Book Review: Alexander Yakobson and Amnon Rubinstein – Israel and the Family of Nations

תקציר

A debate has been conducted in Israel in recent years regarding the justification for the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state. To the detached observer, at least in the academic world, it may sometimes appear that those voicing the case for the absence of justification are the more dominant. This, at least, seems to be the situation if we make our judgment on the basis of the quantity of critical writings. Lately, we have witnessed the launch of a counterattack of a conceptual nature, initiated by the Jewish intelligentsia against the post-Zionist challenge. Yakobson and Rubinstein’s book2 is one of the first writings heralding this rejoinder.3 In the opinion of those who, like me, belong to the camp that asserts its faith in the justice of the course pursued by Zionism, this book is particularly important, both by reason of its content and by virtue of the identity of its authors. of the identity of its authors.<br><br>With regard to content: every political entity that seeks to ensure its continued existence is obliged to adhere to a common ethos that also includes a belief in the justness and necessity of the political collective. This is true a fortiori in an entity such as the State of Israel, which, from inception through to the present, has been in a constant state of emergency. In this context, I am not referring to the formal definition of emergency but, rather, to the fact that Israel has been fighting to preserve its existence and security since its establishment, and it has done so at enormous cost to its citizens.