Opinion Israel’s Identity Crisis

But ironically,Israelis may well be the first to demur at such a definition of their state,or at least to be confused by it. For it is far from clear to anyone,not least Israel’s own Jewish citizens,what Netanyahu’s demand actually means.

Historically,the modern Zionist movement has sought to transform the term “Jewish” into a distinctly national category. But it has not fully succeeded. If it had,“Jewish” might have signified today a member of a national community — in the manner,say,that “French” refers to a national of France or “Polish” that of Poland. And yet,in much of the world “Jewish” today remains a fuzzy term whose precise meaning depends on context. It can stand for a religious attribute,an ethical or spiritual one. It can mean an ethnic group or cultural tradition.

In fact,only in Israel does the term “Jewish” refer to one’s nationality,although the source of authority lies outside the exclusive purview of the state. Indeed,even as Israel proclaims to be the nation-state of the Jewish people,it has no legal definition for the term “Jewish” other than a religious one: It is rabbis who determine for the Israeli state who is a Jew.

This failure to forge a coherently national definition of the term “Jewish” dates back to the inception of the Zionist movement. Since in order to forge the Jewish people into a nation it was necessary to bind them to a single territory and decide upon a collective language,Zionism grappled with various choices for both. These included Uganda and Argentina as possible territories,while German was the language of preference of Theodor Herzl,the founder of the movement.

And yet,despite the secularist impulses of mainstream Zionism,the territory ultimately chosen was the biblical Land of Israel and the language that of the Bible. Thus the emergence of the Zionist movement could not help heightening rather than attenuating the religious underpinnings of the Jewish nation.

These are among the fundamental reasons why the character of the Israeli state remains a highly contested issue within Israel itself. What makes Israel “Jewish”? Is sovereignty over biblical lands essential to Israel’s Jewish self-identity (as the settler movement argues)? Is Israel the state of the Jews living in Israel or also of those living elsewhere in the world? (Netanyahu concluded his speech to Congress by stating “I speak on behalf of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.”) Does Israel’s “Jewishness” preclude it from being the state of all its citizens,even the non-Jewish ones?

The debate inside Israel over these issues is passionate and ongoing. It prevents Israel from articulating a coherent definition of its own identity,let alone one that is accepted and recognised by the majority of its citizens. Rather than asking the Palestinians to recognise Israel as a Jewish state,therefore,Israel has its own job cut out for itself. And while it is tempting to pass on the burden to others,it remains Israel’s duty — first and foremost to itself — to discover what it means when it says it is Jewish,and to make sure that such a definition be accepted,and recognised,by its own citizens.

Once it does so,Israel might be able to make a more coherent request to its neighbors — or more likely,feel secure enough in its own identity to move on.

Touval is a foreign policy analyst based in Tel Aviv