Intolerance and Nationalism in Israeli Society: Manifestations, Causes and Role of Religion

In Israel, Jewish ethnic nationalism manifests itself primarily in relations with the Palestinians, the apex of which was attained with the mass killing of the civilian population in Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack on Israeli settlements bordering the enclave on October 7, 2023. This is combined with intolerance within the “Jewish sector” itself, which is complex and very heterogeneous. In the Jewish state, nationalism is closely linked to religion. Therefore, hypothetically, its secularization is possible subject to the transformation of ethnic nationalism into civic nationalism, that is, in the case of the transformation of Israel into a state of all its citizens. In the context of contrasting nationalism with globalization, its function is to protect against alien penetration into the national body with the aim of its physical and spiritual enslavement. Israel, represented by the conservative and (ultra)religious part of society that forms the political establishment, sets the achievement of nationalist, including those with a religious basis, goals above global values understood universally. Even if a number of measures taken by the state contributed to the unification of a significant part of the Jewish society, it hardly included 21% of the country's population – Israeli Arabs and 5% of the so-called “others”.

, Israel, Judaism, nationalism, intolerance, secularization, Zionism, ethno-religious contradictions,