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{{Short description|Right-wing nationalist and religious ideology}} |
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'''Neo-Zionism''' is a [[right-wing]], [[nationalistic]] and religious [[ideology]] that appeared in [[Israel]] following the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 and the capture of the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]]. Neo-Zionists consider these lands part of Israel and advocate their [[Israeli settlement|settlement]] by Israeli Jews. Some advocate the transfer of Arabs not only from these areas |
'''Neo-Zionism''' ({{lang-he|ניאו-ציונות}}) is a [[right-wing]], [[nationalistic]] and religious [[ideology]] that appeared in [[Israel]] following the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 and the capture of the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]]. Neo-Zionists consider these lands part of Israel and advocate their [[Israeli settlement|settlement]] by [[Israeli Jews]]. Some advocate the transfer of [[Arabs]] not only from these areas but also from within the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]]. |
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The term "[[Post-Zionism]]" entered Israeli discourse following the publishing of a book by Uri Ram in 1993.<ref name ="ram2010">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0JctCgAAQBAJ |
The term "[[Post-Zionism]]" entered Israeli discourse following the publishing of a book by Uri Ram in 1993.<ref name ="ram2010">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0JctCgAAQBAJ&q=1993&pg=PA112| title = Israeli Nationalism: Social Conflicts and the Politics of Knowledge | author= Uri Ram|publisher = Routledge| year = 2010|page = 112| isbn = 9781136919954 }}</ref> In the same volume, [[Gershom Shafir]] contrasted Post-Zionism with what he termed Neo-Zionism.<ref name =" Shohat2006">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gnjxDigrT_AC&q=Neo-Zionism+1993&pg=PA382| title = Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices| author= Ella Shohat|publisher = Duke University Press| year = 2006|page = 382| isbn = 0822387964}}</ref> In a widely cited 1996 essay, sociologist Uri Ram used the term Neo-Zionism to describe a political and religious ideology that developed in Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.<ref name ="Regev">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kAxLAn6sOb4C&q=ram+neo+zionism+1996&pg=PA18| title = Popular Music and National Culture in Israel | author= Motti Regev |author2=Edwin Seroussi |publisher = University of California Press| year = 2004| isbn = 9780520236547 }}</ref>{{rp| 18}}<ref name ="Leon">{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pyD6-i1cwN8C&q=uri+ram+neo+zionism&pg=PA67 | title = Who's Left in Israel?: Radical Political Alternatives for the Future of Israel | author = Dan Leon | publisher = Sussex Academic Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 9781903900574 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{rp| 67}}<ref name ="Lenṭin">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8Legh8u8KiEC&q=neo+zionism+in+opposition+to+post+zionism&pg=PA218 | title = Israel and the Daughters of the Shoah: Reoccupying the Territories of Silence | author= Ronit Lenṭin | publisher = Berghahn Books| year = 2000| isbn = 9781571817754 }}</ref>{{rp| 218}} He considers it as an "exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend" in Israel<ref name = "Chan57">Uri Ram "Historiosphical Foundations of the Historical Strife in Israel" in ''Israeli Historical Revisionism: from left to right'', [[Anita Shapira]], Derek Jonathan Penslar, Routledge, 2002, pp.57-58.</ref> that evolved in parallel with, and in opposition to, the [[left-wing]] politics of [[Post-Zionism]] and [[Labor Zionism]]. |
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Uri Ram considers it as an "exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend" in Israel<ref name = "Chan57">Uri Ram "Historiosphical Foundations of the Historical Strife in Israel" in ''Israeli Historical Revisionism: from left to right'', [[Anita Shapira]], Derek Jonathan Penslar, Routledge, 2002, pp.57-58.</ref> that evolved in parallel with, and in opposition to, the [[left-wing]] politics of [[Post-Zionism]] and [[Labor Zionism]]. |
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⚫ | Post-Zionists have argued that Israel must choose between a Post-Zionist future and a Neo-Zionist future.<ref name ="Nimni">{{cite |
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==Ideology== |
==Ideology== |
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Uri Ram contends that Neo-Zionism is not a new phenomenon, instead arguing that it emerged from the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 and the conquest of Jerusalem.<ref name="GB">{{cite book|title=Understanding the Middle East Peace Process: Israeli Academia and the Struggle for Identity|first=Asima|last=Ghazi-Bouillon|publisher=Routledge|year=2009}}</ref>{{rp|121}} Ram contends that Jerusalem is the symbolic capital of Neo-Zionism, while Post-Zionism is orientated around Tel Aviv.<ref name =" Kaplan"/>{{rp|187}} It rose with the anxiety following the near loss of the 1973 war.<ref name = "Chan">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2VVsrUFby04C |
Uri Ram contends that Neo-Zionism is not a new phenomenon, instead arguing that it emerged from the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 and the conquest of Jerusalem.<ref name="GB">{{cite book|title=Understanding the Middle East Peace Process: Israeli Academia and the Struggle for Identity|first=Asima|last=Ghazi-Bouillon|publisher=Routledge|year=2009}}</ref>{{rp|121}} Ram contends that Jerusalem is the symbolic capital of Neo-Zionism, while Post-Zionism is orientated around Tel Aviv.<ref name =" Kaplan"/>{{rp|187}} It rose with the anxiety following the near loss of the 1973 war.<ref name = "Chan">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2VVsrUFby04C&q=greater| title = Israeli Historical Revisionism: From Left to Right |editor1= Anita Shapira|editor2=Derek Jonathan Penslar| author = Uri Ram | chapter = Historiosophical Foundations of the Historical Strife in Israel | publisher = Psychology Press | year = 2003| isbn = 9780714653792 }}</ref>{{rp|51}} |
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Neo-Zionists consider "[[Zionism|secular Zionism]]", particularly the [[labor Zionism|labor version]], as too weak on nationalism |
Neo-Zionists consider "[[Zionism|secular Zionism]]", particularly the [[labor Zionism|labor version]], as too weak on nationalism and that it never understood the impossibility of Arabs and Jews living together in peace. Neo-Zionists claim that the Arab attitude to Israel is inherently rooted in [[anti-Semitism]] and that it is a [[Zionist]] illusion to think living in peace and together with them is possible. They consider [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arabs in Israel]] to be a [[fifth column]] and to pose a [[demographic threat]] to the Jewish majority in Israel. From their point of view, the only solution for achieving peace is through "deterrence and retaliation" or preferably "transfer by agreement" of the [[Arab citizens of Israel|Israeli Arabs]] and the [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] population of the occupied [[Palestinian Territories]] to neighboring [[Arab world|Arab states]].<ref name = "ram">Uri Ram, [http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472115419-ch8.pdf "The Future of the Past in Israel - A Sociology of Knowledge Approach"], in [[Benny Morris]], ''Making Israel'', pp. 210-211.</ref> |
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Uri Ram characterizes both Neo-Zionism and Post-Zionism as reactions to the post-nationalist environment.<ref name ="ram2013">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BXOMAQAAQBAJ& |
Uri Ram characterizes both Neo-Zionism and Post-Zionism as reactions to the post-nationalist environment.<ref name ="ram2013">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BXOMAQAAQBAJ&q=Neo-Zionism+post+national&pg=PT246| title = The Globalization of Israel: McWorld in Tel Aviv, Jihad in Jerusalem| author= Uri Ram|publisher = Routledge| year = 2013| page = 234| isbn = 9781135926823}}</ref> For Neo-Zionism, "the weakness of Israeli Nationalism derives from his alienation of Jewish sources and culture (...). Only a new national-religious and orthodox coalition [could] cure Zionism of this [[moral bankruptcy]]".<ref name = "ram"/> Neo-Zionists consider all areas under Israeli military control to be part of "the biblical Land of Israel".<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|57}} Neo-Zionists assert that the goal of Jewish statehood is not only about creating a safe refuge for Jews but also about the national-historic destiny of the people of Israel in the land of Israel. |
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For Uri Ram, Neo-Zionism is a reinterpretation of Zionism that is religious rather than secular. Judaism, instead of being a peripheral cultural tradition, is a core element in his definition.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|121}} In Ram's formulation, Post-Zionism is globalist and liberal, while Neo-Zionism is local and ethno-religious. Asima Ghazi-Bouillon challenges Ram's classification of Neo-Zionism as anti-globalist. He instead sees some strains of Neo-Zionism as globalist, similar to Neo-Conservatism and Neo-Nationalism.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|8}} Whereas Post-Zionism was a largely unsuccessful direct challenge to Zionism, Neo-Zionism is instead a challenge to Labour Zionism.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|8}} Asima Ghazi-Bouillon argues that Neo-Zionism is not entirely an ethno-religious movement but also incorporates a national security discourse.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|8–9}} |
For Uri Ram, Neo-Zionism is a reinterpretation of Zionism that is religious rather than secular. Judaism, instead of being a peripheral cultural tradition, is a core element in his definition.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|121}} In Ram's formulation, Post-Zionism is globalist and liberal, while Neo-Zionism is local and ethno-religious. Asima Ghazi-Bouillon challenges Ram's classification of Neo-Zionism as anti-globalist. He instead sees some strains of Neo-Zionism as globalist, similar to [[Neo-Conservatism]] and [[Neo-Nationalism]].<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|8}} Whereas Post-Zionism was a largely unsuccessful direct challenge to Zionism, Neo-Zionism is instead a challenge to Labour Zionism.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|8}} Asima Ghazi-Bouillon argues that Neo-Zionism is not entirely an ethno-religious movement but also incorporates a national security discourse.<ref name="GB"/>{{rp|8–9}} |
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[[Ilan Pappé]] sees four currents which have contributed to Neo- |
[[Ilan Pappé]] sees four currents which have contributed to Neo-Zionism's rise: The conversion of the [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]]m [[Haredim and Zionism|to Zionism]]; the settler movement combined with the state funding of Yeshivas; the culturally insular and economically deprived [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] community; and finally the integration of Israel into the global capitalist system.<ref name ="Tilley">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4-Mun0HBek4C&q=neo+zionism+temple&pg=RA2-PA155| title = The One-state Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock| author= Virginia Tilley | publisher = Manchester University Press| page =155| year = 2004| isbn = 9780719073366}}</ref> |
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==Representation== |
==Representation== |
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{{Jews and Judaism sidebar}} |
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⚫ | Uri Ram uses the [[Movement for Greater Israel]]<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|51–52}} and the [[Gush Emunim]] [[Israeli settlement|settler]] movement founded in 1974 as examples of Neo-Zionism and its precursors, Gush Emunim being a hybrid of religion and nationalism.<ref name="GB" />{{rp|121}}<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|51}} Ram also labels parts of [[Likud]] and the [[National Religious Party]], as well as other, smaller, splinter parties including [[Yisrael BaAliyah]], [[Moledet]], [[Tehiya]] and [[Tzomet]] as Neo-Zionist.<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|57}} |
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Neo-Zionism ideology was promoted by the banned [[Kach and Kahane Chai]] or the [[Jewish Defense League]].{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} |
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⚫ | Uri Ram uses the [[Movement for Greater Israel]]<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|51–52}} and the [[Gush Emunim]] [[Israeli settlement|settler]] movement founded in 1974 as examples of Neo-Zionism and its precursors, Gush Emunim being a hybrid of religion and nationalism.<ref name="GB" />{{rp|121}}<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|51}} Ram also labels parts of [[Likud]] and the National Religious Party, as well as other, smaller, splinter parties including [[Yisrael BaAliyah]], [[Moledet]], [[Tehiya]] and [[Tzomet]] as Neo-Zionist.<ref name = "Chan"/>{{rp|57}} |
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In the media Neo-Zionism is associated with [[Arutz Sheva]].<ref>{{cite news |date=August 19, 2014|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/gaa-apologise-jew-punch-tweet-tyrone-1628108-Aug2014/ |title=GAA player apologises over 'punch a Jew' tweet |publisher=TheJournal.ie}}</ref> According to Yishai Fleisher, Arutz Sheva director of programming and founder of the [[Kumah (organization)|Kumah]] neo-Zionist lobby, "Zionism is the yearning of the Jewish people to come back to the land of Israel with the creation of the Jewish commonwealth and the era of the third Temple. It's a renewal of lost values, and an answer to post-Zionism. If post-Zionism is the theory that Israel was created and the project is now finished, then neo-Zionism states that we are far from done with the project. The Jewish people are not yet back home, and we have yet to educate Jews to the concept of living a Torah life in the land of Israel."<ref>{{cite news |author=Sara Lehmann |url=http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/interviews-and-profiles/we-need-to-put-the-spirit-back-into-the-people-an-interview-with-arutz-shevas-yishai-fleisher/2010/02/10/ |title=We Need To Put The Spirit Back Into The People: An Interview with Arutz Sheva's Yishai Fleisher |newspaper=The Jewish Press |date=February 10, 2010}}</ref> |
In the media Neo-Zionism is associated with [[Arutz Sheva]].<ref>{{cite news |date=August 19, 2014|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/gaa-apologise-jew-punch-tweet-tyrone-1628108-Aug2014/ |title=GAA player apologises over 'punch a Jew' tweet |publisher=TheJournal.ie}}</ref> According to Yishai Fleisher, Arutz Sheva director of programming and founder of the [[Kumah (organization)|Kumah]] neo-Zionist lobby, "Zionism is the yearning of the Jewish people to come back to the land of Israel with the creation of the Jewish commonwealth and the era of the third Temple. It's a renewal of lost values, and an answer to post-Zionism. If post-Zionism is the theory that Israel was created and the project is now finished, then neo-Zionism states that we are far from done with the project. The Jewish people are not yet back home, and we have yet to educate Jews to the concept of living a Torah life in the land of Israel."<ref>{{cite news |author=Sara Lehmann |url=http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/interviews-and-profiles/we-need-to-put-the-spirit-back-into-the-people-an-interview-with-arutz-shevas-yishai-fleisher/2010/02/10/ |title=We Need To Put The Spirit Back Into The People: An Interview with Arutz Sheva's Yishai Fleisher |newspaper=The Jewish Press |date=February 10, 2010}}</ref> |
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Some associations in Israel, such as [[Im Tirtzu]], defend Neo-Zionist ideology. Ronen Shoval, founder of the association states that "We need every Jewish heart and Zionist soul. Coordinators and activists of Im Tirtzu are hereby called to the flag. (...) [W]e will turn the Hebrew University into a Zionist society, and continue the second Zionist revolution!" His aims are "to restore Zionism to the |
Some associations in Israel, such as [[Im Tirtzu]], defend Neo-Zionist ideology. Ronen Shoval, founder of the association states that "We need every Jewish heart and Zionist soul. Coordinators and activists of Im Tirtzu are hereby called to the flag. (...) [W]e will turn the Hebrew University into a Zionist society, and continue the second Zionist revolution!" His aims are "to restore Zionism to the center—for poets to poetize Zionism, for the writers to write Zionism, for academia to support Zionism and for the Ari Folmans (...) to make films about our ethos. Just as there are movies about gladiators, we will have movies about Judah Maccabee. What's wrong with that?"<ref name="Neo-Zionism 101">{{cite news |author=Cobi Ben-Simhon |url=http://www.haaretz.com/neo-zionism-101-1.277397 |title=Neo-Zionism 101 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=June 5, 2009}}</ref> |
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==Critics== |
==Critics== |
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According to Uri Ram, "Neo-Zionism (...) is an exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend, striving to heighten the fence encasing Israeli identity";<ref name = "Chan57"/> a point of view also reported by [[Gilbert Achcar]].<ref name ="achcar">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3q5dFD61V5oC& |
According to Uri Ram, "Neo-Zionism (...) is an exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend, striving to heighten the fence encasing Israeli identity";<ref name = "Chan57"/> a point of view also reported by [[Gilbert Achcar]].<ref name ="achcar">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3q5dFD61V5oC&q=Uri+Ram+neo+zionism+1967&pg=PA185 | title = The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives | author= Gilbert Achcar | publisher = Macmillan | page = 185| year = 2010 | isbn = 9781429938204 }}</ref> |
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According to Dana Eyal, "[her] country is hijacked by a group of racist religious Jews, who are much more of a threat to Israel than any Arab or Muslim country, including Iran". She gives the example of children of illegal immigrants born and living in Israel for years and that neo-Zionist groups want to see expelled because their presence is un-Zionistic. She thinks that "[t]his very narrow definition of Zionism dictates that Israel is and will remain a racist Jewish state" but also "that in Israel itself there is a (lazy) majority that is far from this. Zionism for us equals patriotism much like it does to Americans; wanting the best for your country, believing in its principals and defending it when necessary. Only we don't believe in many of the neo-orthodox principals popping out like mushrooms in the rain. For that matter, we no longer feel very Zionistic in an environment that embraces totality and purity of race (a calamitous similarity to things that should not be named)".<ref>Dana Agmon, ''[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-agmon/neozionism-israels-true-t_b_749519.html Neo-Zionism -- Israel's True Threat]'', The Huffington Post, October 12, 2010.</ref> |
According to Dana Eyal, "[her] country is hijacked by a group of racist religious Jews, who are much more of a threat to Israel than any Arab or Muslim country, including Iran". She gives the example of children of illegal immigrants born and living in Israel for years and that neo-Zionist groups want to see expelled because their presence is un-Zionistic. She thinks that "[t]his very narrow definition of Zionism dictates that Israel is and will remain a racist Jewish state" but also "that in Israel itself there is a (lazy) majority that is far from this. Zionism for us equals patriotism much like it does to Americans; wanting the best for your country, believing in its principals and defending it when necessary. Only we don't believe in many of the neo-orthodox principals popping out like mushrooms in the rain. For that matter, we no longer feel very Zionistic in an environment that embraces totality and purity of race (a calamitous similarity to things that should not be named)".<ref>Dana Agmon, ''[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-agmon/neozionism-israels-true-t_b_749519.html Neo-Zionism -- Israel's True Threat]'', The Huffington Post, October 12, 2010.</ref> |
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⚫ | Post-Zionists have argued that Israel must choose between a Post-Zionist future and a Neo-Zionist future.<ref name ="Nimni">{{cite journal |title=The Challenge of Post-Zionism| url =http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol2no3_2003/nimni_postzionism.htm | date = 2003| access-date= July 19, 2016| publisher = borderlands e-journal: Volume 2 Number 3| author = Ephraim Nimni| journal =Borderlands Journal }}</ref> Today, Israeli centrists have come to view both "Post-Zionism" and "Neo-Zionism" positions as threats to their position.<ref name =" Kaplan">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nJQuBgAAQBAJ&q=Neo-Zionism&pg=PA55 | title = Beyond Post-Zionism | author = Eran Kaplan | publisher = SUNY Press | year = 2015 | isbn = 9781438454375 }}</ref>{{rp|55}} |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{Portal|Israel}} |
{{Portal|Israel}} |
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* [[Blood Libel at Deir Yassin]] |
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* [[Political ideology]] |
* [[Political ideology]] |
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* [[Self hating Jew]] |
* [[Self hating Jew]] |
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* [[Kahanism]] |
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* [[Chardal]] |
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* [[Revisionist Zionism]] |
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* [[Zionist political violence]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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=== Neo-Zionist authors === |
=== Neo-Zionist authors === |
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*{{ |
*{{in lang|en}} [[Eliezer Don-Yehiya]]: "Memory and Political Culture: Israeli Society and the Holocaust". ;;Studies in Contemporary Jewry'' 9, 1993. |
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*{{ |
*{{in lang|he}} [[Eitan Dor-Shav]]: ''Israel Museum and the Loss of National Memory'', Tkhelet, 1998. |
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*{{ |
*{{in lang|he}} [[Avraham Levit]]: ''Israeli Art on the Way to Somewhere Else''. Tkhelet 3, 1998. |
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*{{ |
*{{in lang|he}} [[Hillel Weiss]]: ''Defamation: Israeli Literature of Elimination''. Beit El, 1992. |
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=== Neo-Zionist lobbies === |
=== Neo-Zionist lobbies === |
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[[Category:Neo-Zionism| ]] |
[[Category:Neo-Zionism| ]] |
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[[Category:Religious Zionism]] |
[[Category:Religious Zionism]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Right-wing populism in Israel]] |
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[[Category:Types of Zionism]] |
[[Category:Types of Zionism]] |
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[[Category:Six-Day War]] |
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[[Category:Anti-Arabism in Israel]] |
Latest revision as of 19:05, 22 February 2024
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in Israel |
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![]() |
Neo-Zionism (Hebrew: ניאו-ציונות) is a right-wing, nationalistic and religious ideology that appeared in Israel following the Six-Day War in 1967 and the capture of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Neo-Zionists consider these lands part of Israel and advocate their settlement by Israeli Jews. Some advocate the transfer of Arabs not only from these areas but also from within the Green Line.
The term "Post-Zionism" entered Israeli discourse following the publishing of a book by Uri Ram in 1993.[1] In the same volume, Gershom Shafir contrasted Post-Zionism with what he termed Neo-Zionism.[2] In a widely cited 1996 essay, sociologist Uri Ram used the term Neo-Zionism to describe a political and religious ideology that developed in Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.[3]: 18 [4]: 67 [5]: 218 He considers it as an "exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend" in Israel[6] that evolved in parallel with, and in opposition to, the left-wing politics of Post-Zionism and Labor Zionism.
Ideology
Uri Ram contends that Neo-Zionism is not a new phenomenon, instead arguing that it emerged from the Six-Day War in 1967 and the conquest of Jerusalem.[7]: 121 Ram contends that Jerusalem is the symbolic capital of Neo-Zionism, while Post-Zionism is orientated around Tel Aviv.[8]: 187 It rose with the anxiety following the near loss of the 1973 war.[9]: 51
Neo-Zionists consider "secular Zionism", particularly the labor version, as too weak on nationalism and that it never understood the impossibility of Arabs and Jews living together in peace. Neo-Zionists claim that the Arab attitude to Israel is inherently rooted in anti-Semitism and that it is a Zionist illusion to think living in peace and together with them is possible. They consider Arabs in Israel to be a fifth column and to pose a demographic threat to the Jewish majority in Israel. From their point of view, the only solution for achieving peace is through "deterrence and retaliation" or preferably "transfer by agreement" of the Israeli Arabs and the Palestinian population of the occupied Palestinian Territories to neighboring Arab states.[10]
Uri Ram characterizes both Neo-Zionism and Post-Zionism as reactions to the post-nationalist environment.[11] For Neo-Zionism, "the weakness of Israeli Nationalism derives from his alienation of Jewish sources and culture (...). Only a new national-religious and orthodox coalition [could] cure Zionism of this moral bankruptcy".[10] Neo-Zionists consider all areas under Israeli military control to be part of "the biblical Land of Israel".[9]: 57 Neo-Zionists assert that the goal of Jewish statehood is not only about creating a safe refuge for Jews but also about the national-historic destiny of the people of Israel in the land of Israel.
For Uri Ram, Neo-Zionism is a reinterpretation of Zionism that is religious rather than secular. Judaism, instead of being a peripheral cultural tradition, is a core element in his definition.[7]: 121 In Ram's formulation, Post-Zionism is globalist and liberal, while Neo-Zionism is local and ethno-religious. Asima Ghazi-Bouillon challenges Ram's classification of Neo-Zionism as anti-globalist. He instead sees some strains of Neo-Zionism as globalist, similar to Neo-Conservatism and Neo-Nationalism.[7]: 8 Whereas Post-Zionism was a largely unsuccessful direct challenge to Zionism, Neo-Zionism is instead a challenge to Labour Zionism.[7]: 8 Asima Ghazi-Bouillon argues that Neo-Zionism is not entirely an ethno-religious movement but also incorporates a national security discourse.[7]: 8–9
Ilan Pappé sees four currents which have contributed to Neo-Zionism's rise: The conversion of the Haredim to Zionism; the settler movement combined with the state funding of Yeshivas; the culturally insular and economically deprived Mizrahi community; and finally the integration of Israel into the global capitalist system.[12]
Representation
Part of a series on |
Jews and Judaism |
---|
Uri Ram uses the Movement for Greater Israel[9]: 51–52 and the Gush Emunim settler movement founded in 1974 as examples of Neo-Zionism and its precursors, Gush Emunim being a hybrid of religion and nationalism.[7]: 121 [9]: 51 Ram also labels parts of Likud and the National Religious Party, as well as other, smaller, splinter parties including Yisrael BaAliyah, Moledet, Tehiya and Tzomet as Neo-Zionist.[9]: 57
In the media Neo-Zionism is associated with Arutz Sheva.[13] According to Yishai Fleisher, Arutz Sheva director of programming and founder of the Kumah neo-Zionist lobby, "Zionism is the yearning of the Jewish people to come back to the land of Israel with the creation of the Jewish commonwealth and the era of the third Temple. It's a renewal of lost values, and an answer to post-Zionism. If post-Zionism is the theory that Israel was created and the project is now finished, then neo-Zionism states that we are far from done with the project. The Jewish people are not yet back home, and we have yet to educate Jews to the concept of living a Torah life in the land of Israel."[14]
Some associations in Israel, such as Im Tirtzu, defend Neo-Zionist ideology. Ronen Shoval, founder of the association states that "We need every Jewish heart and Zionist soul. Coordinators and activists of Im Tirtzu are hereby called to the flag. (...) [W]e will turn the Hebrew University into a Zionist society, and continue the second Zionist revolution!" His aims are "to restore Zionism to the center—for poets to poetize Zionism, for the writers to write Zionism, for academia to support Zionism and for the Ari Folmans (...) to make films about our ethos. Just as there are movies about gladiators, we will have movies about Judah Maccabee. What's wrong with that?"[15]
Critics
According to Uri Ram, "Neo-Zionism (...) is an exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend, striving to heighten the fence encasing Israeli identity";[6] a point of view also reported by Gilbert Achcar.[16]
According to Dana Eyal, "[her] country is hijacked by a group of racist religious Jews, who are much more of a threat to Israel than any Arab or Muslim country, including Iran". She gives the example of children of illegal immigrants born and living in Israel for years and that neo-Zionist groups want to see expelled because their presence is un-Zionistic. She thinks that "[t]his very narrow definition of Zionism dictates that Israel is and will remain a racist Jewish state" but also "that in Israel itself there is a (lazy) majority that is far from this. Zionism for us equals patriotism much like it does to Americans; wanting the best for your country, believing in its principals and defending it when necessary. Only we don't believe in many of the neo-orthodox principals popping out like mushrooms in the rain. For that matter, we no longer feel very Zionistic in an environment that embraces totality and purity of race (a calamitous similarity to things that should not be named)".[17]
Post-Zionists have argued that Israel must choose between a Post-Zionist future and a Neo-Zionist future.[18] Today, Israeli centrists have come to view both "Post-Zionism" and "Neo-Zionism" positions as threats to their position.[8]: 55
See also
- New antisemitism
- Political ideology
- Self hating Jew
- Kahanism
- Religious Zionism
- Chardal
- Revisionist Zionism
- Zionist political violence
References
- ^ Uri Ram (2010). Israeli Nationalism: Social Conflicts and the Politics of Knowledge. Routledge. p. 112. ISBN 9781136919954.
- ^ Ella Shohat (2006). Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices. Duke University Press. p. 382. ISBN 0822387964.
- ^ Motti Regev; Edwin Seroussi (2004). Popular Music and National Culture in Israel. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520236547.
- ^ Dan Leon (2004). Who's Left in Israel?: Radical Political Alternatives for the Future of Israel. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900574.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Ronit Lenṭin (2000). Israel and the Daughters of the Shoah: Reoccupying the Territories of Silence. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571817754.
- ^ a b Uri Ram "Historiosphical Foundations of the Historical Strife in Israel" in Israeli Historical Revisionism: from left to right, Anita Shapira, Derek Jonathan Penslar, Routledge, 2002, pp.57-58.
- ^ a b c d e f Ghazi-Bouillon, Asima (2009). Understanding the Middle East Peace Process: Israeli Academia and the Struggle for Identity. Routledge.
- ^ a b Eran Kaplan (2015). Beyond Post-Zionism. SUNY Press. ISBN 9781438454375.
- ^ a b c d e Uri Ram (2003). "Historiosophical Foundations of the Historical Strife in Israel". In Anita Shapira; Derek Jonathan Penslar (eds.). Israeli Historical Revisionism: From Left to Right. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780714653792.
- ^ a b Uri Ram, "The Future of the Past in Israel - A Sociology of Knowledge Approach", in Benny Morris, Making Israel, pp. 210-211.
- ^ Uri Ram (2013). The Globalization of Israel: McWorld in Tel Aviv, Jihad in Jerusalem. Routledge. p. 234. ISBN 9781135926823.
- ^ Virginia Tilley (2004). The One-state Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock. Manchester University Press. p. 155. ISBN 9780719073366.
- ^ "GAA player apologises over 'punch a Jew' tweet". TheJournal.ie. August 19, 2014.
- ^ Sara Lehmann (February 10, 2010). "We Need To Put The Spirit Back Into The People: An Interview with Arutz Sheva's Yishai Fleisher". The Jewish Press.
- ^ Cobi Ben-Simhon (June 5, 2009). "Neo-Zionism 101". Haaretz.
- ^ Gilbert Achcar (2010). The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives. Macmillan. p. 185. ISBN 9781429938204.
- ^ Dana Agmon, Neo-Zionism -- Israel's True Threat, The Huffington Post, October 12, 2010.
- ^ Ephraim Nimni (2003). "The Challenge of Post-Zionism". Borderlands Journal. borderlands e-journal: Volume 2 Number 3. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
Further reading
Journalistic views about Neo-Zionism
- Gershon Baskin, "Neo-Zionism, Religion, and Citizenship" Foreign Policy in Focus, September 26, 2007.
- Cobi Ben-Simhon (June 5, 2009). "Neo-Zionism 101". Haaretz.
- David Breakstone, "Zionism isn't what it used to be" The Jerusalem Post, June 21, 2009
- Dana Agmon, "Neo-Zionism -- Israel's True Threat" The Huffington Post, October 12, 2010.
Neo-Zionist authors
- (in English) Eliezer Don-Yehiya: "Memory and Political Culture: Israeli Society and the Holocaust". ;;Studies in Contemporary Jewry 9, 1993.
- (in Hebrew) Eitan Dor-Shav: Israel Museum and the Loss of National Memory, Tkhelet, 1998.
- (in Hebrew) Avraham Levit: Israeli Art on the Way to Somewhere Else. Tkhelet 3, 1998.
- (in Hebrew) Hillel Weiss: Defamation: Israeli Literature of Elimination. Beit El, 1992.