Israel Shahak - Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel.pdf (789.04 KB)
http://www.balderexlibris.com/index.php ... -in-Israel
[justify]'Illuminative, insightful and accessible, this is an important book that deserves as wide a readership as possible.' --Ethnic Conflict Research Digest'A first-class overview of the different fundamentalist movements ? A fascinating and thought-provoking book.' --Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland)
'Shahak and Mezvinsky?s explicit objective is to rouse the reader, particularly the North American reader, into an acknowledgement that Jewish fundamentalism is as ?pernicious? as other fundamentalisms. This requires us to approach the Jewish past not as folk-tale, but as history.' -Outlook
'Unlike all other English-language accounts [this] is frank and fiercely critical ? A must-read for anyone interested in exploring the dark corners of an ideology that has an impact on international events.' --Race and Class[/justify]
[justify]At the very heart of the modern world is the idea that all people are born equal. Yet the Jewish religion teaches that people of Jewish faith are special before God, and Jewish fundamentalism passionately defends this belief. This book considers the consequences of this belief in the light of the considerable political influence and power of Jewish fundamentalism. The authors make a clear distinction between the fundamentalist ideology of Israel's Ashkenazi Jews and that of the Sephardic Jews, examining the growing impact of these two movements on Israel's political processes and their effects at a grassroots level through the armed forces' relations with the Palestinian population. Shahak and Mezvinsky argue that Israeli Jewish fundamentalism is closely associated with a new form of national religious Messianism which has its origins in the settling of the conquered territories during the war of 1967 and which vehemently opposes the peace process. Focusing on the consequences for Israel of these ideologies, the authors examine in particular the activities of fundamentalist groups and individuals. Shahak and Mezvinsky conclude by analyzing the possible scenario of civil war in Israel between religious fundamentalists and secularists.[/justify]
