Rubber Bullets: Power and Conscience in Modern Isræl - Softcover

Ezrahi, Yaron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520214161 ISBN 13: 9780520214163

Publisher: University of California Press, 1998

Synopsis

Among commentators on Israeli affairs, Yaron Ezrahi is distinguished by his analytical brilliance, his twin passions for Jewish traditions and the tradition of liberal democracy, and his ability to see behind current events to their causes, some of them three generations in the making, some three millennia. Here he offers an uncommonly insightful analysis of the ways that history, politics, and the national character of Israel come to bear on current affairs there. Ezrahi regards surprising and divisive events—such as the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu's defeat of Shimon Peres in the subsequent ministerial election—as signs of an ongoing, fundamental conflict in Israeli society. He explores ways in which the conflict is felt in diverse aspects of Israeli life and culture, from the social dimensions of military service and the development of the modern Hebrew language to Israelis' attitudes toward nature and the status of women. In chapters that blend probing analysis with stirring memoir, Ezrahi tells the story of Israel's transformation from a defensive, embattled society held together by a myth of national liberation to a prosperous liberal society that must make room for the many different stories of individual Israelis.

About this title

About the Author

Yaron Ezrahi is Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Senior Fellow of the Israel Democracy Institute.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520214161
• ISBN 13: 9780520214163
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 308