Summary of Barry Rubin's Israel

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Modern Israel has built a fully realized political system, economy, society, and culture. It is a normal country, though a unique one with many distinctive features. It grew from one of the world’s oldest societies and cultures, but its ancient heritage did not make the process of nation-building any easier.

#2 The idea that Jews are only a religious group is a concept that began with the French Revolution, but did not become influential in Western Europe until the mid- nineteenth century. It never fully took hold in the Eastern European or Middle Eastern Jewish communities.

#3 The creation of Israel was not an accident, but the continuation of a long historical process. The majority of European Jews did not view their identity in only negative terms, but saw themselves as being inside their own cohesive community.

#4 The Jewish state is primarily a declaration of a national identity, but it is also a declaration of religious identity. The majority of the Yishuv leaders and later leaders of Israel were secular, and they simultaneously recognized the importance of religion in binding together Jews.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822516199

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Barry Rubin's Israel

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Modern Israel has built a fully realized political system, economy, society, and culture. It is a normal country, though a unique one with many distinctive features. It grew from one of the world’s oldest societies and cultures, but its ancient heritage did not make the process of nation-building any easier.

#2

The idea that Jews are only a religious group is a concept that began with the French Revolution, but did not become influential in Western Europe until the mid- nineteenth century. It never fully took hold in the Eastern European or Middle Eastern Jewish communities.

#3

The creation of Israel was not an accident, but the continuation of a long historical process. The majority of European Jews did not view their identity in only negative terms, but saw themselves as being inside their own cohesive community.

#4

The Jewish state is primarily a declaration of a national identity, but it is also a declaration of religious identity. The majority of the Yishuv leaders and later leaders of Israel were secular, and they simultaneously recognized the importance of religion in binding together Jews.

#5

Israel is a largely secular country, and the Jewish religion has been put into a secular and national framework. The same process has taken place in Western Christian-based civilization.

#6

Israel was able to overcome these many challenges by building an economy based on its strong points, and by creating a military system that was able to defend the country against external threats.

#7

Israel is a country that was formed by the immigration of many different people, and it has successfully integrated them into a cohesive society. It is a Jewish state, but it functions more like a traditionally pluralist Middle Eastern country than like a twentieth-century mono-nationalist European state.

#8

Israel’s statehood has been shaped by its constant battle for survival, and the country’s institutions were created to deal with that threat. However, the country has normalized and institutionalized, and the more socialist, collectivist concepts and institutions from the pre-state era no longer suffice.

#9

The Israeli political right believed that the Arab states and the Palestinians would one day negotiate seriously, and when that happened, Israel should trade territory it captured in the 1967 war for peace. The left argued that Israel should offer genuine peace, but the majority of Israeli leaders were not interested in peace at the time.

#10

Between 1993 and 2000, Israel had a peace agreement with the PLO, but the terms were never implemented. In 2000, the Palestinian leadership turned down President Bill Clinton’s peace plan, and Syria’s government turned down a deal to regain the captured Golan Heights in exchange for full peace.

#11

The Israeli government learned from the experience of the 1990s peace process that Western promises are not always kept. The Israeli left and the right learned from each other and formed a new political center that was ready to give up all of the territories captured in 1967 in exchange for a full and lasting peace.

#12

Israel has not accepted the notion that a quick deal is more important than the risks or conditions involved. Israelis have largely interpreted the political upheavals in Arab countries in 2011 as marking an advance of revolutionary Islamism, and they have not made any concessions in this regard.

#13

Israel’s economy was built without the use of natural resources, and it lacked infrastructure. Yet, it was able to rise to be one of the most advanced states in terms of economy, living standards, freedom, and society.

#14

The goal of establishing an agricultural base was to create not only the kibbutz and the moshav, but also a wide range of cooperative marketing and processing enterprises based on voluntary participation rather than coercion.

#15

Israel has been successful in changing its institutions to fit the needs of the times. While these changes have caused some problems, they have been extremely effective in creating a unique hybrid between privatized and socialized medicine that works comparably better than those in wealthier and more resource-gifted places.

#16

In Israel, as in all countries, social classes exist. But in a society so young and based on individualism, social classes have no political significance. The most significant markers of division are Jewish and Arab, and the Jewish community is further subdivided between secular and several religious sectors.

Insights from Chapter