The Bar Kokhba Syndrome; Risk and Realism in International Politics

Chappaqua, NY: Rossel Books, 1983. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Good/Good. xvii, [1], 206 pages. This appears to be signed by the author at the upper right corner of fep. DJ has some wear, tears and soiling. Some edge soiling. Includes Preface, Introduction, Chronology, Map, Chart, Abbreviations, Notes, Selected Bibliography; and Index. Chapters include Prelude; The History of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion; the Bar Kokhba Rebellion; Premodern Reactions: Repression and Passivity; The Bar Kokhba Syndrome, The Important of Political Realism; Realism in Judaism in Judaism and in Zionism; Past and Future; The Destiny and the Enterprise, and Epilogue. Yehoshafat Harkabi (born 1921, Haifa; died 1994, Jerusalem) was chief of Israeli military intelligence from 1955 until 1959 and afterwards a professor of International Relations and Middle East Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Harkabi had a command of Arabic, a knowledge of Arab civilization and history, and an understanding of Islam. He developed from an uncompromising hardliner to supporter of a Palestinian state who recognized the PLO as a negotiations partner. In his well-known work Israel's Fateful Hour, hei described himself as a "Machiavellian dove" intent on searching "for a policy by which Israel can get the best possible settlement"--a policy that would include a Zionism "of quality and not of acreage". Harkabi resigned as chief of Military Intelligence as a consequence of the 1959 Night of the Ducks. Following his military career, Harkabi was Maurice Hexter professor and director of the Leonard Davis Institute of International Relations and Middle East Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the year 132, a well-planned rebellion broke out in Judea. The Jewish warrior Bar Kokhba emerged as its leader, and it has forever after been known by his name. Now, nearly two thousand years later, Dr. Yehoshafat Harkabi, former chief of Military Intelligence of the State of Israel, expert on Arab affairs, and Professor of International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies of the Hebrew University, has written the first comprehensive military analysis of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion. The implications of this work go well beyond the Jewish sphere. The Bar Kokhba Rebellion is an instance of how political and military decisions are made by leaders who perceive their situation as desperate. It explore under what conditions and in what straits should leaders risk national suicide?" The Bar Kokhba Syndrome examines the uses of realism and the perils of unrealism. It questions present conceptions of reality and notions of risk-taking in the policy of the Israeli government--with regard to peace in the Middle East. The Bar Kokhba Rebellion must thus be seen as a nadir in Jewish history--a calamity of monumental proportions. In fact, this was the view held by Jewish thinkers through the ages. But with the emergence of modern Zionism, what was traditionally a negative symbol was transformed into a positive one, and the effects of this transformation on the Jewish consciousness are much more than symbolic. Simon ben Kosevah, or Cosibah, known to posterity as Bar Kokhba (died 135 CE), was a Jewish military leader who led the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. The revolt established a three-year-long independent Jewish state in which Bar Kokhba ruled as nasi ("prince"). Some of the rabbinic scholars in his time imagined him to be the long-expected Messiah. Bar Kokhba fell in the fortified town of Betar.