Jewish Political Studies Review 23:1-2 (Spring 2011)
This issue begins with an essay by Dexter Van Zile in which he analyzes one of the major sources of anti-Zionist aggression in mainstream Protestant churches – the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center headquartered in Jerusalem. This center’s modus operandi is to investigate and scrutinize Israel, Jews, and Judaism. At the same time, Sabeel remains largely silent about the widespread terrorism and other criminality in the Arab and Muslim world.
The election victory of Canada’s Conservative Party in the spring of 2011 has given a further mandate to one of the most pro-Israeli governments in the Western world. Paul C. Merkley maintains that among Conservatives, pro-Israeli positions do not stem from ethnic belonging but from conscience or ideology, usually – but not always – grounded in the Christian faith. Over the past decades, Jews have mainly voted for the Liberal Party. The recent political history of Canada, however, indicates that greater appreciation for Israel’s threatened existence in the Middle East, along with the Conservative government’s exemplary record of support for Israel from 2006 to the present, are causing Canadian Jews to reexamine their place on the political spectrum.
Alexander Green asserts that the Book of Esther can be interpreted as a political work with its own inherent logic and integrity. Analysis, he contends, of the particulars of Jewish political vulnerability as depicted in this book enables regarding it as a sober guide to the limitations and consequences of Jewish life in the Diaspora.
The issue also includes ten book reviews that directly or indirectly provide new information on developments and topics of political, literary, and cultural interest. It is the hope of the book review editor that this representative sample will help readers appreciate new trends around the world which may influence the evolution of future thought and scholarship in the field.
