In Search of Identity

Describes and analyzes the main divisions within Israel's heterogenous society.

Describes and analyzes the main divisions within Israel's heterogenous society.

In November 2022, Israeli citizens went to the polls to elect their representatives to the legislature, the Knesset, for the fifth time in less than four years. This was the culmination of a political crisis that began in November 2018 when Avigdor Lieberman resigned from his position as minister of defense after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to approve a significant military move in the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has been caught in a political whirlwind. In Search of Identity seeks to find out the nature of the crisis in Israel by analyzing the main rifts in Israeli society. It describes and analyzes the main splits within Israel's heterogenous society, arguing these divisions have social, ideological, and political consequences, the most important being a lack of common national interests and vision. The goal herein is to present a society and country that has long been searching for identity, not only geographically but also in terms of moral values, ethics, and integrity.

Gadi Hitman is Chair of the Middle East and Political Science Department at Ariel University. He is the author of several books, including The Fatah-Hamas Rift: An Analysis of Failed Negotiations, also by SUNY Press, and Saudi Arabia: A SWOT Analysis of a Family-Wahhabi Nationalism Case Study.

Gadi Hitman is Chair of the Middle East and Political Science Department at Ariel University. He is the author of several books, including The Fatah-Hamas Rift: An Analysis of Failed Negotiations, also by SUNY Press, and Saudi Arabia: A SWOT Analysis of a Family-Wahhabi Nationalism Case Study.

"Hitman presents a well-researched work on the complexity of identities, political positions, and cleavages within Israel, such as the different variants of Zionism, state/secular camp vs. religious camp, Jews vs. Arabs, and Arab vs Arab. In Search of Identity breaks with all the generalizations, prejudices, and beliefs in the world media and academia about Israel. The author presents Israel's social and political complexity in a very accurate and realistic way." — Luis Fleischman, Palm Beach State College

"Hitman's framing of the social cleavages in Israel as part of an identity struggle, rather than through the existing and prevalent (and erroneous) discourse in Israel regarding the terms 'right' and 'left,' creates a new paradigmatic examination that sheds fresh and interesting light on the subject." — Itamar Rickover, Bar-Ilan University