Homepage > Publications

Article Library

What Zionism Lacks at 75: A Border

What Zionism Lacks at 75: A Border

The only way to avoid choosing between being either Jewish or democratic is for the conflict with the Palestinians to be resolved by providing the Palestinian people with the opportunity to fulfill their just collective right to self-determination in a separate state of their own.
01/05/2024
By: Jeremy Ben-Ami
A Nation Running from Itself

A Nation Running from Itself

The State of Israel, perhaps unique among the countries of the world, may be the only that refuses to refer itself by its nationality – “Israeli.” It disbelieves the existence of an Israeli nation, and as it grows older it has become ever more entrenched behind its “Jewish state” definition and has rejected the idea of “Israeliness.”
01/05/2024
By: Aluf Benn
A Return to the Bar-Yehuda Definition

A Return to the Bar-Yehuda Definition

The state will not be more Jewish if it keeps out people who see themselves as Jews or if it refuses to designate as Jews those whose fathers are Jews or whose attachment to their Jewishness is clear as day. On the contrary: Israel will be much more Jewish if it realizes the vision of Minister Yisrael Bar-Yehuda and opens up a civil pathway to the recognition of Jewishness, alongside the rabbinical pathway.
01/05/2024
By: Yossi Beilin
Between Myth and Detention Center

Between Myth and Detention Center

From a birds-eye view, the modern project of reestablishing Jewish sovereignty is one of the most stirring political stories of the new age. It is not surprising that some of the modern era’s greatest intellectuals were taken with the vision of a renewed Jewish state and of the Jews’ return to their ancient land. Despite being secular, I find great value in this romantic vision.
01/05/2024
By: Ofri Ilany
Why the Biblical Ruth Would Not Marry Boaz in the State of Israel

Why the Biblical Ruth Would Not Marry Boaz in the State of Israel

Israel never wanted to become Israeli: this is the tragic paradox of a nationalism that never dared to become one. What would it mean to become Israeli? It would mean for the state to let the diversity of definitions of Jewishness flourish and expand; it would mean building a common culture ample enough to become a meeting point for Jews and non-Jews. This would strengthen its democracy and, ironically, its Jewishness as well.
01/05/2024
By: Eva Illouz
The Struggle for Israeli Nature: Reshaping Judaism and Zionism Narratives

The Struggle for Israeli Nature: Reshaping Judaism and Zionism Narratives

The Jewish intellectual world has yet to produce a leader of stature, comparable to the Pope, who might advocate for a change in our relationship with nature. During the 20th century, the Jewish people’s physical and spiritual survival was in jeopardy, leaving no physical or mental resources with which to address the earth’s survival.
01/05/2024
By: Netta Ahituv
Yisrael Aumann

Yisrael Aumann

Israel is a Jewish state because the vast majority of the people living in it are Jewish, because its public sphere is Jewish, because to a great extent private life is also Jewish, and because it is located in Eretz Israel, the national home of the Jewish people for thousands of years.
01/05/2024
By: Yisrael Aumann
The State of Israel – 75 Years, and What Next?

The State of Israel – 75 Years, and What Next?

The time has come to build our state rather than continuing to invest our economic and human resources in a land that is not ours, from which we will have to withdraw sooner or later – preferably sooner.
01/05/2024
By: Ehud Olmert
A Jewish State Marked by Solidarity

A Jewish State Marked by Solidarity

The “Jewish and democratic” pairing in any case represents what chemists would call a compound, not a mixture. Neither of these components should be discussed separately; each of the two foundational values should strive where possible to display that aspect of it that best “speaks” to its counterpart.
01/05/2024
By: Miron C. Izakson
Load More