The Multicultural Challenge in Israel (Hardcover, New)

In the last three decades, Israel has been undergoing a dramatic revolution: the hegemonic secular Zionist ethos that founded it is cracking, and various sub-groups seek to realize their specific identity in the public sphere. Ultra- Orthodox, Arabs, Mizrahim, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and others are rejecting the peripheral status that had ranked them according to their proximity to the principles of this ethos and insist on their own voice. Israeli society has consequently become a seething entanglement of confl icts and identity struggles. This book is one of the first attempts to examine various aspects of the current multicultural transformation of Israeli society. It deals with fundamental questions such as the character of Israel as a Jewish state, the status of minorities and their right to self-realization, and the farreaching influence of the multicultural turn on a variety of legal and social dimensions. Theoretical questions are reconsidered in light of specific case studies in Israel, off ering a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary discussion of multicultural theories and their application.