The New Israelis
Ethnicity, Religion, and Nationalism

Provides the first wide-ranging ethnographic-styled study of current Israeli political-cultural divisions, processes, and paradoxes.

Alex Weingrod (Author)

9781009382366, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 January 2025

348 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.626 kg

Following successive immigration waves, the military occupation of the West Bank and the emergence of a high-tech based economy, Israeli society has become increasingly complex and divided. In this timely study, Alex Weingrod utilizes ground-breaking ethnographic research to unpack Israel's diverse communities and cultures, arguing that there are several different versions of “being Israeli” that influence and contest with one another. Covering a fascinating range of topics from shifting ethnic group identities to the reinvented Hebrew language and Israeli popular music, Weingrod discusses minority groups including Ethiopian Israelis, the LGBTQ community, migrant workers and the growing, changing Ultra-Orthodox haredi communities alongside Israeli Palestinians who are marginalized and yet resilient. Culminating in an analysis of the unprecedented 2023 political-cultural schism that divided the society between supporters and protesting opponents of government legislation, Weingrod brings the discussion of Israeli divisions, discontents, and paradoxes up to date.

Introduction
1. Bones of contention: from warrior to victim
2. Ethnicity matters: or does it?
3. The new Israeli minorities
4. Arabs in the Jewish state
5. The religious turn
6. Words and music
7. Conclusions, today and tomorrow
An Epilogue: Israeli society's sudden schism
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]