Who makes the law in Israel?
Israel goes to the polls on October 27, still at war on several fronts and still in the midst of the political crisis that began...
Category: Zionism/Israel
Zionism/Israel explores the tension between a European political and intellectual movement and the state that emerged from it. This section focuses on Zionism as a reservoir of ideas, controversies, and disagreements about exile, sovereignty, democracy, and justice, and on Israel as a concrete political reality, with its institutions, conflicts, and social transformations. The aim is neither to dissolve the state into the narrative of the movement, nor to reduce the movement to the policies of the governments of the moment. By holding these two aspects together, it becomes possible to read Israeli politics in the light of the resources of Zionism – and, conversely, to test Zionism against the historical experience of the state, as well as the current transformations in the conditions of Jewish life in the diaspora.
Family Reunification in Jerusalem
On August 5, 2026, the remains of Shimon and Rivka Herzl, Theodor Herzl’s grandparents, were transferred from Belgrade to Jerusalem. Behind this final “family reunification”—which...
By Danny Trom
From Historian to Polemicist: What Went Wrong with Omer Bartov
Omer Bartov, who accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, presents in "Israel: What Went Wrong" a more general critique of the Jewish state, its...
By Jeffrey Herf
For a Pragmatic Zionism
Fania Oz-Salzberger, a historian of ideas and the daughter of Amos Oz, rejects the deadly confrontation between supporters of Israel and Palestine. Opposing zero-sum narratives...
