The key to understanding human behavior - the cultural complex - is not worthy of public debate. He is threatened in all directions. From the "downstairs", he repeatedly rolls the media into a pathetic circus of insults recruited for political demagoguery; From "upstairs" he is attacked by the "Police of Thoughts" of political correctness and "Progress". It's time for a discussion.

Human collectives, including national collectives, have unique characteristics of political culture. This does not mean anything about every member, but these characteristics explain much of the group's behavior. Political culture is not a decree that deterministically dictates behavior. It is changing: Zionism has dramatically changed the political culture of the Jewish people; In Turkey, there have been two profound changes in the political culture over the past century - that of Atha Turk and Erdogan.

Attributing cultural characteristics to national groups raises sensitivities, but it helps to understand their behavior. Israelis gain creativity, impatience and blatant behavior. Among Germans, higher work ethic gains than southern Europe. In Sweden and Norway, tolerance is more prevalent than in Pakistan or Afghanistan. In Africa, Latin America and India, corruption is more prevalent than in Finland. Those who try to understand economics, politics, science and technology, ignoring all of these, will soon be deadlocked. It is easy to avoid the substantive debate and to justify the differences in the nature of the regimes, but over time, it is culture that shapes the regimes more than the regimes dictate the culture.

Arab societies in the Middle East share many characteristics of political culture. Their resounding failure in addressing the challenges of the 21st century should be largely attributed to these characteristics: the saving of social and political pluralism, the oppression of women and minorities, the frequent outbursts of violence and systematic avoidance, generation after generation, from the concentration of national resources to the constructive goals of a nation.

Without taking into account all of this, it is impossible to understand how vast sums - thousands of billions of dollars - were wasted on corruption and tribal wars, until countries rich in natural wealth deteriorated into severe distress, chaos and even famine. The worn-out excuses - colonialism, occupation, globalization and others - are also part of a burgeoning political culture that is unwilling to accept responsibility for its failure, learn from it and correct it. India and Singapore suffered infinitely more from foreign rule than the Arabs; Japan, Germany, and Vietnam suffered far more from conquest and wars. Oil has been proven as a wealth retained by its owners to both Iraq and Libya and Venezuela. In all of them, a flawed political culture has resulted in deep human suffering, despite its rich wealth.

The purists of political correctness rule out the legitimacy of this whole cultural debate. Absurdly, they rule it out because the purist approach is racist. They do not require "post-colonial" nations to be responsible for their actions, as they have been awarded a lifetime appointment to the Victims' Club. Anyone who carries a victim's certificate and displays enough pigments may suppress the woman, support terrorism, rant every time he is offended, possess illegal weapons and respond violently to "family dignity". Only those who patronize this society can show "understanding" to all of them and permanently exempt their builders from improving their situation.

Because the default of the progressives is to maliciously attribute to others what they did not say, it must be emphasized again: these characteristics of Arab political culture do not, of course, define the character and behavior of any Arab, and are not deterministic (light and "genetic"). But the fact that they can change does not mean that they must change for the better, and soon. The most notable change in the region in the last century - Islamic radicalism - has hit the chance of addressing the challenges of the 21st century.

Describing this culture as a "jungle" has no analytical contribution to understanding the phenomenon. Denying the negative nature of these characteristics and their detrimental effect on the prospects for a settlement with the Palestinians, and on the Arabs' chances of being evicted from their distress, is an analytical and value-based obstacle.

Dr. Dan Shiftan is the head of the International Security Program at the University of Haifa, and lecturer in security studies programs at Tel Aviv University