The Cuban Jewish Community Today
Soviet Jewry: An Update from the Field
Israeli Perspectives on the Gulf Crisis
Federal Democracy in a World Beyond Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism
Operation Exodus: Soviet Jewry Comes Home
Does Israel have a Liberal-Democratic Tradition?
American Jews and Non-Jews: Comparative Opinions on the Palestinian Uprising
American Jews have traditionally been known for their close ethnic attachment to Israel. However, it has been suggested that due to recent controversial events and scandals, such as the Pollard spy affair and the Palestinian uprising, Jewish ethnic ties to Israel have eroded to the point where American Jews were distancing themselves from their long-standing support of the Jewish state. In order to test this claim, this article compares the attitudes of American Jews and non-Jews toward the Palestinian uprising and fundamental Arab-Israeli issues. The findings show that during the uprising American Jews remained much more supportive of Israel than non-Jews, a phenomenon probably attributable to a solid Jewish “ethnic attitude structure” regarding Israel.
Jews, Jewishness, and Israel’s Foreign Policy
This article seeks to clarify the nature and manifestations of the Jewish dimension in Israeli foreign policy. Sensitivity to the interests of diaspora communities is generally subordinated to raison d’etat. External Jewish intervention in Israeli foreign policy is negligible, though greater involvement on the part of diaspora leaders can be detected. The impact of Jewish psycho-cultural factors on Israels external relations is decreasing as a result of the secularization of Israeli society and the diminishing weight of Jewish cultural baggage.
The Origins of the National and the Statist Traditions in Zionist Foreign Policy
The dilemma of choosing between goals that emanate from the ethnonational setting of Israel as opposed to those serving the state is rooted in Zionist thought and international behavior. The origins go back to the founding fathers of Zionism in the nineteenth century who responded to different challenges of their environment. Two case studies in which the Zionist movement had to choose between its loyalty to the Land of Israel and the idea of an immediate materialization of a Jewish state are examined. One case is the Uganda controversy and the second is the partition debate of 1937.
The Jewish State and the Jewish People: Israeli Intellectual Thought from the Six-Day War to the 1980s
In what ways does the existence of the State of Israel shape the national consciousness and identity of different Jewish circles in Israel? This research explores that question through the perspective of three central concepts around which the conceptions of the different circles move. The first concept is defined as “general normalization,” i.e., the view that perceives Jewish existence, whether in its religious expression in the diaspora or in its national-territorial expression in the State of Israel, as a moral phenomenon that does not differ from other nations or religions. The second is “unique normalization,” an attitude prevalent among the majority of Jewish intellectuals in the U.S. who, on one hand, consider Jewish existence as similar to that of other ethnic groups in their country in its characteristics and status; on the other hand, they emphasize its unique relationship with the State of Israel.
Jewish Political Traditions and Contemporary Israeli Politics
The central puzzle of Israeli politics is how democracy has been maintained at all, given the lack of democracy in countries origin, the deep internal divisions, and the permanent state of war. At least part of the answer lies in understanding Jewish political traditions. The Zionist movement was, in large degree, a revolt against Jewish history. But inevitably Zionists were influenced by an extensive Jewish experience of self-government in the East European shtetl. This experience involved political institutions that were
voluntary, inclusive, pluralistic, and contentious. It was also a closed system, facing a hostile external world and not equipped to deal with non-Jews as a group.
Israel as a Jewish State
Beyond Israel’s self-definition as a Jewish state, the question remains as to what extent Israel is a continuation of Jewish political history within the context of
the Jewish political tradition. This article addresses that question, first by looking at the realities of Israel as a Jewish state and at the same time one compounded of Jews of varying ideologies and persuasions, plus non-Jews; the tensions between the desire on the part of many Israeli Jews for Israel to be a state like any other and the desire on the part of others for it to manifest its Jewishness in concrete ways that will make it unique.
