From the United Nations to the media, and from academia to international NGOs, the attacks on Israel’s legitimacy as the nation-state of the Jewish people are growing. To win this war of words, Israel’s defenders must be able to clearly explain the ideas and circumstances that led to the creation of modern Israel and underpin its existence today. In this single-volume collection, Dr. Einat Wilf does just that, presenting her most important essays on the Middle East, Israel, Zionism, and public diplomacy.
1967
As long as the Arab world views Israel as a temporary aberration to be conquered, Israel will stand fast.
The Five Key Concepts to Understanding Israel
The Intersectional Power of Zionism
Zionism has a story to tell that is not only about Jews or for Jews. Zionism has a story to tell that, when properly understood, has the power to inspire people and peoples to great acts of daring and sacrifice. Zionism tells a simple story: Victimhood is not destiny. A history of marginalization, humiliation, discrimination, persecution, massacres, and even genocide can be transcended. A people, no matter how downtrodden, can find within themselves the power to change their future.
Interview on Zionism
Feminism and Zionism
Should Zionists and feminists publicly identify themselves as such, or have the labels become too harmful to the causes? In this op-ed published in the Jerusalem Post, Dr. Wilf suggests that if Zionists and feminists retreat from using “Zionist” and “feminist” to describe their principles, then the great strides made by both movements will be in danger.
Zionism Denial
To portray Israel as the outcome of the Holocaust is to engage in Zionism Denial. It robs the Jews of their agency, their history, their historical connection to the land of Israel and their yearning to return to it. It erases all that was dreamt, written, done and achieved by the Zionists before World War II.
The War Isn’t Over Yet
The Palestinian refugee problem, and particularly its continuation, is not a result of the events of the 1948 war itself, but of an Arab and Palestinian decision to convey a clear message.
UNRWA: An Obstacle to Peace
One of the greatest obstacles to peace, and certainly the least acknowledged, is the perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee problem and the inflation of its scale by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). In this essay published in Fathom, Dr. Wilf offers ideas for what to do about UNRWA.
Zionism: An Indigenous Movement
An Israeli Leftist Finds Glimmer of Hope
Dr. Wilf grew up as a member of the Israeli left who believed that when the Palestinians would have their own sovereign state, Israel would finally live in peace. But like many Israelis of the left, she lost the certainty that she once had. This essay in Al Monitor reveals Dr. Wilf’s new vision for peace.
What is the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Really About and How Will it End?
Yes to the Occupation, No to the Settlements
As long as Israel proves its willingness to divide the land, a military occupation is justified until the other side proves the same.