nationalism

A view of the Dohány Street Synagogue, also known as The Great Synagogue, in Budapest, Hungary. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Tapping the ‘hidden spring’ of anti-Semitism in Orban’s Hungary

In today's Hungary, overt anti-Semitism has been supplanted by dog-whistle politics, Holocaust revisionism, and an us-versus-them mentality that has created a rupture between Jewish institutions. And then there is Aurora, the leftist, Jewish activist community defying it all.

By Joshua Leifer October 12, 2018

Supporters of French president-elect Emmanuel Macron celebrate outside the Louvre in Paris, May 7, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

We’ll always have Paris

While the French gave the world a lesson in hope, democracy and standing up to fascism, the Israeli government advanced a childish, nationalistic law that declares: we are Jews, they are Arabs, we’re good, they’re bad. By Alon Mizrahi Europe and the world expect us to defend the spirit of the Enlightenment, under threat in…

By +972 Magazine May 8, 2017

Jewish nationalist activists from anti-miscegenation group Lehava protest in Rishon Lezion, August 17, 2014. (Activestills.org)

Anti-Semitism in the U.S. doesn’t make me want to move to Israel

Why would American Jews be any less repulsed by the ultra-nationalist tendencies rampant in Israel than they are by those taking hold in America? By Sarah Stern The Jewish day school in Rockville, MD where I spent six years as a student received a bomb threat this week. There have been over 100 threats like…

By +972 Magazine March 1, 2017

Latest

Building the separation barrier around Shuafat refugee camp, East Jerusalem, 2013. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

How nationalism takes shape on Israeli and U.S. borders

Americans and Israelis need to resist not only border walls, but also the sentiments and systems that make them possible. By Nadia Naser-Najjab In promising to build a new wall along the American border with Mexico, U.S. President Donald Trump has openly sought to mine the deep racism and chauvinism that runs through parts of American…

By +972 Magazine February 3, 2017

Nationalist Jewish Israelis, largely bussed-in yeshiva students, enter the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City through Damascus Gate on Jerusalem Day, June 5, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Nationalist Jewish-Israelis march through Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter

The Jerusalem Day march, marking the ‘reunification’ of the city under Israeli sovereignty, has more to do with domination over Palestinians than celebration. Photos by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org Text by +972 Magazine Staff Jerusalem Day is billed as a celebration of the city’s “reunification” in 1967, when Israeli forces captured the Old City along with the…

By Activestills June 5, 2016

Israelis standing at attention on the side of the road during the Memorial Day siren. (ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

Standing up to the monopoly on mourning in Israel

For those of us who confront the realities of what goes on here every day, especially those of us who cannot escape it, or who make it part of our profession, every day is a form of Memorial Day and Independence Day. That is what we are trying to change. I went to one of…

By Mairav Zonszein May 11, 2016

The anti-occupation protest proceeds along Route 60 in the West Bank, November 27, 2015. (Mustafa Bader/Activestills.org)

Why Palestinians aren’t standing up for Israeli leftists

The Israeli Left with which most Palestinians are familiar speaks the same language as the Right — of segregation and safeguarding a racist regime. The ‘other Left’ needs to develop a new discourse, and we should all hope it succeeds. The Left in Israel has been subject to what appears to be a serious and…

By Sawsan Khalife' January 18, 2016

Palestinian Muslim worshipers perform traditional Friday prayers in a street in Wadi Joz neighbourhood outside Jerusalem's Old City, as policemen block their way to Al Aqsa mosque, October 17, 2014. The Israeli government has restricted access to the al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest shrine to men under 50. (Activestills.org)

Jerusalem’s sickness runs deeper than the occupation

Jerusalem’s real problem is the nationalist and religious fervor in both Israeli and Palestinian societies that foment the greed, competitiveness, obsession, insecurity, and desire for control of the city and its narrative. When I was a kid, a family trip from Tira to Jerusalem was considered a special occasion. About twice a year we would…

By Amjad Iraqi September 22, 2015

Noam Sheizaf speaking at the J Street Conference, March 22, 2015.

WATCH: Noam Sheizaf at J Street: Nobody is talking about Gaza

Speaking at the 2015 J Street Conference in Washington D.C. on Sunday, +972 co-founder and writer Noam Sheizaf participated in a plenary panel called “Does Liberal Zionism Have a Future?” Sheizaf called out both the conference and liberal American Jewry for the lack of discussion about the latest Gaza war. (Watch the full panel here.)…

By +972 Magazine March 23, 2015

Protest against a Jewish Arab Wedding, Rishon Letzion, Israel, August 17, 2014. (Activestills.org)

Jewish nationalism and the new Palestinian politics in Israel

Although the occupation has been absent in these elections, nationalism has permeated the campaigns. The violence of 2014 and the Gaza war were a transformative moment for Palestinian citizens of Israel and the realization of their political power.

By Dimi Reider March 17, 2015

A Jewish settler attaches an Israeli flag to a tree in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, January 29, 2010 (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

The perennial dilemma of liberal Zionism

For over a century, liberal Zionists have attempted to reconcile universal humanism with Zionist nationalism. A review of two prominent thinkers who failed. By Ran Greenstein The prospect of impending doom facing Liberal Zionism has been raised time and again in recent months, from the inane apologetics of Ari Shavit to the more sophisticated discussions of…

By +972 Magazine September 28, 2014

When ‘not in my name’ is all you have in the face of a massacre

A name is more human, more familiar and more expansive than any label can ever be. It is something that everyone in the world has in common. It is therefore in that name that I refuse to step in line behind a massacre masquerading as an existential and moral crusade. “Dyke, go live in Gaza.”…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland August 13, 2014

A right wing protester holds up Israeli flags while thousands march in the annual human rights march in Tel Aviv. Photo by Activestills.org

Liberal Zionism at 65: Fantasy and reality

Liberal Zionism has had 65 years to prove Israel can indeed be both a Jewish state and a liberal democracy. Given its track record, is it time to put the ideology to rest? By David Sheen Imagine if you would, for a minute, that Liberal Zionists have been proven correct: that it is totally possible for…

By +972 Magazine April 11, 2013