2023 Hamas attack. Analyzes inherent vs. acquired societal resilience.

Abstract

The resilience and stability of human society, be it of the individuals or the communities comprising it, depend on several key variables. At times, these variables are influenced by internal forces, such as the economy, social cohesion, and mutual responsibility; at times, they are influenced by the perceptions of the individual – as a product of one’s upbringing, education, and values; and at times, these variables are affected by external forces, such as existential threats facing the nation. The latter will be at the heart of this essay, which will delve into Israel as a nation on the brink of social collapse over the government’s push for a radical judicial overhaul. What seemed like an unbridgeable internal divide, however, was immediately sidelined on October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group launched an unprecedented onslaught against Israel, with a massacre that left 1,400 people dead. That bloody morning, which plunged Israel into war, saw all sectors of Israeli society band together immediately, rising like the legendary phoenix to stand united against those seeking its destruction and proving Israel’s national resilience as a force to be reckoned with. This shift – from distress to determination – will be the main focus of this analysis. Is there such a thing as “inherent” national resilience? Looking at the British people during World War II, when they came together to keep calm and carry on during the attacks by Nazi Germany, the answer could be “Yes,” as the national strength exhibited seemed ingrained in the British character. Still, other nations seem to lack this type of “backbone” and must therefore develop “acquired resilience” via defense training, active and passive defenses, vaccinations, etc. Does this claim stand the test of time and reality as it appears to manifest in the Israeli case? This essay will focus on resilience as a basic and central concept around which the circles of society move. It will present the variables influencing the nature of resilience and their effect on the quantity, quality, and reality of resilience, in any given country at the level of an individual, the community, and the nation. To analyze these concepts, I will present the Israeli case of 2023 to examine the fundamental question of whether an external threat is key to a nation’s unity, social cohesion, and the formation of a strong and stable communal, individual, and national core able to ward off such threats. I will also delve into the question of how, in the absence of inherent resilience – as in the British case – can a society, such as the Israeli society, preserve the cohesion and resilience it has acquired amid a military conflict.

Review

This timely and pertinent essay proposes to explore the complex concept of national, community, and individual resilience, using the recent events in Israel following the October 7, 2023, attacks as its central case study. The abstract effectively highlights a compelling narrative: Israel's apparent pivot from profound internal social division to rapid national unity in the face of an existential external threat. The essay aims to dissect the variables influencing resilience – whether internal societal forces, individual perceptions, or external pressures – and poses critical questions about the nature of "inherent" versus "acquired" national resilience, drawing a comparison to British steadfastness during World War II. This multi-level approach, examining resilience across individual, community, and national spheres, promises to offer valuable insights into societal cohesion during extreme adversity. While the premise is highly engaging and addresses a significant contemporary event, the abstract could benefit from greater clarity regarding its analytical framework and methodology. The distinction between "inherent" and "acquired" resilience, while intriguing, requires rigorous operationalization; how will these types of resilience be empirically identified and differentiated within the Israeli context or through the British comparison? Furthermore, the strong assertion of an immediate and unqualified societal banding together "like the legendary phoenix" might benefit from a more nuanced analytical stance, acknowledging the potential for continued, albeit suppressed, internal divergences or the temporal dynamics of such unity. The abstract outlines *what* the essay will explore but offers limited detail on *how* it will analyze these concepts and prove its claims, which is crucial for a robust academic contribution. To maximize its impact, the essay would be strengthened by a more detailed articulation of its methodological approach. This should include specific forms of evidence to be examined (e.g., public opinion polls, media discourse analysis, qualitative data from interviews or testimonies, policy responses) and how these data will be used to substantiate claims about unity and resilience at different societal levels. Moreover, a critical engagement with existing theoretical frameworks on crisis response, social cohesion, and national identity in times of conflict would provide valuable scholarly context. Finally, exploring the sustainability of this "acquired resilience" beyond the initial shock, especially in light of the profound pre-existing divisions, would add another layer of depth to its analysis, moving beyond the immediate surge of unity to consider its longer-term implications for Israeli society.

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