The "Existential Threat"

“Existential threat” recently entered the political lexicon, courtesy of Israeli paranoia. The expression sounds portentous, but all it seems to mean is that someone’s or something’s existence is in jeopardy. If so, the world is full of existential threats. But the expression is seldom used to refer to any of them except when the threatened party is Israel. Thus Iran’s still “aspirational” nuclear weapons program or, sometimes Iran itself are existential threats and so is Palestinian “terrorism.” An existential threat makes an excellent casus belli, a justification for war.

It is unclear, however what users of the expression think is threatened: is it the existence of the state of Israel as a state not of its citizens, but of the Jewish people? Or is it the physical existence of the inhabitants of that state? Those who promote the expression relish its ambiguity. It serves their purpose well.

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