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Patriotism as a State-building Strategy:

A Case Study of Israel

origins did not grant them equal status with the rest of the Israeli population.16 Interestingly, the second generation of Ethiopian Jews, in contrast to immigrants from the former Soviet Union, have not tried to preserve their traditions (language, culture etc.). The main reason for this has been their relatively low command of their native language (the Amharic language in Israel is disappearing as the young Ethiopian Jews do not learn it at all). Their patriotism is not two-fold, but applies exclusively to Israel, as they are in this regard far less divided ‘between two homelands’ than those Jews who immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union (Zamir and Horowitz 2013, 218; Mitchell 2012).

The Israeli armed forces and patriotism

The Israeli armed forces are one of the central institutions for instilling patriotic feelings, so it is not unusual that Israeli armed forces are seen as the second most important source of patriotism among the Israelis, followed by the technological and scientific achievements of their country (Ya ‘ar and Lipsky 2008, 35). Young soldiers know that greater prestige arises from a more rigorous military service. It is therefore not surprising that almost all the eminent Israeli politicians since 1948 have enjoyed a high-profile military career.17

In the first decades following Israel’s independence, there was a particularly close association between the armed forces and the educational system; this kind of cooperation instilled patriotic feelings and ensured a capable defence force. In 1956, the head officer for education of the Israeli Armed Forces, Esther Kal, also supervised the publication of the text ‘Father Joins the Reservists Again.’ Th e aim of this publication, which was distributed among pupils of the seventh grade, was to educate them about matters of national security, as well as to explain to pupils why their parents would have to respond to the call of their homeland (Shimony 2003, 314–315). Joining the armed forces remains an especially important route through which young immigrants may enter Israeli society – not only because of

16The mass immigration of Jews from Ethiopia began in 1984 with The Moses Campaign. In the first seven weeks of this operation they managed to transport some 8000 Ethiopian Jews from Africa to Israel. The operationwascarriedoutonthebasisofadecisionoftheSupremeRabbinatein1975,accordingtowhich EthiopianJews,afterthreemillenniaofexpulsion,shouldbeallowedtoreturntoIsrael(Omer-Man2010).

17For example, David Ben Gurion, Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Moshe Dayan. For more on the crossover between military rank and the political elites, see Peri (1983).

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the reputation military service accords, but also because cadets are taught fluent Hebrew. Furthermore, the armed forces also provide an important method of forging life-long friendships (social network). Some also take advantage of military service in order to obtain a free driving licence (Harmelin in Zamir and Horowitz 2013, 210).

Since the armed forces have been an important means for Ethiopian Jews to climb the social ladder, it comes as no surprise that the interest in military service among them is 1.5 times higher than among other immigrant groups, although their suitability is relatively lower due to their poor education and lack of language skills (Zamir and Horowitz 2013, 218; Mitchell 2012).

Israel is a country with the highest number of people willing to take up arms to fight for their country. In 2006, 86 percent of Israeli respondents declared they were prepared to do so (if only Israeli Jews are taken into consideration, the percentage is as high as 94 percent). In comparison, only 16 percent of Japanese are willing to take up arms to defend their country, while in Germany the figure is still only 32 percent (Arad and Alon 2006, 10).

Conclusions

Due to its historical circumstances and socio-political characteristics, Israel is a particularly clear example of a state, where patriotism was an important means of state-building. Patriotism has been one of the key adhesives for building a cohesive society. However, Israel is not an isolated example of a country where patriotism was deliberately grown, so it has to be understood in that context.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Jews throughout the world began to follow the Zionist idea of creating the state of Israel, some sacrifice was expected. This preparedness for sacrifice intensified after 1948, following the establishment of the state of Israel. This was due to the hostile environment in which it was established; not only the hostility of Arab resentment, but also a geographically hostile environment, for the Zionist pioneers often found themselves settling inhospitable desert lands. This often culminated in the concept of an armed nation ready for war, bound together by their love (patriotism) of their state. Israelis had to be willing to die for the country. Those who have become national heroes, like Josef Trumpeldor, David Ben Gurion and others, were particularly glori-

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A Case Study of Israel

fied during the period of the state’s birth. Later, when Israel had achieved strategic superiority in the region, the state-building strategies of these national heroes was criticised.

In this regard, some have argued even further, claiming that the trend of relativism, post-modernism and post-Zionism in Israeli academia as well as in public policy has eroded the basic ideas of Zionism and patriotism. At the same time, the opposite holds true: those who have not fulfilled their moral obligations to the state – for instance, avoiding military service – have been stigmatised. The result of these government policies, implemented primarily through educational institutions, has led to a greater social cohesion. In institutional terms, the armed forces have assumed the role of instilling patriotic emotions among the Jewish population.

The manipulative exploitation of patriotic feelings has often led to (aggressive) nationalism, which is primarily reflected in the uncompromising attitude towards the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and to a lesser extent against Arabs with Israeli citizenship. As such, Israeli patriotism, depicting Israel mostly as an exclusive Jewish state, contains a certain degree of destructiveness. However, if patriotism was a tool the Israeli authorities have used to build a cohesive society – often at the expense of non-Jewish population – they were successful in this regard. Namely, 90 percent of Israelis are still prepared to take up arms to defend their country. In order to persistently maintain such preparedness among the population, patriotism needs to be constantly constructed, reconstructed and nurtured.

As is the case in other modern countries, patriotism in Israel is often a politicised issue and as such is often misused. Therefore, some authors, for example, Lewin (2011) talk of the monopolisation of patriotism in Israel: a phenomenon where the boundaries of what is patriotic and what is not are drawn by those who claim to be ultrapatriots. These strategies are also pursued by political leaders who seek to dominate the discourse by defining ‘us’ and ‘them’. Thus, patriotism – the love of one’s country, a sentiment which is not a problem per se – has often been misappropriated. However, many things about patriotism have changed over time. Israeli society cannot be understood as a monolithic block, blindly oriented toward patriotism: not only academics but also ordinary citizens now recognise that the Palestinians have suffered injustices ‘in the name of Israeli patriotism’.

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For the future academic research and further democratization of Israel, it might be prudent to remember Shlomo Zand (2010, 37), who suggests that further historical research should be conducted, but in a pluralistic discourse, free from tensions and chronic anxieties about Israel’s identity and national origin. In the 21st century, it is no longer possible to deny the other peoples in the immediate vicinity of Israel or even within its borders which have often become the target of Israeli nationalism (in the guise of patriotism). The current Middle-eastern microcosm was not created by Israelis and Palestinians alone, but also by the other major powers with their own stakes in the conflict. Building patriotism in such a powder-keg environment creates fertile ground for uncritical nationalism which can quickly lead to xenophobia and racism.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A comprehensive analysis on the concept of patriotism in Israel was conducted within the framework of the project Aktivno državljanstvo in domovina (Active citizenship and Homeland; The National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia; Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia). The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that contributed to improving the final version of the paper.

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