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Stuart Schoffman: The Spiderďż˝s Strategy
Stuart Schoffman

On November 1, the day of its release on DVD and video, an unprecedented 7 million copies of "Spider-Man," Hollywoodďż˝s box-office champ, were sold in North America. In our neighborhood, however, the industrious arachnid wears a different connotation. Take journalist Ari Shavitďż˝s interview with the new IDF chief of staff, Moshe (Bogey) Yaďż˝alon, which ran in Haďż˝aretz at the end of August. Speaking of Yasser Arafat, the general said: "Even today, in his weakened state, he believes in the spider-web theory."

Yaďż˝alon explained that, according to this theory, attributed to Hizballah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, Israel is a "pampered consumer society that is no longer willing to fight and struggle," a country whose "citizens are unwilling any longer to sacrifice lives in order to defend their national interests." Israel is thus a "spider-web society: It looks strong from the outside, but touch it and it will fall apart." Yaďż˝alon, of course, rejects this notion. Israel remains strong and determined, and the Palestinians, who in his view pose a "cancerous" threat to Israelďż˝s existence, have been given proof of this: "Operation Defensive Shield already showed them that they were dealing not with a spider web, but with a tiger."

The spider-web image was famously invoked by Nasrallah in a victory speech in May 2000, following Israelďż˝s withdrawal from Lebanon -- an event that is widely perceived in the Arab world as evidence of Israeli weakness: "Dear brothers and beloved people in Palestine, I tell you: This ďż˝Israelďż˝ that owns nuclear weapons and the strongest air force in this region is today more fragile than a spider web."

The following February, in a speech in memory of Abbas Musawi, the Hizballah leader killed by Israeli forces in 1992, Nasrallah compared Netanyahu to a mosquito, Barak -- who "ran away from Lebanon with defeat" -- to a spider web, and Sharon to a frog: "When I say he is a frog I mean he is ugly, his shape and voice are unpleasant, and he frightens no one but those who possess weak hearts. He cannot frighten that who has a brain in his head and the heart of a lion in his body, for these are true men."

In his chilling two-part series on Hizballahďż˝s worldwide operations, published in October in the New Yorker, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg makes mention of a program on Al Manar, the organ-izationďż˝s TV network -- which has an estimated viewing public of 10 million -- entitled "The Spiderďż˝s House," devoted to an exploration of Israelďż˝s purported weaknesses. But what generally goes unmentioned in the Western press, even in Goldbergďż˝s comprehensive account, is that the image of the spider predates Nasrallah by 13 centuries. In the Koran, in Sura (chapter) 29, entitled "The Spider," we read: "The parable of those who take protectors other than God is that of the Spider, who builds a house; but truly the flimsiest of houses is the Spiderďż˝s house -- If they but knew."

Interestingly, this same Sura is one source of the Koranic expression "People of the Book," meaning Jews and Christians, who are to be tolerated insofar as they practice pure monotheism. This passage is regularly cited by moderate Muslims who seek to emphasize the gentler face of Islam. But nowadays, the book too often associated in the Muslim world with the Jews is the fraudulent "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which most recently has served as source material for a 41-part historical drama entitled "Horseman Without a Horse," produced in Egypt and broadcast as a Ramadan special by 17 Arab channels, including Al Manar. The editor of the Egyptian government daily Al-Akhbar indignantly branded denunciations of the show as "Zionist propaganda" and "intellectual terrorism." Sad to say, but even if President Hosni Mubarak bravely took the show off the air -- and donďż˝t hold your breath -- the "Protocols" and other anti-Semitic sewage would continue to zip around the globe unimpeded on the World Wide Web, the most insidious modern incarnation of the spiderďż˝s realm.

How to react? First, as a matter of national pride, let us note that the image of the spiderďż˝s house as the domicile of the faithless derives from the Hebrew Bible, in Isaiah 59:5 and Job 8:14. Commenting on the latter verse -- "his trust shall be a spiderďż˝s web" -- the 14th-century sage Gersonides (Ralbag) wrote: "The wicked man is compared to a spiderďż˝s house, to prove his weakness." On the other hand, a famous legend about King David -- deriving from "The Alphabet of Ben Sira," a curious Jewish text that scholars surmise was composed a millennium ago, in a Muslim country -- gives us a spider web with an opposite spin. David sees a spider in his garden and wonders why God created it. Later, he finds out: As he hides in a cave from the mad, wrathful King Saul, a spider weaves a web over the opening. Saul sees it and deduces that no one could have gone inside without breaking the web, and moves on. The spider strategy: When dealing with an irrational foe, it may sometimes be wisest not to play the tiger to the enemyďż˝s lion.

Letďż˝s also hark back to "Spider-Man," which is almost as popular in the West as the "Protocols" are in the Arab world. That the superhero is at least a crypto-Jew is beyond serious doubt, being the product of the Jewish-authored comic-book culture brilliantly chronicled in Michael Chabonďż˝s Pulitzer-winning novel, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay." Spider-Manďż˝s alter ego, Peter Parker, is a consummate New York nerd; his co-creator Stan Lee began life as Stanley Martin Lieber.

Yet after Peter has handily walloped the school bully, Peterďż˝s Uncle Ben cautions him about the use of force: "With great power comes great responsibility." Surely this is an adage worth keeping in mind in the coming months, as Israelis choose new leaders. Alongside their duty to protect the public from physical danger -- a challenge only partly met by the incumbent government -- is a responsibility to the Zionist dream of a just, liberal society. For this ideal is, alas, increasingly subverted -- as Israelďż˝s house, woven from the strong, time-tested threads of its spiritual identity, morphs into a stony bunker.