The Nakba--catastrophe--of 1948,
in which more than 750,000 Palestinians
were driven off their native land,
has come to dominate the political discourse.

In response, Israelis from across the political spectrum, stirring up a deep-rooted "victimology",
as Rabbi Mayer Schiller calls it, cry "existential threat!"

One Ariel Sharon supporter, a recent immigrant to Israel from the former Soviet Union, was perhaps more representative of Israeli public discourse when she said, "The country is on the verge of annihilation! We need someone to save the country, someone who will say publicly that Oslo is a suicidal process. We have to stop giving territory to the Palestinians, because the more we give, the more appetite they have. Look at the map! Israel is surrounded by a sea of wild, cruel and hungry Arabs."

An examination of the hard facts of the Intifada-the grossly disproportionate suffering of the Palestinians-cannot corraborate this wildly exaggerated "threat." On the contrary, it indicates that Israeli officials and intellectuals are crying wolf.