A Nation Like All Nations

Is there an Israeli nation? How is it related to the historical “Jewish People”? How is it related to the Zionist movement? Under what conditions could non-Jews become equal members of this nation? These and other questions stand at the center of Moshe Berent’s work.

The mission of the Zionist movement was to work toward the normalization of Jewish existence: to become “a nation like all nations.” Israel, contrary to that aspiration, is not a normal nation-state, since according to the formal national ethos it belongs to the “Jewish people” and there is no recognized Israeli nation. Dr. Berent asserts that the fusion of nationality and religion, together with the absence of a normal nation-state, are the source of Israel’s basic problems. The book makes the case that a separation between nationality and religion, the recognition of an Israeli nation, and the establishment of Israel as a republic is a pre-condition for solving all of these problems.