Post-Zionism

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Post-Zionism refers to the views of some Israeli and diaspora Jews, particularly in academia, that Zionism fulfilled its ideological mission with the creation of modern State of Israel in 1948 and that the ideology should therefore be considered to be at an end. The term is also used by right-wing Jews to refer to the left-wing of Israeli politics in light of the Oslo Accords.

Among the important minority threads within Zionism is one that holds Israelis to be a new nationality, not merely the representatives of world Jewry. The "Canaanite" or "Hebrew Renaissance" movement led by poet Yonatan Ratosh in the 1930s and 1940s was built on this idea. A modern movement based partly on the same idea is known as post-Zionism. There is no agreement as to how this movement should be defined, nor even of who belongs to it, but the most common idea is that Israel should leave behind the concept of a "state of the Jewish people" and instead strive to be a state of all its citizens according to pluralistic democratic values. Many Israeli historians consider "Canaanism" or "Pan-Semitism" to be an aberration beyond the bounds of Zionism. Self-identified post-Zionists differ on many important details, such as the status of the Law of Return. Critics tend to associate post-Zionism with anti-Zionism or postmodernism, both of which claims are strenuously denied by proponents.

The term Post-Zionism also refers to a loosely defined movement that holds Israelis to be a new nationality, not merely the representatives of world Jewry. There is no agreement as to how this movement should be defined, nor even of who belongs to it, but the most common idea is that Israel should leave behind the concept of a "state of the Jewish people" and instead strive to be a state of all its citizens according to pluralistic democratic values. Many Israeli historians consider "Canaanism" or "Pan-Semitism" to be an aberration beyond the bounds of Zionism. Self-identified post-Zionists differ on many important details, such as the status of the Law of Return. Critics tend to associate post-Zionism with anti-Zionism or postmodernism, both of which claims are strenuously denied by proponents.

One major group that is closely associated with modern post-Zionism is the school of historical revisionism known as the New Historians, in which the history of Israel and Zionism, particularly the events leading to the creation of the state of Israel and its early years are re-examined with an attempt to uncover events that have been hidden or de-emphasised by Zionist historians, particularly the alleged maltreatment of Palestinians, arguing that the state of Israel was created through violence against Arab residents. See also 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

In constrast to the Jewish state being the aim of political Zionism, many Post-Zionists advocate the evolution of Israel into a non-ideological, secular, liberal democratic state which is officially neither Jewish nor Arab in character.

Well known post-Zionists include Hillel Kook, Uri Avnery^{[citation needed]}, Bernard Avishai^{[citation needed]}, Tom Segev^{[citation needed]}, Gideon Levy^{[citation needed]}, Tanya Reinhart^{[citation needed]}, Avi Shlaim^{[citation needed]}, Ilan Pappe^{[citation needed]}, Norman Finkelstein^{[citation needed]} and Benny Morris^{[citation needed]}.