Why is the Jewish reaction to violence against us so subdued?

From the Holocaust to Oslo to Gush Katif to Peki’in to Mercaz Harav, the Jewish people, with certain exceptions, tend to take an exceptionally passive response to violence against us, until pushed into a corner. Honestly, even the wars Israel has been in, Israel usually fought them only because we had no choice.

Jews don’t seem to get excited. Jews don’t seem to react to violence with action.

Look through the stories in Tanach. Again with certain notable exceptions (Shimon, Levy, King David, the Judges), the people tend to be extremely passive, until some real leader comes along and drives us forward, or until a situation becomes so unbearable that the alternative to no response is destruction.

I’m not saying if this is a good thing or a bad thing, it just seems to be the way we are.

Let’s look at the reaction to the murder of the Yeshiva boys.

Until yesterday, no one reacted. The tent wasn’t ripped down. There were no riots. No counterattacks. Public calls for violent revenge came literally from the fringe, in fact, when the Left went looking for extremism (“extremism”?, more like any reaction whatsoever) they couldn’t find any, so instead they made up some stories.

Finally, yesterday around a hundred people went into the Arab neighborhood and threw stones (and had stones thrown back at them).

And the police?

They commented that they were surprised at how violent and angry the Jews were. They weren’t expecting so strong a reaction. In fact, they weren’t really expecting any violence at all - from the Jewish side.

Perhaps this passivity, thinking (and thinking some more) before acting (if at all), not rocking the boat has helped us survive many situations since Abraham. On the other hand, could it be that we’ve taken it too far, and by not responding properly, or at all (or leaving it into the hands of others who also react in a limited fashion) it is now working to our detriment?

I don’t know, and I’d like to hear what you think.