What is Modern Israel?

Yakov M. Rabkin

ISBN 10: 0745335810 / ISBN 13: 9780745335810

Published by Pluto Press, GB, 2016

About this Item

Few countries provoke as much passion and controversy as Israel. What is Modern Israel? convincingly demonstrates that its founding ideology - Zionism - is anything but a simple reaction to antisemitism. Dispelling the notion that every Jew is a Zionist and therefore a natural advocate for the state of Israel, Yakov Rabkin points to the Protestant roots of Zionism, in order to explain the particular support Israel musters in the United States. Drawing on many overlooked pages of history, including English, French, Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian sources, Yakov Rabkin shows that Zionism was conceived as a sharp break with Judaism and Jewish continuity. Israel's past and present must be seen in the context of European ethnic nationalism, colonial expansion and geopolitical interests, rather than as an incarnation of Biblical prophecies or a culmination of Jewish history.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780745335810

Bibliographic Details

• Title: What is Modern Israel?
• Publisher: Pluto Press, GB
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745335810
• ISBN 13: 9780745335810
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 311 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Few countries provoke as much passion and controversy as Israel. What is Modern Israel? convincingly demonstrates that its founding ideology - Zionism - is anything but a simple reaction to antisemitism. Dispelling the notion that every Jew is a Zionist and therefore a natural advocate for the state of Israel, Yakov Rabkin points to the Protestant roots of Zionism, in order to explain the particular support Israel musters in the United States. 

Drawing on many overlooked pages of history, including English, French, Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian sources, Yakov Rabkin shows that Zionism was conceived as a sharp break with Judaism and Jewish continuity. Israel’s past and present must be seen in the context of European ethnic nationalism, colonial expansion and geopolitical interests, rather than as an incarnation of Biblical prophecies or a culmination of Jewish history.

About the Author

Yakov M. Rabkin is professor of history at the University of Montréal, Canada. He is the author of A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism.