{"id":2229,"date":"2011-06-05T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-05T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/news\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:53:00","slug":"why-the-jewish-state-now-2","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/news\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2","title":{"rendered":"Why the Jewish state now?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>RAEF ZREIK<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Israel's raison d'\u00eatre was as a Jewish state, yet for almost four decades<br \/>\nafter the 1948 declaration of its establishment its Jewishness was not inscribed in any law. This essay, a structural-historical discourse analysis, seeks to explore what led up to today's insistent assertion of the state's Jewish identity. To this end, the author traces Israel's gradual evolution from its purely ethnic roots (the Zionist revolution) to a more civic concept of statehood involving greater inclusiveness (accompanied in recent decades by a rise in Jewish religious discourse). The author finds that while the state's Jewishness was for decades an assumption so basic as to be self-evident to the Jewish majority, the need to declare it became more urgent as the possibility of becoming \u201cnormalised\u201d (i.e., a state for all its citizens) became an option, however distant. The essay ends with an analysis of Israel's demand for recognition as a Jewish state, arguing why the Palestinian negotiators would benefit from deconstructing it rather than simply disregarding it.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2231,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"news-kategrie":[48],"class_list":["post-2229","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-kategrie-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why the Jewish state now? - Kreisky Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/news\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the Jewish state now? - Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RAEF ZREIK Israel\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00eatre was as a Jewish state, yet for almost four decades after the 1948 declaration of its establishment its Jewishness was not inscribed in any law. This essay, a structural-historical discourse analysis, seeks to explore what led up to today\u2019s insistent assertion of the state\u2019s Jewish identity. To this end, the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/news\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T10:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bilde2013-99-12.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"185\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"139\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2\",\"name\":\"Why the Jewish state now? - Kreisky Forum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bilde2013-99-12.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-05T22:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-27T10:53:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bilde2013-99-12.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bilde2013-99-12.jpg\",\"width\":185,\"height\":139},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\\\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/news\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Why the Jewish state now?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bruno Kreisky Forum\",\"description\":\"Bruno Kreisky Forum f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog\",\"alternateName\":\"BRUNO KREISKY FORUM f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why the Jewish state now? - Kreisky Forum","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/news\/why-the-jewish-state-now-2","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why the Jewish state now? - Kreisky Forum","og_description":"RAEF ZREIK Israel\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00eatre was as a Jewish state, yet for almost four decades after the 1948 declaration of its establishment its Jewishness was not inscribed in any law. 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