On 9th September 1993, the premier of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, was approached by the Palestinian authority figure Yasser Arafat, through a letter. Within its content, Arafat vowed to abandon violent means and granted official recognition to Israel. Later in the day, Rabin corresponded back, sanctioning official acceptance to the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Despite seeming effortless, the decision haunted both leaders due to a recent military action by Rabin in Lebanon, just a couple of months back, in an effort to counter Hizbullah’s rocket attacks on Israel.
With brutal force comes an equal measure of retaliation and inhumanity. Terrified states of mind invariably engage our deep-seated urges to inflict pain, punishment and seek vengeance. During such fear-led states, our emotional brain structures, such as the amygdala, experience intense activity, sabotaging our potential for rational and strategic thought. The last remaining element in the evolutionary development of humans, the prefrontal cortex, which only matures in our mid to late twenties, can help control this emotional chaos. Over time, this part of the brain has the potential to send inhibitory signals to these emotion centres, thereby quietening them. This shift in brain chemistry strengthens the operation of our brain’s rational capabilities. Eminent politicians like Rabin emerges as a human equivalent of the prefrontal cortex. Such individuals experience feelings of anger, fear, and impulses for revenge, but they manage to master them. By doing this, they can foresee an endless cycle of violence, and they appreciate the need for an alternate path, despite the emotional discomfort and stress it brings.
Fast-forward to July 1995, Binyamin Netanyahu led a symbolic funeral march at a demonstration against Rabin. This procession included the symbol of a coffin and a hangman’s noose, with chants of “Death to Rabin” echoing from Netanyahu and his followers. Tragically, Rabin lost his life to a radical Jewish individual named Yigal Amir on 4th November 1995, dissenting against Rabin’s peace agreement. In a recent turn of events in 2022, the head of Israel’s Labour Party, Merav Michaeli, accused Netanyahu of having a hand in Rabin’s death, as reported in the Times of Israel.
Netanyahu, a well-educated individual holding undergraduate and master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has demonstrated his capacity for long-term, strategic thinking. Yet, his decision to resist American proposals for diplomatic resolutions to the tension does not stem from a lack of intellectual prowess. In fact, he has held the position of prime minister for a significant duration, totalling 17 of the 28 years from 1996 to the present day. There’s a well-observed phenomenon that long-term power can have negative impacts on the human mind, contributing to considerable issues for nations led by leaders intoxicated with power. The Communist Party in China previously transitioned leadership every decade for this purpose, until the reign of Xi Jinping, whose forces have lately been surrounding Taiwan.
Bellicosity from Hamas in October of the previous year has indirectly enabled Netanyahu to maintain his position as Prime Minister, despite facing potential legal scrutiny over suspected corrupt practices. As a neuropsychologist, my studies and research on the influence of authority on leaders’ minds reveal that Netanyahu’s neurocognitive processes have been substantially shaped by his exposure to power. His decision-making is stimulated by a blend of self-confidence and mistrust – psychologists have observed similarities in the mental states of Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, with both struggling to differentiate between their personal gains and their nation’s interests.
Studies have also established that leaders who demonstrate authoritative tendencies are more inclined to instigate conflicts than their counterparts. Netanyahu’s endeavours to undermine the judiciary’s ability to regulate political power in Israel indicate he fits into this category. A typical autocrat behaviour is to dramatize an external threat and incite nationalistic feelings, leading their nation to war. This is often a strategy to destabilise domestic political rivals – dissenters may face allegations of wartime treachery, in lieu of methods employed by Putin including assassination and incarceration.
Analysts concur that both Netanyahu and Donald Trump need to remain in office as long as they can to avoid possible imprisonment. It’s arguable that had Hamas not launched their savage assault the previous October, claims of alleged corruption might have already ended Netanyahu’s tenure as Prime Minister. It’s suggested that his primary tactic for retaining power is to persist with unending warfare and reject all avenues to diplomacy.
Another factor that often triggers war is leaders’ growing sense of invincibility caused by their obsession with power. This can result in poor judgement, overconfidence and lack of empathy, as well as a tendency to ignore potential dangers. It can also lead to a false sense of omnipotence. All these traits were exhibited by Napoleon, Hitler and Putin. Their misplaced belief in their strategic brilliance led to a series of disastrous military ventures. Their repeated victories served only to inflate their hubris, ultimately leading to their downfall. As Israeli journalist Ari Shavit points out, Netanyahu sees himself as a modern-day Churchill, someone fighting against the perceived threats to Western civilisation.
Netanyahu, however, clearly believes that his military campaign against Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran has been successful. Yet, only a leader whose judgement has been impaired through their thirst for power and a string of apparent successes could reconcile last year’s military action as a strategic stepping stone towards eventual triumph. His government is known to harbour views around depriving Palestinians of food in northern Gaza, or forcibly moving them to Egypt or other places. Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, dismisses any notion of a Palestinian state, instead advocating for a Greater Israel that spans Jordan and parts of Syria.
This flawed mindset held by Netanyahu and his colleagues could lead them to fantasise about making room for a Greater Israel by miraculously eradicating millions of Palestinians. This makes the notion of a two-state solution unthinkable to them, dismissing it as a ludicrous impossibility. The so-called triumphs of Netanyahu, coupled with his inflated ego resulting from his hold on power, appear to condemn Israel and its neighbouring countries to an unending cycle of conflict and suffering.
The original text was written by Prof Ian Robertson, a retired professor of psychology at TCD and author of ‘How Confidence Works: The new science of self-belief’ published by Penguin in 2022.