- Modern Jewish History, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Political Parties, Collective Memory, Zionism, Zionism (History), and 13 moreHIstory of Zionism and Jewish Nationalism, Eastern European and Russian Jewish History, Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies, Jewish History, Palestine, Arab-Israeli conflict, Middle East Studies, Mizrahi Jews, Mizrahim, Israel Studies, Israeli-Arab Relations, Israel and Zionism, and Byzantine Architectureedit
- Prof. Amir Goldstein is a historian, educator at Tel-Hai College.. Goldstein specialises in Political History and th... moreProf. Amir Goldstein is a historian, educator at Tel-Hai College.. Goldstein specialises in Political History and the ideas behind the Zionist movement with an emphasis on researching the Zionist Right during the British Mandate. His books and articles focus on the activities of Zeev Jabotinsky and Menahem Begin and the breakthrough of the Zionist Right moving for the edge of Israeli politics to the center.edit
"We must always start from the beginning." Yael Zerubavel, Desert, Island, Wall: Review and View from the Galilee [Hebrew]
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The Zionist-Israeli Right and the Kibbutz Movement have shared a longstanding and powerful historical rivalry, but their interrelationships were more complex than presented in historiography and recollected in public consciousness. The... more
The Zionist-Israeli Right and the Kibbutz Movement have shared a longstanding and powerful historical rivalry, but their interrelationships were more complex than presented in historiography and recollected in public consciousness. The relations were affected by the political power of the two groups, their position within the socio-economic fabric in Israel, and the issues that were at the core of the public agenda in Israel.
This article seeks to examine the interfaces between Menachem Begin, the parties under his leadership, and the kibbutzim, from the establishment of the state until the end of 1981. Such exploration reveals different stages, discrete trends as well as more complex political relations than the rather superficial image engraved in collective memory. The first stage (1948-1966) and the later period (1972-1983) are characterized by confrontation and poignant polemics that have not yet been systematically presented and analyzed.
Between these, there was an interim that has received almost no attention or theorized in historiography–the late 1960s and early 1970s–an interval characterized by rapprochement and reconciliation. The deterioration in the relationships between the Likud and the Kibbutz Movement came about in the wake of the political “upheaval.” The article examines the contribution of both sides to the dynamics of escalation, the various economic, social, and political contexts within which it manifested itself, and its place in the political history of Israel at large.
Between these, there was an interim that has hardly been researched or theorized in historiography–the late 1960s and early 1970s–an interval characterized by rapprochement and reconciliation. The deterioration in the relationships between the Likud and the Kibbutz Movement came about in the wake of the political “upheaval.” The article examines the contribution of both sides to the dynamics of escalation, the various economic, social, and political contexts within which it manifested itself, and its place in the political history of Israel at large.
This article seeks to examine the interfaces between Menachem Begin, the parties under his leadership, and the kibbutzim, from the establishment of the state until the end of 1981. Such exploration reveals different stages, discrete trends as well as more complex political relations than the rather superficial image engraved in collective memory. The first stage (1948-1966) and the later period (1972-1983) are characterized by confrontation and poignant polemics that have not yet been systematically presented and analyzed.
Between these, there was an interim that has received almost no attention or theorized in historiography–the late 1960s and early 1970s–an interval characterized by rapprochement and reconciliation. The deterioration in the relationships between the Likud and the Kibbutz Movement came about in the wake of the political “upheaval.” The article examines the contribution of both sides to the dynamics of escalation, the various economic, social, and political contexts within which it manifested itself, and its place in the political history of Israel at large.
Between these, there was an interim that has hardly been researched or theorized in historiography–the late 1960s and early 1970s–an interval characterized by rapprochement and reconciliation. The deterioration in the relationships between the Likud and the Kibbutz Movement came about in the wake of the political “upheaval.” The article examines the contribution of both sides to the dynamics of escalation, the various economic, social, and political contexts within which it manifested itself, and its place in the political history of Israel at large.
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The chapter focuses on the Revisionist Movement, which laid the foundations for the Zionist Right, from its establishment in the 1920s to its metamorphoses in Israel of the 1960s. It presents its core outlook and underscores the main... more
The chapter focuses on the Revisionist Movement, which laid the foundations for the Zionist Right, from its establishment in the 1920s to its metamorphoses in Israel of the 1960s. It presents its core outlook and underscores the main internal tension that emerged between two models of action. The first was of a political party that was part and parcel of the Zionist parliamentary system and aimed to set up a broad General-Zionist activist force. The second model regarded Revisionism as an independent political movement that should operate separately from the World Zionist Organization. The centrifugal tendency toward which Ze’ev Jabotinsky steered the party he had founded, jeopardized its ability to forge a political alliance with potential partners among the center circles and the moderate Zionist Right and, consequently, also weakened its political power. Thus, the gap between the Revisionist Party’s pretense to influence the historical course and the paucity of its meager accomplishment de facto widened. The chapter traces the process by which Menachem Begin brought about the reversal of the trend. Admittedly, the guerrilla warfare he had led against the British administration in Mandatory Palestine as commander of the Etzel did, indeed, express a perpetuation of the independent and separatist modus operandi. However, in the wake of several critical events that made manifest the difficulties of the Right in adapting to the establishment of a sovereign state, Begin returned to the first model of action, which had been abandoned. He guided his party toward the political mainstream. The centripetal trend was reflected in the “revision of Revisionism” – a shift that took place in the perceptions and methods of action of the Zionist Right and enabled Begin to forge a significant political alliance – albeit belatedly – with the General Zionists, in 1965.
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Speech at the alternative ceremony that took place at the Roaring Lion Square, Tel Hai, March 2024
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Ze'ev Jabotinsky is one of the most fascinating figures among the leaders of the Zionist movement and founder of the right-wing political movement in Zionism. Many of his disciples and followers have attributed to him, and still do, a... more
Ze'ev Jabotinsky is one of the most fascinating figures among the leaders of the Zionist movement and founder of the right-wing political movement in Zionism. Many of his disciples and followers have attributed to him, and still do, a realistic assessment and even prophetic prediction of the Holocaust of European Jews during World War II. At the core of the pervasive cultivation of the myth lies a speech whereby the Zionist leader—it is claimed—in the summer of 1938, in Warsaw, on the traditional Jewish mourning day of Tisha B'Av, forewarned the Jews of Poland against the imminent catastrophe, which he termed the “Fires of Destruction.” This speech is prevalent in public discourse, widespread in social networks and is frequently quoted by Israeli leaders.
In this article, we submit that this apocryphal speech was never delivered by Jabotinsky. Moreover, we point out that Jabotinsky gave a completely different speech on this occasion and assess the time when these citations first appeared—twenty years after the event. We shall trace the process of the later invention of the text, the agents who strove to disseminate it and the mode of its reception—evidence of Jabotinsky's status as prophet of the Holocaust.
In this article, we submit that this apocryphal speech was never delivered by Jabotinsky. Moreover, we point out that Jabotinsky gave a completely different speech on this occasion and assess the time when these citations first appeared—twenty years after the event. We shall trace the process of the later invention of the text, the agents who strove to disseminate it and the mode of its reception—evidence of Jabotinsky's status as prophet of the Holocaust.
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BOOK REVIEW
Vladimir Jabotinsky’s Russian years, 1900-1925, by Brian J. Horowitz, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2020, 271 pp., 30$ (paperback), ISBN 978-0253047687
Vladimir Jabotinsky’s Russian years, 1900-1925, by Brian J. Horowitz, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2020, 271 pp., 30$ (paperback), ISBN 978-0253047687
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In June 1975, the State of Israel held a series of three state ceremonies as part of the process of transferring the bones of two members of the Lehi underground (the “Stern gang”). Thirty years after they were executed and buried in... more
In June 1975, the State of Israel held a series of three state ceremonies as part of the process of transferring the bones of two members of the Lehi underground (the “Stern gang”). Thirty years after they were executed and buried in Cairo, coffins with the bodies of Eliyahu Bet-Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim were transferred from Egypt onto the Israeli army forces in Sinai and were reburied in Jerusalem. On 6 November 1944, in Cairo, the two assassinated Walter Guinness, First Baron Moyne, a cabinet member residing in Egypt and officiating as the British minister of State in the Middle-East. The deed was perceived at the time by most of the Jewish Yishuv circles in Mandatory Palestine as an ignominious, insane act of personal terrorism, in contravention to Jewish ethics and universal morality, as well as detrimental to the immediate and long-term Zionist interests. The consensus vis-à-vis the view of the two young Jews’ actions as negative and harmful encompassed the vast majority of Jewish circles in the country from left to right. And lo and behold, 30 years later, the Israeli government, led by the Israeli Labor Party, held state ceremonies in a process in whose denouement the assassins would be reburied on Mount Herzl, Israel’s official pantheon to heroism. This article seeks to examine the event and its import through a layered perspective based upon the research of collective memory, society, culture, and Israeli politics. The reburial of Bet-Zuri and Hakim summoned an affair from the past that had cast its shadow over the Israeli present of the mid1970s. The event was fashioned according to the historical consciousness that was shaping during this period, which may be characterized as a crisis stage in Israeli society, in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War (October 1973)—a phase whereby the hegemony of the Labor Movement eroded. I shall argue that the significance of this affair cannot be subsumed in the turnaround that manifested itself in the stance of the Israeli establishment toward the assassination of Lord Moyne and its perpetrators. It may be regarded, moreover, as a landmark for the shift that took place in the concept of heroism in Israeli consciousness. The modus operandi of the Yitzhak Rabin government vis-à-vis the affair was dual: on the one hand, it chose to render the event state-owned and acknowledge the assassins as legitimate Zionist heroes. On the other hand, the government did not offer a narrative that would clarify or elucidate the act. In fact, it left the arena open to other parties—Lehi veterans, rabbis, and journalists—for commenting on and casting content onto the ceremonies. I shall interpret the silence of the Rabin government as an expression of the weakening of the Labor Movement political center, as well as the erosion of its cultural role, and will argue that its attitude bespeaks an incipient manifestation of the privatization of memory in Israel.
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לקראת תשעה באב - על נאום אזהרת השואה שמיוחס לזאב ז'בוטינסקי בט' באב בוורשה ('אש ההשמדה') ושהוא לא אמר אותו מעולם. Many of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s supporters attribute phenomenal capacities to him, including prophetic skill with which he... more
לקראת תשעה באב - על נאום אזהרת השואה שמיוחס לזאב ז'בוטינסקי בט' באב בוורשה ('אש ההשמדה') ושהוא לא אמר אותו מעולם.
Many of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s supporters attribute phenomenal capacities to him, including prophetic skill with which he could analyze the historical process generally and the Holocaust in particular. Scholars, by contrast, have declared Jabotinsky’s Holocaust prediction a groundless myth that rests on far-reaching decontextualization. In this article, we aim to add a further layer to the debate by challenging the credibility of two of the main texts on which the claim that Jabotinsky foresaw the extermination of the Jews rests: the dictum “Eliminate the diaspora, or the Diaspora will eliminate you,” and the “fire of destruction” speech,” allegedly delivered on the Ninth of Av 5698 (August 6, 1938) in Warsaw.
We assert that these well-known texts attributed to Jabotinsky were not composed by him but rather were formulated posthumously by his followers at two main junctures in time: in late 1942, with the arrival of well-founded reports about the extermination of Jews in Europe, and in the summer of 1958, when public pressure mounted to fulfill Jabotinsky’s last will and his reburial in Israel. These quotations even seem to contradict views that Jabotinsky had actually expressed, as reported by sources whose credibility is undisputed.
The “fire of destruction” speech – the Holocaust prophecy attributed to Jabotinsky, delivered on Tisha B’Av 1938 – seems to have been crafted some twenty years later, in 1958. The speech that Jabotinsky never delivered is, in fact, a condensed text composed of a mélange of ideas and expressions that Jabotinsky invoked in various speeches, articles, and letters, with the addition of explicit statements that never featured in his oeuvre.
By tracking the far-reaching efforts to demonstrate Jabotinsky’s prophetic gifts, we further our understanding of his canonization process and the way his character was shaped within and outside his movement. We distinguish between what Jabotinsky did say in his lifetime and what was apocryphal – attributed to him by his followers in retrospect and mistakenly cited as authentic in research and the public discourse – thus preparing vital ground for further discussion of his views.
Many of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s supporters attribute phenomenal capacities to him, including prophetic skill with which he could analyze the historical process generally and the Holocaust in particular. Scholars, by contrast, have declared Jabotinsky’s Holocaust prediction a groundless myth that rests on far-reaching decontextualization. In this article, we aim to add a further layer to the debate by challenging the credibility of two of the main texts on which the claim that Jabotinsky foresaw the extermination of the Jews rests: the dictum “Eliminate the diaspora, or the Diaspora will eliminate you,” and the “fire of destruction” speech,” allegedly delivered on the Ninth of Av 5698 (August 6, 1938) in Warsaw.
We assert that these well-known texts attributed to Jabotinsky were not composed by him but rather were formulated posthumously by his followers at two main junctures in time: in late 1942, with the arrival of well-founded reports about the extermination of Jews in Europe, and in the summer of 1958, when public pressure mounted to fulfill Jabotinsky’s last will and his reburial in Israel. These quotations even seem to contradict views that Jabotinsky had actually expressed, as reported by sources whose credibility is undisputed.
The “fire of destruction” speech – the Holocaust prophecy attributed to Jabotinsky, delivered on Tisha B’Av 1938 – seems to have been crafted some twenty years later, in 1958. The speech that Jabotinsky never delivered is, in fact, a condensed text composed of a mélange of ideas and expressions that Jabotinsky invoked in various speeches, articles, and letters, with the addition of explicit statements that never featured in his oeuvre.
By tracking the far-reaching efforts to demonstrate Jabotinsky’s prophetic gifts, we further our understanding of his canonization process and the way his character was shaped within and outside his movement. We distinguish between what Jabotinsky did say in his lifetime and what was apocryphal – attributed to him by his followers in retrospect and mistakenly cited as authentic in research and the public discourse – thus preparing vital ground for further discussion of his views.
Research Interests:
A major controversy in the Land of Israel under the British Mandate for Palestine was whether or not the leadership of the Yishuv had the authority to subject the greatest possible number of Jewish sectors to its own policies without the... more
A major controversy in the Land of Israel under the British Mandate for Palestine was whether or not the leadership of the Yishuv had the authority to subject the greatest possible number of Jewish sectors to its own policies without the jurisdiction of a sovereign government. The article focuses on the spring-summer of 1947, when the British executed Zionist underground members of Etzel and Lehi, and anti-British sentiment surged in the Yishuv, challenging the earlier consensus on authority. A national myth about the fortitude and sacrifice of the martyred men "hung on the gallows" was promulgated by the Etzel as the crowning expression of "Triumph of defeat" that would end British rule. The hope of the Etzel and the fear of the Yishuv leadership was that the gallows affair would shift various groups in the direction of the "dissenters from national authority." Trials, rescue efforts, mourning over the hanged martyrs and exposure to the Etzel (and Lehi) propaganda greatly increased support for the Irgun. The struggle with Mapai leadership would be tested vis-à-vis the impact of what it regarded as the "poisonous magic" of the gallows, as well as its endeavors to create a formula of evolutionary Zionism which would prove an antidote to the myth of the "gallows martyrs."
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We, historians of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel, accuse the sixth government of Benjamin Netanyahu of endangering the very existence of the State of Israel and the Israeli nation. Since 1948, Jews have moved to Israel for... more
We, historians of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel, accuse the sixth government of Benjamin Netanyahu of endangering the very existence of the State of Israel and the Israeli nation. Since 1948, Jews have moved to Israel for three main reasons: to escape persecution, to improve their economic status, and to attain existential meaning and a sense of belonging. All of these goals are endangered by the current government.
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This article focuses on the interrelationship between two groups that were active in the 1970s in the Israeli political and public arena: on the individuals, circles and movements that spearheaded the activist-hawkish camp of the... more
This article focuses on the interrelationship between two groups that were active in the 1970s in the Israeli political and public arena: on the individuals, circles and movements that spearheaded the activist-hawkish camp of the historical Labor Movement on one side, vis-à-vis the nationalists from the activist-hawkish camp of Religious Zionism on the other. Posed at its crux is a political, social, cultural and intergenerational encounter between two groups that issued from different political movements and traditions, and embraced discordant beliefs and perceptions.
The motivation that brought individuals from such different backgrounds to collaborate in the decade after 1967 lies in the fact that they jointly set their sights on the struggle for “Greater Israel” and supported settlements that would secure the Israeli hold on the territories occupied during the Six-Day War.
We seek to explore these fluctuating relationships along a timeline and analyze the different models of collaborations, while pinpointing five key landmarks. This will reveal the changes which took place in Israel in the 1970s, when the fundamental definitions of political identity and political praxis shifted from a socio-economic or cultural-religious basis onto a political-security platform, centering on the question of Israel’s boundaries.
The motivation that brought individuals from such different backgrounds to collaborate in the decade after 1967 lies in the fact that they jointly set their sights on the struggle for “Greater Israel” and supported settlements that would secure the Israeli hold on the territories occupied during the Six-Day War.
We seek to explore these fluctuating relationships along a timeline and analyze the different models of collaborations, while pinpointing five key landmarks. This will reveal the changes which took place in Israel in the 1970s, when the fundamental definitions of political identity and political praxis shifted from a socio-economic or cultural-religious basis onto a political-security platform, centering on the question of Israel’s boundaries.
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This article seeks to outline, for the first time, the role of the Likud Party leadership, its shifting stance, and its response to the events that unfolded during and following the Yom-Kippur War. Headed by Menachem Begin, the party was... more
This article seeks to outline, for the first time, the role of the Likud Party leadership, its shifting stance, and its response to the events that unfolded during and following the Yom-Kippur War. Headed by Menachem Begin, the party was established just prior to the Eighth Knesset elections and only a few weeks before the outbreak of the war. In such turbulent times, it became necessary for Begin and his leadership partners together with their representatives in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, to consolidate patterns of action based upon national and political considerations. During the first days of shock and containment battles, Begin and his partners enlisted a remarkably patriotic and statesmanship like support of governmental moves. However, in the course of the IDF’s recovery phase and its transition to the offensive, Likud leaders began to raise objections to the conduct of the war, and as negotiations to end the war were stepped up, open controversy developed between opposition leaders and cabinet members over terms for a ceasefire. With the end of the war and the resumption of the election campaign, heated arguments flared up among party members in consequence of their encounter with the longing for peace that swelled among large sectors of the Israeli public. The affair sheds light on the history of Right-Wing Zionism and the modus operandi of parliamentary opposition during a national security crisis. This article elucidates how a hawkish right-wing party was affected by the war in defining its positions and policies.
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Right-wing ethno-nationalist parties are conceived of as upholders of rigid foreign policy positions. But in what instances might a hawkish party pursue a peace-promoting policy? The present article seeks to examine this question through... more
Right-wing ethno-nationalist parties are conceived of as upholders of rigid foreign policy positions. But in what instances might a hawkish party pursue a peace-promoting policy? The present article seeks to examine this question through the case study of the hawkish-nationalist Right in Israel during the 1970s, which eventually led its leader Menachem Begin to sign a peace agreement with Egypt, entailing a commitment to a full Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and the evacuation of the Jewish settlements established in the area. The article examines the process which paradoxically led such right-wing hawkish leadership to signing—with determination and contrary to public expectations—an unprecedented political agreement in the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Contrary to the Israeli Right historiography which has, hitherto, focused on Menachem Begin’s persona and on his role in the political process—the article emphasizes those broad historical processes eclipsed by the limelight cast on its leader, underscoring the peace discourse evolving within the Israeli right political network, from party activists and supporters to parliamentary leadership. Rather than a personal initiative opposing his network’s policy—as considered in academic discourse—Begin’s peace project followed the exhortations of his political matrix.
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The 'Movement for the Entire Land of Israel', was formed by activist members of the Labour movement shortly after the June 1967 war. Its founders struggle for "Greater Israel" and espoused the establishment of settlements that would... more
The 'Movement for the Entire Land of Israel', was formed by activist members of the Labour movement shortly after the June 1967 war. Its founders struggle for "Greater Israel" and espoused the establishment of settlements that would secure the Israeli hold on the territories occupied during the war. During the 1970s, however, the movement had effectively come to be spearheaded by Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful), a newly-created religious-nationalist activist group. This article describes this transition while examining the factors that enabled this process despite the two groups' very different political, social, cultural ideals and intergenerational backgrounds.
The ‘Movement for the Entire Land of Israel’, was formed by activist members of the Labour movement shortly after the June 1967 war. Its founders struggle for “Greater Israel” and espoused the establishment of settlements that would... more
The ‘Movement for the Entire Land of Israel’, was formed by activist members of the Labour movement shortly after the June 1967 war. Its founders struggle for “Greater Israel” and espoused the establishment of settlements that would secure the Israeli hold on the territories occupied during the war. During the 1970s, however, the movement had effectively come to be spearheaded by Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful), a newly-created religious-nationalist activist group. This article describes this transition while examining the factors that enabled this process despite the two groups’ very different political, social, cultural ideals and intergenerational backgrounds.
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The current issue presents a selection of articles by scholars offering a renewed outlook on Tel Hai in its broad historical and cultural aspects. The time that has elapsed, the newly discovered sources, changing research trends and... more
The current issue presents a selection of articles by scholars offering a renewed outlook on Tel Hai in its broad historical and cultural aspects. The time that has elapsed, the newly discovered sources, changing research trends and shifts in historical and cultural writing make it possible to have a fresh look at Tel Hai. Given its space limitations, the issue does not allow for a comprehensive representation of all facets of the historic event and the myth. In selecting the following articles we hope to offer up-to-date, in-depth insights into some aspects of the history and memory of Tel Hai and its central hero, Trumpeldor, from different perspectives and broader contexts and by bringing marginalized topics into the limelight
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In the beginning of the 1930s, a strong desire awakened amongst the maximalist faction of the Revisionist movement for the appearance of a 'gallows hero' — a Jew who would be executed by the British authorities and thereby change... more
In the beginning of the 1930s, a strong desire awakened amongst the maximalist faction of the Revisionist movement for the appearance of a 'gallows hero' — a Jew who would be executed by the British authorities and thereby change the course of the Zionist movement from one that aimed at constructing the foundations of a future state into a movement of national liberation. In the summer of 1938, Shlomo Ben-Yosef, a member of the Revisionist movement, was executed, and so became the movement's first gallows martyr. Fierce debate ensued within the movement over the formulation of the Shlomo Ben-Yosef legend and it was through this conflict that ideological differences within the Zionist Right became manifest. At this stage, the radicals on the Zionist Right increased in strength and wished to place the gallows legend at the center of the movement's consciousness. It was their aim to utilize it in displacing the myth of the defensive Trumpledor, who had become, in their ...
‘General Zionism’ is an almost forgotten stream in the Israeli collective consciousness. Its presence is minor both in historical recognition and in academic research. This article describes the downfall of the General Zionists towards... more
‘General Zionism’ is an almost forgotten stream in the Israeli collective consciousness. Its presence is minor both in historical recognition and in academic research. This article describes the downfall of the General Zionists towards the end of the 1950s and its alliance with the Progressive Party in an attempt to grant the General Zionists substantive political power that would challenge Mapai’s hegemony in the State of Israel. Following their one-time success in the elections to the Second Knesset in 1951, the General Zionists’ decline began. They lost their public significance due to Mapai’s economic policies in the 1950s that neutralized the sting of protest which had sustained support for the General Zionists. Also, Mapai’s centralistic government prevented the General Zionists from succeeding in institutionalizing the support of sectors that had voted for them during the ‘austerity’ period. The General Zionists were perceived as representatives of a veteran, well-to-do and alienated population and did not succeed in winning the hearts of the new immigrants’ population. Simultaneously, the General Zionists’ minimal participation in foreign policy and defense, their obligation to individualism and their remoteness from the collective ethos distanced them from the younger electorate. The party’s difficulty in formulating a clear ideological agenda, as well as lacking a leader who could unify the various sectors of the party and who symbolized its identity, contributed to its downfall. In 1961, the General Zionists joined the Progressive Party in an attempt to take advantage of the civil agenda which was created in the wake of the ‘Lavon Affair’, in order to establish an Israeli Liberal Party which would provide an alternative to the Labor hegemony.
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The pilgrimage to Tel Hai made by Zionist youth movements during the Mandate period forged a dynamic and vibrant arena, fostering the encounter of youngsters with a national sacred site. This annual rite instantiates the two main... more
The pilgrimage to Tel Hai made by Zionist youth movements during the Mandate period forged a dynamic and vibrant arena, fostering the encounter of youngsters with a national sacred site. This annual rite instantiates the two main approaches in the study of pilgrimage. The journey to Tel Hai and the participation in the joint ceremonies increased intra-movement fraternity and cohesion. Concomitantly, the sojourn in the holy site, at the holy time, intensified the competition between Left and Right for ownership of the myth and exacerbated the inter-movement rivalry to the extent that British police forces were called up to the scene.
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The Zionist-Israeli Right and the Kibbutz Movement have shared a long-standing and powerful historical rivalry, but their interrelationships were more complex than presented in historiography and recollected in public consciousness. This... more
The Zionist-Israeli Right and the Kibbutz Movement have shared a long-standing and powerful historical rivalry, but their interrelationships were more complex than presented in historiography and recollected in public consciousness. This article seeks to systematically lay out, for the first time, the interfaces between Menachem Begin, the parties under his leadership and the kibbutzim. The discussion will focus on two periods: the first, which has received almost no attention in historiography—the late 1960s and early 1970s—a phase characterized by rapprochement and reconciliation between the leader of the Israeli right-wing party and the Kibbutz Movement. The second, the stage following the political “upheaval” (1977) is better-known but has not yet been thoroughly researched. This period is characterized by an escalation in the relationship between the Likud, Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the Kibbutz Movement.
The article shall examine the contribution of both sides to this escalation, as well as the various economic, social, and political contexts within which it was manifested and its place in Israel's political history at large.
The article shall examine the contribution of both sides to this escalation, as well as the various economic, social, and political contexts within which it was manifested and its place in Israel's political history at large.
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'ימין ושמאל: ממשלת אחדות לאומית לרצח פוליטי', בתוך צבי צמרת, זאב דרורי ויחיעם ויץ (עורכים), העשור החמישי תשמ"ח – תשנ"ח (1988 – 1998), הוצאת ראובן מס, המרכז האקדמי שערי מדע ומשפט, עמ' 45 – 64. Right and left during the 1990s: from a... more
'ימין ושמאל: ממשלת אחדות לאומית לרצח פוליטי', בתוך צבי צמרת, זאב דרורי ויחיעם ויץ (עורכים), העשור החמישי תשמ"ח – תשנ"ח (1988 – 1998), הוצאת ראובן מס, המרכז האקדמי שערי מדע ומשפט, עמ' 45 – 64.
Right and left during the 1990s: from a national unity government to political assassination
Right and left during the 1990s: from a national unity government to political assassination
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This article will focus on the ways in which over a two hundred families of Yemenite immigrants who founded the city of Kiryat Shmona functioned as a group during the immigration process. This case-study coincides with the trend—within... more
This article will focus on the ways in which over a two hundred families of Yemenite immigrants who founded the city of Kiryat Shmona functioned as a group during the immigration process.
This case-study coincides with the trend—within the research of the mass immigration to Israel—that relates the historical narrative through the perspective of the immigrant and settlers' groups, rather than from the vantage point of the establishment in charge of their absorption. The affair could have gone down in the annals of history as a story of weakness and victimhood: hundreds of Yemenite immigrants were sent off to settle in an outlying peripheral region and were compelled to integrate into an environment in which the financially powerful kibbutzim were dominant, having a grip on culture and affiliated to the politically powerful Labor Movement. Yet the Yemenite immigrants of Kiryat Shmona turned out to be a consolidated, opinionated, activist and stubborn force that succeeded, under trying conditions, to assert their voice, struggle for their values and identity, affect major changes within the immigration-absorption system and finally, become organized and establish new rural settlements that would be better suited to their needs and lifestyle.
This case-study coincides with the trend—within the research of the mass immigration to Israel—that relates the historical narrative through the perspective of the immigrant and settlers' groups, rather than from the vantage point of the establishment in charge of their absorption. The affair could have gone down in the annals of history as a story of weakness and victimhood: hundreds of Yemenite immigrants were sent off to settle in an outlying peripheral region and were compelled to integrate into an environment in which the financially powerful kibbutzim were dominant, having a grip on culture and affiliated to the politically powerful Labor Movement. Yet the Yemenite immigrants of Kiryat Shmona turned out to be a consolidated, opinionated, activist and stubborn force that succeeded, under trying conditions, to assert their voice, struggle for their values and identity, affect major changes within the immigration-absorption system and finally, become organized and establish new rural settlements that would be better suited to their needs and lifestyle.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A group of Betar youths who were affiliated with various Zionist right - wing parties and who became known as the Schem Group ) make seven separate attempts to establish a settlement in Samaria despite the government’s opposition . Each... more
A group of Betar youths who were affiliated with various Zionist right - wing parties and who became known as the Schem Group ) make seven separate attempts to establish a settlement in Samaria despite the government’s opposition . Each attempt was blocked by the determined response of the security forces .
Despite the significant attention devoted by academic research to the attempts at settling the West Bank in the wake of the Six Day War, this particular affair has received little attention .
The episode occurred against the backdrop of the dissonance between the impassioned statements made by Menachem Begin—as the leader of Herut and Gahal—that Judea and Samaria should not be given back and the limited settlement initiatives undertaken by the movement .
The article examines the determined government response to the settlement attempts, the circles that backed the group and the ambivalent attitude of Menachem Begin ( who was a minister - without - portfolio at the time ) toward that initiative .
The article will describe the bonds forged between the Schem group and the Elon - Moreh gar’in ( core group ) members who undertook a similar initiative . That initiative eventually succeeded, with the government’s approval for the group to settle in the [ army ] camp at Kadum.
Despite the significant attention devoted by academic research to the attempts at settling the West Bank in the wake of the Six Day War, this particular affair has received little attention .
The episode occurred against the backdrop of the dissonance between the impassioned statements made by Menachem Begin—as the leader of Herut and Gahal—that Judea and Samaria should not be given back and the limited settlement initiatives undertaken by the movement .
The article examines the determined government response to the settlement attempts, the circles that backed the group and the ambivalent attitude of Menachem Begin ( who was a minister - without - portfolio at the time ) toward that initiative .
The article will describe the bonds forged between the Schem group and the Elon - Moreh gar’in ( core group ) members who undertook a similar initiative . That initiative eventually succeeded, with the government’s approval for the group to settle in the [ army ] camp at Kadum.
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Haim Weizmann and Ze'ev Jabotinsky - from partnership and friendship - to rivalry
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This article focuses on Aliza Levenberg, an educator who taught at a Kiryat Shmona high school at the beginning of the 1960s. For three years Levenberg, a middle class Western European, travelled every week from her home in Tel Aviv to... more
This article focuses on Aliza Levenberg, an educator who taught at a Kiryat Shmona high school at the beginning of the 1960s. For three years Levenberg, a middle class Western European, travelled every week from her home in Tel Aviv to the poor town in the northern periphery of Israel, the inhabitants of which were mainly immigrants from Islamic countries. Levenberg was a productive writer. Her most famous book, Kiryat Shmona Chapters, tells of her complex encounter with a culture and way of life so different from her own. Analysing this text, our article addresses the cultural clash she experienced, illuminating its impact on her educational, social, and political perspectives. As we show, Levenberg, who at first was a “dedicated soldier” of the melting pot vision, aiming to bring enlightenment to the poor, eventually refused to take part in this forced conversion. She focused instead on listening to her students, and creating a space that would enable them to form their opinions, and express their fears and hopes. As a result, she developed a more flexible and sensitive educational vision. Reading her book as literary autoethnography enable us to expose the hidden layers of the emotional, social, and political process she underwent during this period. We argue that this process exposes the dualistic attitudes of educators who have worked on the deprived social margins. On the one hand, feelings of compassion and empathy impelled many of them to activism, yet on the other, cultural and social differences often elicited paternalistic and orientalist sentiments, which obstructed their educational efforts.
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This paper has sought to examine Menachem Begin’s considerations on the issue of the settlements in the territories occupied by Israel in the decade prior to his becoming prime minister. In those years, the gap between what Begin defined... more
This paper has sought to examine Menachem Begin’s considerations on the issue of the settlements in the territories occupied by Israel in the decade prior to his becoming prime minister. In those years, the gap between what Begin defined as the role of his party—the gatekeeper against an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank—vis-à-vis its actual scanty settling activity was striking. The core of the article tackles the repeated attempts made by a group of youths involved with right-wing circles to establish a Jewish settlement in or adjacent to Nablus, from 1969 to 1970. The little aid that Begin extended to these almost unknown youths sheds light on some significant facets of his perspective on the settlements. At that stage of his political career, Begin held a legalistic position and distanced himself from any unlawful clashes with the government. Begin’s adamant standpoint was consistent until the first attempt made by the religious Zionist youths to establish a settlement near Nablus in the spring-summer of 1974. Begin changed his mind only upon realizing that the clash between the settlers and the government in the summer of 1974 did not generate a noticeable public uproar.
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מה חשף המחקר על הקריירה הצבאית של טרומפלדור ברוסיה? מה הייתה השפעתם של כתבי טולסטוי על תודעתו? ◆ מה אירע בקרב תל חי ומה היה מקומו במכלול האירועים באזור מנקודת מבטם של הערבים, הצרפתים והבריטים? ◆ מדוע לא זכו שתי הנשים שנפלו בתל חי למקום... more
מה חשף המחקר על הקריירה הצבאית של טרומפלדור ברוסיה? מה הייתה השפעתם של כתבי טולסטוי על תודעתו?
◆ מה אירע בקרב תל חי ומה היה מקומו במכלול האירועים באזור מנקודת מבטם של הערבים, הצרפתים והבריטים?
◆ מדוע לא זכו שתי הנשים שנפלו בתל חי למקום משלהן בהנצחת תל חי?
◆ כיצד התייחסו למיתוס תל חי תנועות שונות ביישוב, מהשומר הצעיר דרך בית"ר ועד הציונות הדתית, ומה עמד ברקע הקטטות שאירעו במהלך העליות לתל חי בי"א באדר?
◆ איך התכתב ההומור שהתפתח סביב דמותו של טרומפלדור עם המיתוס?
◆ כיצד התגלגלה דמותו של טרומפלדור מהזמר העברי של ימי היישוב להיפ־הופ של שנות האלפיים?
פרשת תל חי (מארס 1920) מייצגת צומת של הקשרים היסטוריים, חברתיים, תרבותיים ופוליטיים. היא התרחשה בשלב מעבר מכריע בעיצוב פני המזרח התיכון והארץ וזכתה להנצחה מיידית כאירוע מכונן. המיתוס שהתפתח סביבה הסעיר את בני הדור, אך היה גם למוקדו של פולמוס פוליטי חריף ביישוב הציוני. ככל שהחברה השתנתה והמציאות הישראלית הייתה למורכבת יותר, חלו תמורות בתפיסת האירוע ההיסטורי ובמשמעויותיו של מיתוס תל חי.
קובץ זה יוצא לאור לרגל יובל המאה לפרשת תל חי. עשרים המאמרים הכלולים בו מציגים פסיפס מרתק של מחקר היסטורי וסוגיות בחקר הזיכרון הקולקטיבי.
הקובץ שופך אור חדש על פרשת תל חי לקהל המתעניין בתולדות החברה היישובית והישראלית במאה השנים שחלפו.
◆ מה אירע בקרב תל חי ומה היה מקומו במכלול האירועים באזור מנקודת מבטם של הערבים, הצרפתים והבריטים?
◆ מדוע לא זכו שתי הנשים שנפלו בתל חי למקום משלהן בהנצחת תל חי?
◆ כיצד התייחסו למיתוס תל חי תנועות שונות ביישוב, מהשומר הצעיר דרך בית"ר ועד הציונות הדתית, ומה עמד ברקע הקטטות שאירעו במהלך העליות לתל חי בי"א באדר?
◆ איך התכתב ההומור שהתפתח סביב דמותו של טרומפלדור עם המיתוס?
◆ כיצד התגלגלה דמותו של טרומפלדור מהזמר העברי של ימי היישוב להיפ־הופ של שנות האלפיים?
פרשת תל חי (מארס 1920) מייצגת צומת של הקשרים היסטוריים, חברתיים, תרבותיים ופוליטיים. היא התרחשה בשלב מעבר מכריע בעיצוב פני המזרח התיכון והארץ וזכתה להנצחה מיידית כאירוע מכונן. המיתוס שהתפתח סביבה הסעיר את בני הדור, אך היה גם למוקדו של פולמוס פוליטי חריף ביישוב הציוני. ככל שהחברה השתנתה והמציאות הישראלית הייתה למורכבת יותר, חלו תמורות בתפיסת האירוע ההיסטורי ובמשמעויותיו של מיתוס תל חי.
קובץ זה יוצא לאור לרגל יובל המאה לפרשת תל חי. עשרים המאמרים הכלולים בו מציגים פסיפס מרתק של מחקר היסטורי וסוגיות בחקר הזיכרון הקולקטיבי.
הקובץ שופך אור חדש על פרשת תל חי לקהל המתעניין בתולדות החברה היישובית והישראלית במאה השנים שחלפו.
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The article examines the background to that defining moment in the history of the Revisionist Movement – the hanging of Shlomo Ben-Yosef by British-Mandatory authorities in Palestine in the summer of 1938. I will focus on the analysis of... more
The article examines the background to that defining moment in the history of the Revisionist Movement – the hanging of Shlomo Ben-Yosef by British-Mandatory authorities in Palestine in the summer of 1938. I will focus on the analysis of the cognitive processes that accompanied it, and argue that the myth of the gallows preceded the gallows. The myth of the Zionist gallows was born out of conceptual, social, and identity permutations which took place among the radical circles in Betar and Etzel. Death on the gallows was fashioned, through the journalism and poetics of the movement, as a future turning point that would change the face of Zionism, transforming it into a national liberation movement that struggles for its homeland against the British foreign rule. It was aimed at superseding the myth of Tel Hai, set by Jabotinsky at the heart of the Revisionist mythology, which had lost, throughout the 1930s, its relevance vis-à-vis the new reality that the Betar and Etzel members were facing. The article analyses the internal struggle that developed in the Revisionist movement following the establishment of the ‘Legend of Heroism of Shlomo Ben-Yosef’ in the Revisionist Movement, its content and the operative significance that should be inferred.
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This article focuses on the ways in which over 200 families of Yemenite immigrants, who founded the city of Kiryat Shmona, the development town situated at the edge of Israel's Northern District, functioned as a group during the... more
This article focuses on the ways in which over 200 families of Yemenite immigrants, who founded the city of Kiryat Shmona, the development town situated at the edge of Israel's Northern District, functioned as a group during the immigration process. This case study coincides with the trend – within research of mass immigration to Israel – that relates the historical narrative through the perspective of the immigrant and settler groups, rather than from the vantage point of the establishment in charge of their absorption. The affair could have gone down in the annals of history as a story of weakness and victimhood: hundreds of immigrants were sent off to settle in an outlying peripheral region and were compelled to integrate into an environment where the financially and political-powerful kibbutzim were preponderant. Yet the Yemenite immigrants of Kiryat Shmona turned out to be a consolidated, opinionated, fighting and stubborn force that succeeded, in trying conditions, to assert their voice, struggle for their values and identity, affect major changes within the immigration–absorption system.
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This article demonstrates how the process that eventually led to the founding of the Likud party in the fall of 1973, alongside the goal of creating an effective alternative to the Labor movement, was actually a failed attempt to diminish... more
This article demonstrates how the process that eventually led to the founding of the Likud party in the fall of 1973, alongside the goal of creating an effective alternative to the Labor movement, was actually a failed attempt to diminish the influence of Begin and Herut within the Likud. Herut’s new and old partners wished to effect—through the creation of the Likud—a change in the identity and character of the alternative party. Contrary to expectations, Herut revealed itself to be an open and dynamic movement for an ever-growing sector of the public. The Herut movement became the key axis of the Likud, in light of demographic, cultural, social, and economic processes, which fashioned within Likud an alloy that symbolized the rise of a new Israeli identity. The article examines the internal processes within Herut that enabled it to retain its dominance even after the formation of the Likud.
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In the morning hours of Sunday, May 6, 1956, a mass labor protest broke out in Kiryat Shmona. It was one of a spate of protests that took place in the geographical and socio-economic periphery region before the occurrence of the Wadi... more
In the morning hours of Sunday, May 6, 1956, a mass labor protest broke out in Kiryat Shmona. It was one of a spate of protests that took place in the geographical and socio-economic periphery region before the occurrence of the Wadi Salib incidents in Haifa. Through this incident, which was later known as "the Dark Day of Kiryat Shmona," the author attempts to shed more light on the realities that this northerly town faced during the 1950s. By trying to understand the background of that protest, the author discusses the prevailing economic, social and political conditions in Kiryat Shmona during the 1950s. The predominant reasons for the absorption of a high number of immigrants from North Africa, that tripled the population in Kiryat Shmona in the second half of the 1950s are examined. The incidents of "the dark day" and the response of the political establishment to them are described. Beyond the role of this protest in local history, the affair can be viewed as a test case/barometer for the process of the development of Israel's outlying regions, as well as the process of absorption of North-African Jews in development towns.
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במרכז מאמר זה ניצבת שליחותה החינוכית של עליזה לבנברג בקריית שמונה בתחילת שנות השישים של המאה העשרים, כמחנכת וכמורה לאנגלית בבית הספר העל יסודי שהוקם בעיירה והיה מראשוני התיכונים בעיירות הפיתוח בישראל. לצד עבודתה החינוכית, היא נטלה על עצמה... more
במרכז מאמר זה ניצבת שליחותה החינוכית של עליזה לבנברג בקריית שמונה בתחילת שנות השישים של המאה העשרים, כמחנכת וכמורה לאנגלית בבית הספר העל יסודי שהוקם בעיירה והיה מראשוני התיכונים בעיירות הפיתוח בישראל. לצד עבודתה החינוכית, היא נטלה על עצמה את תפקיד שליחתם של תלמידיה, של הוריהם ושל תושבי המקום. לבנברג פרסמה פרקים מיומנה האישי ומאמרים פובליציסטיים בכתבי עת שונים בהם ביקשה להפגיש את החברה הישראלית הוותיקה עם מציאות החיים בפריפריה הישראלית. היא הייתה בין הראשונות שהצביעה על התהליכים הכלכליים, החברתיים, התרבותיים והפוליטיים המצטלבים עם התקדמות קליטת העלייה הגדולה ועל השלכות ארוכות הטווח שעשויות להיות לה.
לבנברג חוותה דרך תלמידיה ומשפחותיהם את הדואליות שאפיינה את יחסה של החברה הישראלית למזרחים. ביחס זה היה, כך הראתה, כדי להעצים את תחושות הניכור, התסכול והזעם שבעבעו מתחת לפני השטח, במובלעות מרוחקות מן העין. בתוקף ההתנסות והתצפית מקריית-שמונה ביקשה לעורר מודעות ודיון על הבידול ההולך ומתקבע בין העולים לבין סביבתם הוותיקה, קראה לחברה הוותיקה לעצב צורה מרוככת של 'כור ההיתוך' ובבסיסו הכרה במסורות היהודיות שנישאו על ידי העולים. ביקורתה נסובה גם מבנה השליטה של מפא"י ועל מדיניותה הכלכלית-חברתית והדרת העולים מעמדת השפעה פוליטית. המאמר מנתח את פועלה ומסריה של לבנברג, כקול חשוב במסגרת ההתבוננות החדשה שהתעוררה בשנות דמדומי 'העידן הבן-גוריוני', על התגבשותה של ישראל.
This article focuses on Aliza Levenberg’s mission in Kiryat Shmona in the early 1960s as an educator and English teacher in the first secondary school established in that town, one of the first high schools in Israel’s development towns. Alongside her educational work, she took the initiative to represent her students, their parents, and local residents. Publishing segments of her personal diary as well as articles in various journals, Levenberg shared with mainstream Israeli society the realities of life in the national periphery. She was one of the first women to make note of the economic, social, cultural, and political processes that coincided with progress in absorbing mass immigration and the consequent potential long-term implications.
Through her students and their families, Levenberg experienced first-hand the dualism that characterized Israeli society’s attitude toward Mizrahim. There existed a state of mind that heightened the alienation, frustration, and anger that massed beneath the surface in these out-of sight parts of the country. By sharing her experience and observations from Kiryat Shmona, she sought to raise awareness and discuss the estrangement that steadily mounted between the immigrants in the town and their nonimmigrant surroundings.
She urged the latter society to create a subtler form of the ‘melting pot,’ based on recognition of the Jewish traditions that these immigrants had brought with them. Her criticism also centered on Mapai’s control mechanism and its socioeconomic policy, as well as the exclusion of immigrants from positions of political influence. The article analyzes Levenberg’s work and messages as a crucial element in the new contemplation of Israel’s consolidation that surfaced in the twilight years of the ‘Ben-Gurion era.’
לבנברג חוותה דרך תלמידיה ומשפחותיהם את הדואליות שאפיינה את יחסה של החברה הישראלית למזרחים. ביחס זה היה, כך הראתה, כדי להעצים את תחושות הניכור, התסכול והזעם שבעבעו מתחת לפני השטח, במובלעות מרוחקות מן העין. בתוקף ההתנסות והתצפית מקריית-שמונה ביקשה לעורר מודעות ודיון על הבידול ההולך ומתקבע בין העולים לבין סביבתם הוותיקה, קראה לחברה הוותיקה לעצב צורה מרוככת של 'כור ההיתוך' ובבסיסו הכרה במסורות היהודיות שנישאו על ידי העולים. ביקורתה נסובה גם מבנה השליטה של מפא"י ועל מדיניותה הכלכלית-חברתית והדרת העולים מעמדת השפעה פוליטית. המאמר מנתח את פועלה ומסריה של לבנברג, כקול חשוב במסגרת ההתבוננות החדשה שהתעוררה בשנות דמדומי 'העידן הבן-גוריוני', על התגבשותה של ישראל.
This article focuses on Aliza Levenberg’s mission in Kiryat Shmona in the early 1960s as an educator and English teacher in the first secondary school established in that town, one of the first high schools in Israel’s development towns. Alongside her educational work, she took the initiative to represent her students, their parents, and local residents. Publishing segments of her personal diary as well as articles in various journals, Levenberg shared with mainstream Israeli society the realities of life in the national periphery. She was one of the first women to make note of the economic, social, cultural, and political processes that coincided with progress in absorbing mass immigration and the consequent potential long-term implications.
Through her students and their families, Levenberg experienced first-hand the dualism that characterized Israeli society’s attitude toward Mizrahim. There existed a state of mind that heightened the alienation, frustration, and anger that massed beneath the surface in these out-of sight parts of the country. By sharing her experience and observations from Kiryat Shmona, she sought to raise awareness and discuss the estrangement that steadily mounted between the immigrants in the town and their nonimmigrant surroundings.
She urged the latter society to create a subtler form of the ‘melting pot,’ based on recognition of the Jewish traditions that these immigrants had brought with them. Her criticism also centered on Mapai’s control mechanism and its socioeconomic policy, as well as the exclusion of immigrants from positions of political influence. The article analyzes Levenberg’s work and messages as a crucial element in the new contemplation of Israel’s consolidation that surfaced in the twilight years of the ‘Ben-Gurion era.’
Research Interests:
Abstract: The final years of the First World War and the new world order that followed signify a transitional period in Jabotinsky's biography. During those years, he burst the boundaries of Russian Zionism and ascended from a key Zionist... more
Abstract: The final years of the First World War and the new world order that followed signify a transitional period in Jabotinsky's biography. During those years, he burst the boundaries of Russian Zionism and ascended from a key Zionist activist status in imperial Russia to becoming an acknowledged Zionist leader. This stage confronted him with the bloodbath that swept Jewish communities in Eastern Europe – his home ground. Under the shadow of these events, he had to reformulate his position vis-à-vis the role of Zionism and its modus operandi.
In this paper, I examine Jabotinsky's reaction to the Ukrainian riots, characterized by two major responses to the events that unraveled in Eastern Europe— his opposition to the Nordau Plan and the signing of an agreement with the autonomous Ukrainian government. This study analyzes its singularity vis-à-vis the modus operandi of mainstream Zionism in those years and to highlight its significance in the understanding of the unique Zionist roadmap traced by Jabotinsky. Additionally, the paper identifies a transformation in Jabotinsky's attitude towards anti-Semitism. He abandoned the patient, evolutionary standpoint he had held in his youth, and estimated, as early as 1919, that anti-Semitism was becoming an influential phenomenon upon Jewish reality.
Keywords: Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizmann, Max Nordau, the Ukrainian Pogroms, Zionist movement, Symon Petliura, Maxim Slavinsky, Anti-Semitism.
In this paper, I examine Jabotinsky's reaction to the Ukrainian riots, characterized by two major responses to the events that unraveled in Eastern Europe— his opposition to the Nordau Plan and the signing of an agreement with the autonomous Ukrainian government. This study analyzes its singularity vis-à-vis the modus operandi of mainstream Zionism in those years and to highlight its significance in the understanding of the unique Zionist roadmap traced by Jabotinsky. Additionally, the paper identifies a transformation in Jabotinsky's attitude towards anti-Semitism. He abandoned the patient, evolutionary standpoint he had held in his youth, and estimated, as early as 1919, that anti-Semitism was becoming an influential phenomenon upon Jewish reality.
Keywords: Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizmann, Max Nordau, the Ukrainian Pogroms, Zionist movement, Symon Petliura, Maxim Slavinsky, Anti-Semitism.
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קובץ המאמרים שעתיד לצאת לאור לקראת מאה שנה לאירועי תל-חי הוא זמן לבחון שוב את אירועי מרץ 1920 בגליל העליון ואת השלכותיה. אנו מזמינים חוקרות וחוקרים להציע, על בסיס התשתית המחקרית שהונחה זה מכבר, מבט מחודש על הפרשה, במובנה הרחב: ההיסטורי... more
קובץ המאמרים שעתיד לצאת לאור לקראת מאה שנה לאירועי תל-חי הוא זמן לבחון שוב את אירועי מרץ 1920 בגליל העליון ואת השלכותיה. אנו מזמינים חוקרות וחוקרים להציע, על בסיס התשתית המחקרית שהונחה זה מכבר, מבט מחודש על הפרשה, במובנה הרחב: ההיסטורי והמיתולוגי. הזמן שחלף, הפרספקטיבה שהשתנתה, המגמות והמפנים בכתיבה ההיסטורית והתרבותית, מאפשרים להתבונן על תל-חי מזוויות חדשות, להציע תובנות עדכניות, מורכבות ומעמיקות, לבדוק את זיקותיה להקשרים נוספים ולתרום לפיתוח הבנה מקיפה יותר של משמעויותיה השונות.
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On March 1, 1920, a brief battle took place at the northern settlement of Tel-Hai, which could have sunk—like many other events that took place since—into the depth of oblivion. However, the Tel-Hai affair would soon become a major... more
On March 1, 1920, a brief battle took place at the northern settlement of Tel-Hai, which could have sunk—like many other events that took place since—into the depth of oblivion. However, the Tel-Hai affair would soon become a major landmark in the consciousness of the Yishuv and the Zionist movement. The death of six male and female settler-defenders became a symbol, a myth, and, eventually, a paradigmatic text of the new Hebrew culture. The death of Yosef Trumpeldor, a prominent figure in the Yishuv and the Zionist movement, and an inspiring icon in Eastern European Zionism, added significant flair to the budding legend of heroism. The myth of Tel-Hai was, for a prolonged period of time, one of the keystones of the Zionist narrative, which crystallized during the British Mandate and in the early years of the State of Israel. Numerous and diversified agents of memory contributed to the shaping of the myth, its transmission through an array of practices, and its reinterpretation in response to the dynamic reality of Israel. The processes that shaped the heroic myth involved the creation of a commemorative time– the eleventh of Adar – and on a memorial place–Tel-Hai's courtyard and Melnikov's monument of the Roaring Lion. At various points, political disputes erupted over the memorial site of Tel Hai, the image of Yosef Trumpeldor, and the legacy of Tel Hai. The academic research on the Tel-Hai affair was published mainly during the last quarter of the twentieth century. It was a time of critical historical interpretations of the event and a comprehensive study on the myth and on the place that Tel-Hai assumed in the Israeli collective memory, on the development of the legend and its erosion, and its significance in present-day Israeli society. * * * The publication of an anthology of essays, designed to coincide with the centennial anniversary of the historical event, offers an occasion for reexamining the events leading to March 1920 in the Upper Galilee and their repercussion. We invite researchers to offer-based on the long-established research groundwork—new perspectives on the broad historical and mythological implications of Tel Hai. The time that has elapsed, the changing perspective, the trends and turning points in historical and cultural writing, will enable us to analyze the Tel Hai event from several viewpoints, as well as propose up-to-date, complex and in-depth insights, examine its interconnection to other contexts and thus contribute to the development of a more comprehensive understanding of its manifold meanings.
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During the 1960s, the Haaretz newspaper was a staunch supporter of the key political decisions made by Menachem Begin, thus playing a significant role in reinforcing his legitimacy and that of his Herut movement. On the one hand, this... more
During the 1960s, the Haaretz newspaper was a staunch supporter of the key political decisions made by Menachem Begin, thus playing a significant role in reinforcing his legitimacy and that of his Herut movement. On the one hand, this support was motivated by the desire to transform Israel’s socialist economy into a freer and less government-controlled market. On the other hand, it stemmed from the aspiration to democratise Israel’s political life. This symbiosis began to emerge in the early 1960s and was sustained over a lengthy period of time, thus underscoring the role played by Israeli bourgeois-liberal circles in the Zionist Right’s path to power.
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The establishment of the State of Israel was a watershed moment in the history of the General Zionists movement. The ending of the British Mandate – characterized by its responsiveness to private enterprise – symbolized the denouement of... more
The establishment of the State of Israel was a watershed moment in the history of the General Zionists movement. The ending of the British Mandate – characterized by its responsiveness to private enterprise – symbolized the denouement of a regulatory strategy era as an exclusive modus operandi for the general organizations. The transfer of power to a participatory Jewish democracy, whereby independent institutions drew on electoral support, required that bourgeois and petit-bourgeois leaders relinquish their reservations about the political-partisan game. For the first time, they sought to gain ascendancy over a political party in the hope that it would stand up for the rights and interests of the middle class. This article will analyze the formation process of the center party and its attempt to become a significant factor in Israeli society.
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This paper aims to shed further light on the response of Israeli society to the rise of the Black Panthers in 1971 by examining the attitude adopted by Menachem Begin and Gahal to the emerging Mizrahi protest movement. After discussing in... more
This paper aims to shed further light on the response of Israeli society to the rise of the Black Panthers in 1971 by examining the attitude adopted by Menachem Begin and Gahal to the emerging Mizrahi protest movement. After discussing in detail Begin’s response to the Black Panthers’ protest, this paper analyses the factors that contributed to the divide between the Panthers and Israel’s leading opposition party at that time, and the criticism levelled by party members against its leadership concerning its inaction regarding the Black Panthers’ protest. Whereas right-wing Zionist research has hitherto focused on Begin’s political and security-related outlook and activities, the affair being discussed may shift the limelight onto the socio-economic attitudes of Begin and his party.
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Kibbutz Kfar Giladi and the Development town of Kiryat Shmona represent each a form of settlement and groups of social-cultural identity in Israeli society. The paper analyzes the interactions of the two adjacent settlements, their... more
Kibbutz Kfar Giladi and the Development town of Kiryat Shmona represent each a form of settlement and groups of social-cultural identity in Israeli society. The paper analyzes the interactions of the two adjacent settlements, their formation and transformations, including the socioeconomic factors that stood at their core: The involvement of Kfar Giladi settlers in the creation of Kiryat Shmona, the mobilization efforts of members to adopt the transit camp (Maabarah), the work relations between the two communities and their associated conflicts, as well as the issue of fair land distribution. All these factors were examined against the backdrop of local conditions and economic processes that played out in Israeli society and were conducive to their establishment. The article unfolds a tale of distance and proximity, presence and absence among the two entities that are distinct at nearly every level. The interpersonal, ongoing and natural relationships were relatively sparse but at the same time every settlement was involved in the life of its neighboring community and above all, played the role of "the other" as the identity of the nearby new community was taking shape.
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This article seeks to add another dimension to the growing and extensive research on right-wing Zionism, by returning to an era when the Likud was first created. I will examine the major difference between processes that have led to the... more
This article seeks to add another dimension to the growing and extensive research on right-wing Zionism, by returning to an era when the Likud was first created. I will examine the major difference between processes that have led to the two key landmarks in the formative years of the Right in Israel: the establishment of Gahal in April 1965 and the founding of the Likud in August–September of 1973. While Gahal's establishment was a product of a prolonged, determined, patient and conscious effort on the part of Menachem Begin, the establishment of the Likud was, to a considerable degree, forced upon him. Those who were interested in expanding Gahal and creating an alignment of centre-right parties were actually the factors outside Herut, while Herut's more veteran leadership disapproved of these attempts. Within the Herut Movement, the voices that called for the creation of a broad political alignment were those that came from Herut's ‘internal opposition’, which revolved around Ezer Weizman. The article analyses the reasons behind Begin's reservations about a continued right-wing merger, examines the negotiation process and sheds light on the oscillation in Menachem Begin's ideology and politics between the fundamental and the pragmatic poles.
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This article discusses the causes and processes that drove Menachem Begin and his Gahal party into the Israeli cabinet during the three-week waiting period preceding the June 1967 war (or Six Day War as it is commonly known). A close... more
This article discusses the causes and processes that drove Menachem Begin and his Gahal party into the Israeli cabinet during the three-week waiting period preceding the June 1967 war (or Six Day War as it is commonly known). A close examination of Begin’s behaviour reveals a calculated political move aimed at exploiting deep processes within the Israeli political establishment in general, and its right-wing factions in particular. This sheds fresh light on a number of key events preceding the war, notably Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s surrender of the defence portfolio to Moshe Dayan, as well as on the deeper processes that led within a decade to the Likud’s (Gahal’s successor) rise to power, for the first time in Israel’s history.
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The path for the Likud's establishment in the fall of 1973 was a weighty reference point for right-wing emergence in the State of Israel. The initiative to expand Gahal originated from different sources from within the Israeli political... more
The path for the Likud's establishment in the fall of 1973 was a weighty reference point for right-wing emergence in the State of Israel. The initiative to expand Gahal originated from different sources from within the Israeli political establishment, of both Liberal party and Herut's internal opposition party lines. Menachem Begin however was reserved from 1966-1973 to establish a broad right-of-center party. The paper showcases the various initiatives and examines the reasons behind Begin's indifferent response to them and illustrates the course that Ariel Sharon took in order to expand Gahal, with full awareness of the objection that Begin and his party had and the strenuous negotiations that eventually and laboriously gave rise to the Likud.
The establishment of the Likud party is portrayed on the one hand as an attempt to build on the possibility of a regime change in Israel while on the other hand narrow down the Menachem Begin's and the Herut movement's impact on the joint-ticket party. The paper lays out the internal processes from within the Herut movement that kept its dominance on the Likud, in contrast with the intentions of its partners. Turning Herut into a thriving politically-engaging platform made it a dominant force in the newly-created party and played a significant contributory role in drawing up similar definitions for the "Likud" and the "Herut movement" for the next years to come.
המאמר מנתח את הדרך להקמת הליכוד בסתיו 1973 כנקודת ציון משמעותית בתהליך צבירת הכוח של הימין במדינת ישראל. היוזמה להרחיב את גח"ל הגיעה מגורמים שונים במערכת הפוליטית בישראל, משורות המפלגה הליברלית ומהאופוזיציה הפנימית בתנועת החרות. דווקא מנחם בגין הוא שהסתייג לאורך השנים 1966-1973 מהקמת מפלגת מרכז-ימין רחבה. המאמר מציג את היוזמות השונות ומנתח את הסיבות לתגובה האדישה של בגין להן. מוצגת הדרך בה אריאל שרון בחר לקדם את הרחבת גח"ל, מתוך מודעות להתנגדות של בגין ושל תנועתו ואת המשא ומתן הקשה, רצוף המשברים, שבסופו, בקושי רב, הוקם הליכוד.
הקמת הליכוד מוצגת במאמר כניסיון מצד אחד לחזק את האפשרות של חילופי שלטון בישראל ומצד שני לצמצם את השפעתם של מנחם בגין ותנועת החרות על המפלגה המשותפת. נפרסים התהליכים הפנימיים בתוך תנועת החרות שהביאו לכך שהיא הצליחה לשמור על מעמדה הדומיננטי ב'ליכוד', בניגוד לכוונת השותפות שלה. הפיכת 'חרות' לזירת מעורבות ופעילות פוליטית תוססת היא שהפכו אותה לגורם הדומיננטי במפלגה החדשה ותרמו ליצירת מידה רבה של זהות בין 'חרות' לבין המושג 'ליכוד' בשנים הבאות.
The establishment of the Likud party is portrayed on the one hand as an attempt to build on the possibility of a regime change in Israel while on the other hand narrow down the Menachem Begin's and the Herut movement's impact on the joint-ticket party. The paper lays out the internal processes from within the Herut movement that kept its dominance on the Likud, in contrast with the intentions of its partners. Turning Herut into a thriving politically-engaging platform made it a dominant force in the newly-created party and played a significant contributory role in drawing up similar definitions for the "Likud" and the "Herut movement" for the next years to come.
המאמר מנתח את הדרך להקמת הליכוד בסתיו 1973 כנקודת ציון משמעותית בתהליך צבירת הכוח של הימין במדינת ישראל. היוזמה להרחיב את גח"ל הגיעה מגורמים שונים במערכת הפוליטית בישראל, משורות המפלגה הליברלית ומהאופוזיציה הפנימית בתנועת החרות. דווקא מנחם בגין הוא שהסתייג לאורך השנים 1966-1973 מהקמת מפלגת מרכז-ימין רחבה. המאמר מציג את היוזמות השונות ומנתח את הסיבות לתגובה האדישה של בגין להן. מוצגת הדרך בה אריאל שרון בחר לקדם את הרחבת גח"ל, מתוך מודעות להתנגדות של בגין ושל תנועתו ואת המשא ומתן הקשה, רצוף המשברים, שבסופו, בקושי רב, הוקם הליכוד.
הקמת הליכוד מוצגת במאמר כניסיון מצד אחד לחזק את האפשרות של חילופי שלטון בישראל ומצד שני לצמצם את השפעתם של מנחם בגין ותנועת החרות על המפלגה המשותפת. נפרסים התהליכים הפנימיים בתוך תנועת החרות שהביאו לכך שהיא הצליחה לשמור על מעמדה הדומיננטי ב'ליכוד', בניגוד לכוונת השותפות שלה. הפיכת 'חרות' לזירת מעורבות ופעילות פוליטית תוססת היא שהפכו אותה לגורם הדומיננטי במפלגה החדשה ותרמו ליצירת מידה רבה של זהות בין 'חרות' לבין המושג 'ליכוד' בשנים הבאות.
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The article examines the socio-economic interaction between the kibbutzim of the Upper Galilee and Kiryat Shmona during the first decade of the town’s existence. The main consideration behind the support of most Upper Galilee kibbutzim... more
The article examines the socio-economic interaction between the kibbutzim of the Upper Galilee and Kiryat Shmona during the first decade of the town’s existence. The main consideration behind the support of most Upper Galilee kibbutzim for the establishment of Kiryat Shmona was the urgent need for laborers to help dominate the new extensive areas belonging to Arab villages in the Hula Valley. The completion of the draining of the Hula swamp a decade later likewise left tens of thousands of dunams available for cultivation and an urgent need for workers. The massive growth of the town, including eight thousand new immigrants from North Africa in the late 1950s, despite the socio-economic vacuum and the absence of economic infrastructure, suited the needs of the Regional Council. The dearth of opportunities in Kiryat Shmona caused heavy reliance on unstable seasonal agricultural work in the surrounding kibbutzim and public works that advanced mainly kibbutz infrastructures. Not only after the fact but even during the establishment of Kiryat Shmona and its development from a ma’abara into a town, there were clear warnings as to the social consequences of the growing gaps. The frustration and helplessness they engendered erupted in riots in May 1956.
Research Interests: Israel Studies, Rural Development, Modern Jewish History, Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies, Zionism (History), and 11 moreIsrael and Zionism, Spatial planning, Mizrahi Jews, Immigrant integration, Mizrahim, Social History of the Kibbutz, Jews In Marocco, The Israeli Government and History of Kibbutz Movement, Kiryat Shmona, Hula Valley, and Development Towns Israel
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עם תום מלחמת העולם השנייה ומשהתבררו ממדי האסון שפקד את העם היהודי במהלכה ניצבה גם התנועה הרוויזיוניסטית בפני מציאות קשה במיוחד. היא איבדה בשנות המלחמה את מנהיגה־מכוננה, את השדרות הרחבות של יהודי מזרח אירופה, שעליהם השליכה את יהבה, ואת... more
עם תום מלחמת העולם השנייה ומשהתבררו ממדי האסון שפקד את העם היהודי במהלכה ניצבה גם התנועה הרוויזיוניסטית בפני מציאות קשה במיוחד. היא איבדה בשנות המלחמה את מנהיגה־מכוננה, את השדרות הרחבות של יהודי מזרח אירופה, שעליהם השליכה את יהבה, ואת מרבית חברי תנועת הנוער בית"ר. זאב ז'בוטינסקי נפטר בראשית אוגוסט 1940 בניו־יורק. העדויות מחודשי חייו האחרונים מלמדות על שיברון הלב שפקד אותו לנוכח המלחמה העולמית, שפרצה בניגוד לתחזיותיו, וההחמרה חסרת התקדים במצבם של יהודי אירופה, שעלתה על תחזיותיו הקודרות והחדות לאורך שנות השלושים. ז'בוטינסקי איבד באחת את המגע עם ריכוזי היהודים במזרח אירופה, שהיו במרכז פעילותו המדינית בשנים הקודמות, ואת הקשר עם שכבות העם שלהן היה קשוב, ושעליהן בנה את האסטרטגיה הפוליטית והלאומית שלו. יותר מכול גברה דאגתו לבית"ר, תנועת הנוער שייסד וטיפח, ושראה בה את עתודת המנהיגות של עם ישראל. במכתב ששלח בספטמבר 1939 אל נציב בית"ר בארץ־ישראל באו לידי ביטוי אבדן הקשר עם מאות קִנים של התנועה במזרח אירופה וחששו של ז'בוטינסקי לגורל חבריהם: 'בית"ר דפולניה נחרבה. אין צורך שאסביר לכם את גודל האבדה
הזאת. מה יהיה גורל יתר סניפי בית"ר אירופה — טרם ידוע'. 1 גורל סניפי בית"ר היה חמור משיכול היה ז'בוטינסקי להעלות בדמיונו. מרבית הבית"רים נספו עם בני נוער וצעירים יהודים אחרים, ציונים ולא־ציונים, בשואה שחוללו הנאצים. בשעה שהציונות הרשמית הייתה יכולה, לצד תחושת האבדן והצער, להתייחס אל היישוב היהודי בארץ־ישראל כאל נקודת המשען של מדיניותה, נותרו הרוויזיוניסטים עם אחיזה בחוגים מצומצמים בלבד בארץ. מרכז הכובד התנועתי עבר לארץ־ישראל רק במהלך שנות הארבעים, ככל שגדל משקלו של ה'ארגון הצבאי הלאומי', אצ"ל, בפיקודו של מנחם בגין.
הזאת. מה יהיה גורל יתר סניפי בית"ר אירופה — טרם ידוע'. 1 גורל סניפי בית"ר היה חמור משיכול היה ז'בוטינסקי להעלות בדמיונו. מרבית הבית"רים נספו עם בני נוער וצעירים יהודים אחרים, ציונים ולא־ציונים, בשואה שחוללו הנאצים. בשעה שהציונות הרשמית הייתה יכולה, לצד תחושת האבדן והצער, להתייחס אל היישוב היהודי בארץ־ישראל כאל נקודת המשען של מדיניותה, נותרו הרוויזיוניסטים עם אחיזה בחוגים מצומצמים בלבד בארץ. מרכז הכובד התנועתי עבר לארץ־ישראל רק במהלך שנות הארבעים, ככל שגדל משקלו של ה'ארגון הצבאי הלאומי', אצ"ל, בפיקודו של מנחם בגין.
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Zeev Jabotinsky in the face of the rise of Nazism - introduction to another volume of the reissue of Jabotinsky's writings
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Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky It has been many years since a historical study has focused on the image, the philosophy and the work of the Zionist forefather Vladimir 'Ze'ev' Jabotinsky. The new... more
Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky
It has been many years since a historical study has focused on the image, the philosophy and the work of the Zionist forefather Vladimir 'Ze'ev' Jabotinsky. The new book, Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky by Dr. Amir Goldstein, Dean of Students at Tel-Hai College, examines the man who laid the foundations for the revisionist- Zionist right and investigates questions that are relevant even today: the relations between Jews and non-Jews, the essence of Zionism and its functions and the way it deals with anti-Semitism. How did Jabotinsky interpret anti-Semitism? Why did he support the collaboration between Zionists and scores of enemies of Israel? Did he really predict the Holocaust and are his views still relevant for Israeli society and the Jewish people in our time?
Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky
follows the philosophy and work of Jabotinsky from his youth in Odessa, the twilight of the Russian Empire reign, his last days in Britain and the United States and the first year of World War II. Goldstein's comprehensive study seeks to unravel the 'other' non-Jewish concept of Jabotinsky, his interpretation of anti-Semitism and the role of Zionism, and in doing so reveals the many talents, shades and contrasts of Jabotinsky.
Jabotinsky stood out in his consistent, systematic and intense occupation with anti-Semitism, discovering it and its origins. To him, anti-Semitism was as much a problem for the non-Jewish community as it was for the Jews that lived among them. No malice or evil aroused it, he wrote, but the anomaly, in which the Jews lived in Europe, mainly in Eastern Europe, stubbornly keeping their identities separate and distinct, disconnected them from their historic homeland and of national Jewish life.
Jabotinsky decided there was a way to eradicate or reduce anti-Semitism: to form a vast Jewish national movement. Only through such a movement he believed Jews could be 'normalized', including their relationship with all nations; to be free of the ghetto culture and from their skepticism toward the non-Jewish world; And most importantly to give the Jews a concept of a national state, confident and free of the fears of the past. Jabotinsky believed that once Jews and non-Jews alike understood the roots of anti-Semitism they would also recognize the power of Zionism in eliminating anti-Semitism.
Jabotinsky walked on a fine line. He advocated national and cultural revival and asked to motivate and drive the establishment of a Jewish nation by using positive internal forces, rather than the negative power of anti-Semitism. At the same time he was not blind and predicted that the hatred towards the Jews would increase, and so his forecasts for the future of the European Jews in the Thirties were often gloomy, sometimes catastrophic.
Dr. Amir Goldstein surveys and analyzes in "'Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky" the thought and work of Jabotinsky from his youth to his last days, taking readers on a journey through Jabotinsky's enthusiastic followers and his bitter opponents, carefully shedding new light on a fascinating character, a central subject and an important period in the history of the Jews of Europe.
It has been many years since a historical study has focused on the image, the philosophy and the work of the Zionist forefather Vladimir 'Ze'ev' Jabotinsky. The new book, Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky by Dr. Amir Goldstein, Dean of Students at Tel-Hai College, examines the man who laid the foundations for the revisionist- Zionist right and investigates questions that are relevant even today: the relations between Jews and non-Jews, the essence of Zionism and its functions and the way it deals with anti-Semitism. How did Jabotinsky interpret anti-Semitism? Why did he support the collaboration between Zionists and scores of enemies of Israel? Did he really predict the Holocaust and are his views still relevant for Israeli society and the Jewish people in our time?
Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky
follows the philosophy and work of Jabotinsky from his youth in Odessa, the twilight of the Russian Empire reign, his last days in Britain and the United States and the first year of World War II. Goldstein's comprehensive study seeks to unravel the 'other' non-Jewish concept of Jabotinsky, his interpretation of anti-Semitism and the role of Zionism, and in doing so reveals the many talents, shades and contrasts of Jabotinsky.
Jabotinsky stood out in his consistent, systematic and intense occupation with anti-Semitism, discovering it and its origins. To him, anti-Semitism was as much a problem for the non-Jewish community as it was for the Jews that lived among them. No malice or evil aroused it, he wrote, but the anomaly, in which the Jews lived in Europe, mainly in Eastern Europe, stubbornly keeping their identities separate and distinct, disconnected them from their historic homeland and of national Jewish life.
Jabotinsky decided there was a way to eradicate or reduce anti-Semitism: to form a vast Jewish national movement. Only through such a movement he believed Jews could be 'normalized', including their relationship with all nations; to be free of the ghetto culture and from their skepticism toward the non-Jewish world; And most importantly to give the Jews a concept of a national state, confident and free of the fears of the past. Jabotinsky believed that once Jews and non-Jews alike understood the roots of anti-Semitism they would also recognize the power of Zionism in eliminating anti-Semitism.
Jabotinsky walked on a fine line. He advocated national and cultural revival and asked to motivate and drive the establishment of a Jewish nation by using positive internal forces, rather than the negative power of anti-Semitism. At the same time he was not blind and predicted that the hatred towards the Jews would increase, and so his forecasts for the future of the European Jews in the Thirties were often gloomy, sometimes catastrophic.
Dr. Amir Goldstein surveys and analyzes in "'Zionism and Anti-Semitism in the Thought and Action of Ze’ev Jabotinsky" the thought and work of Jabotinsky from his youth to his last days, taking readers on a journey through Jabotinsky's enthusiastic followers and his bitter opponents, carefully shedding new light on a fascinating character, a central subject and an important period in the history of the Jews of Europe.
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This anthology marks the centennial of the Tel Hai battle of March 1920 and its multifaceted history and role in shaping Israeli national memory. The twenty articles included in this volume examine the significance of the Tel Hai affair... more
This anthology marks the centennial of the Tel Hai battle of March 1920 and its multifaceted history and role in shaping Israeli national memory.
The twenty articles included in this volume examine the significance of the Tel Hai affair and the myth that developed around it within their historical, social, cultural and political contexts, presenting a fascinating mosaic of new research from this retrospective view.
Part I, ‘Joseph Trumpeldor: Biographical Aspects,’ sheds light on little explored yet important chapters in the complex life and cultural and ideological commitments of this early Zionist activist.
Part II, ‘The Upper Galilee, 1918–1920: An Overview’ reconsiders the history of the battle and its significance within the broader context of the post-Ottoman rule in
Palestine, southern Lebanon and Syria during the immediate post-World War I years, prior to the stabilization of the borders and the mandate regimes.
Part III, ‘The Myth of Tel Hai: Between Ideology and Politics,’ addresses competing versions of the myth and the political contestation over its meaning and memory.
Part IV, ‘The Tel Hai Myth: Cultural Representations,’ explores the multivocality of educational, musical, and folkloristic texts relating to Tel Hai from a cultural-historical perspective.
Tel Hai 1920–2020 presents an innovative look at the historical, political, and cultural meanings of Tel Hai since the early days of the Yishuv to contemporary Israeli society. The discussion of the diversity of ideological positions and emotional ties to the myth provides a unique venue for exploring the profound transformations in Israeli society and culture from the perspective of its one-hundred years of history.
The twenty articles included in this volume examine the significance of the Tel Hai affair and the myth that developed around it within their historical, social, cultural and political contexts, presenting a fascinating mosaic of new research from this retrospective view.
Part I, ‘Joseph Trumpeldor: Biographical Aspects,’ sheds light on little explored yet important chapters in the complex life and cultural and ideological commitments of this early Zionist activist.
Part II, ‘The Upper Galilee, 1918–1920: An Overview’ reconsiders the history of the battle and its significance within the broader context of the post-Ottoman rule in
Palestine, southern Lebanon and Syria during the immediate post-World War I years, prior to the stabilization of the borders and the mandate regimes.
Part III, ‘The Myth of Tel Hai: Between Ideology and Politics,’ addresses competing versions of the myth and the political contestation over its meaning and memory.
Part IV, ‘The Tel Hai Myth: Cultural Representations,’ explores the multivocality of educational, musical, and folkloristic texts relating to Tel Hai from a cultural-historical perspective.
Tel Hai 1920–2020 presents an innovative look at the historical, political, and cultural meanings of Tel Hai since the early days of the Yishuv to contemporary Israeli society. The discussion of the diversity of ideological positions and emotional ties to the myth provides a unique venue for exploring the profound transformations in Israeli society and culture from the perspective of its one-hundred years of history.