Neo-Zionism
Encyclopedia
Neo-Zionism is a right-wing, nationalistic and religious movement that appeared in Israel
following the Six Days War and capture of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
, which they consider parts of Israel. It evolved parallel with, and in opposition to Post-Zionism
. Both developed during the "fundamental shaking of the dominant national ethos, Zionism
, that generate[d] the historical revision
and debate in Israel".
. It is politically represented by the National Religious Party
and the Likud
and other small parties such as Tehiya
, Tzomet
and Moledet
, as well as the non-parliamentary Movement for Greater Israel
.
Neo-Zionists consider that "secular Zionism
", particularly the labor version
, was too weak on nationalism and never understood the impossibility of Arabs and Jews
living together in peace. They claim that the Arab attitude to Israel has its root in antisemitism and that it is a Zionist illusion to think living in peace with them is possible. They consider Arabs in Israel to be a fifth column
and pose a demographic threat. From their point of view, the only solution to achieve peace is "deterrence and retaliation".
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
". Neo-Zionists view the land of Israel
as the natural and Biblically mandated home of the Jewish people and 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.
Neo-Zionism is promoted by members of the Kumah organization and journalists at Arutz Sheva
for a Zionist stream based on what its adherents call authentic Jewish spiritual foundations.
For Chan & al., "Neo-Zionism (...) is an exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend, striving to heighten the fence encasing Israeli identity."
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
following the Six Days War and capture of the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, which they consider parts of Israel. It evolved parallel with, and in opposition to Post-Zionism
Post-Zionism
Post-Zionism refers to the opinions of some Israelis, diaspora Jews and others, particularly in academia, that Zionism has fulfilled its ideological mission with the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948, and that Zionist ideology should therefore be considered at an end...
. Both developed during the "fundamental shaking of the dominant national ethos, Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, that generate[d] the historical revision
New Historians
The New Historians are a loosely-defined group of Israeli historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history, including Israel's role in the Palestinian Exodus in 1948 and Arab willingness to discuss peace. The term was coined in 1988 by one of the leading New Historians, Benny...
and debate in Israel".
Ideology
Neo-Zionism emerged in the 1970s. It is mainly constituted of settlers and members of the "national camp" in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It is politically represented by the National Religious Party
National Religious Party
The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992...
and the Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
and other small parties such as Tehiya
Tehiya
Tehiya , originally known as Banai , then Tehiya-Bnai , was a small right-wing political party in Israel that existed from 1979 until 1992...
, Tzomet
Tzomet
Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements...
and Moledet
Moledet
Moledet is a small right-wing political party in Israel. It advocates the notion of encouraging voluntary population transfer of the Arab population of the West Bank. Moledet was founded in 1988 by Rehavam Ze'evi, who headed it until his assassination by members of the PFLP in 2001, after which...
, as well as the non-parliamentary Movement for Greater Israel
Movement for Greater Israel
The Movement for Greater Israel was a political organisation in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s which subscribed to an ideology of Greater Israel....
.
Neo-Zionists consider that "secular Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
", particularly the labor version
Labor Zionism
Labor Zionism can be described as the major stream of the left wing of the Zionist movement. It was, for many years, the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizational structure...
, was too weak on nationalism and never understood the impossibility of Arabs and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
living together in peace. They claim that the Arab attitude to Israel has its root in antisemitism and that it is a Zionist illusion to think living in peace with them is possible. They consider Arabs in Israel to be a fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
and pose a demographic threat. From their point of view, the only solution to achieve peace is "deterrence and retaliation".
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
Moral bankruptcy
Moral bankruptcy is a synonym for immorality that has gained popular usage in the fields of business and politics, in which it specifically implies some instance of political corruption or corporate crime...
". Neo-Zionists view the land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
as the natural and Biblically mandated home of the Jewish people and 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.
Neo-Zionism is promoted by members of the Kumah organization and journalists at Arutz Sheva
Arutz Sheva
Arutz Sheva is an Israeli media network identifying with Religious Zionism. It offers online news in English, Hebrew, French, Spanish and Russian. Arutz Sheva offers free podcasts, live streaming radio, a daily email news update, streaming video and 24 hour updated text news...
for a Zionist stream based on what its adherents call authentic Jewish spiritual foundations.
For Chan & al., "Neo-Zionism (...) is an exclusionary, nationalist, even racist, and antidemocratic political-cultural trend, striving to heighten the fence encasing Israeli identity."
Further reading
- Neo-Zionism 101 by Kobi Ben-Simhon, Haaretz, June 5 2009
- Zionism isn't what it used to be by David Breakstone, The Jerusalem Post, June 21 2009
- Steve Chan, Anita ShapiraAnita ShapiraAnita Shapira is an Israeli historian. She is the founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, a Ruben Merenfeld Professor of the Study of Zionism and head of the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism at Tel Aviv University...
, Derek Jonathan, Israeli Historical Revisionism: from left to right, Routledge, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7146-5379-2. Eliezer Don-Yehiya, Memory and Political Culture: Israeli Society and the Holocaust, Studies in Contemporary Jewry 9, 1993. Eitan Dor-Shav, Israel Museum and the Loss of National Memory, Tkhelet, 1998. Avraham Levit, Israeli Art on the Way to Somewhere Else, Tkhelet 3, 1998. - Amos OzAmos OzAmos Oz is an Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist. He is also a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva....
, In the Land of Israel, -The Finger of God ?-, Harverst, 1993, pp.49-73. - Uri Ram, The Future of the Past in Israel - A Sociology of Knowledge Approach, in Benny MorrisBenny MorrisBenny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
, Making Israel, the University of Michigan Press, 2007. Hillel WeissHillel WeissHillel Weiss is a professor of literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel.-Academic career:Hillel Weiss is a tenured professor at the Joseph & Norman Berman Department of Literature of the Jewish People, Faculty of Jewish Studies, Bar-llan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel...
, Defamation: Israeli Literature of Elimination, Beit El, 1992.
See also
- Arutz ShevaArutz ShevaArutz Sheva is an Israeli media network identifying with Religious Zionism. It offers online news in English, Hebrew, French, Spanish and Russian. Arutz Sheva offers free podcasts, live streaming radio, a daily email news update, streaming video and 24 hour updated text news...
- Aryeh Eldad
- Blood Libel at Deir Yassin
- Effie Eitam
- Greater IsraelGreater IsraelGreater Israel is a controversial expression with several different Biblical and political meanings over time.Currently, the most common definition of the land encompassed by the term is the territory of the State of Israel together with the Palestinian territories...
- Gush EmunimGush EmunimGush Emunim was an Israeli messianic and political movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. While not formally established as an organization until 1974 in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, Gush Emunim sprang out of the conquests of the Six-Day War in 1967, encouraging...
: TzometTzometTzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements...
, MoledetMoledetMoledet is a small right-wing political party in Israel. It advocates the notion of encouraging voluntary population transfer of the Arab population of the West Bank. Moledet was founded in 1988 by Rehavam Ze'evi, who headed it until his assassination by members of the PFLP in 2001, after which...
, TehiyaTehiyaTehiya , originally known as Banai , then Tehiya-Bnai , was a small right-wing political party in Israel that existed from 1979 until 1992...
, KachKach and Kahane ChaiKach was a far-right political party in Israel. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in the early 1970s, and following his Jewish nationalist ideology , the party entered the Knesset in 1984 after several electoral failures... - Israeli SettlementIsraeli settlementAn Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
- Jewish Defense LeagueJewish Defense LeagueThe Jewish Defense League is a Jewish organization whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"...
- Masada2000Masada2000Masada2000 is a pro-Israel California-based Kahanist website created and maintained by people from the United States, Israel, Brazil, and Switzerland...
- New antisemitism
- Yishai FleisherYishai FleisherYishai Fleisher is a TV and radio broadcaster based in Israel. He produces and hosts , the only English language talk show on Israeli broadcast radio. The show is aired on the station. Yishai founded and currently directs , a non-profit education and outreach organization dedicated to...