Most Israelis do not desire assimilation into a common whole, given that they hold the other components of their identity equally dear as their Jewish heritage and their Israeli citizenship. A Russian Jew may have more in common with fellow Russians than an Ethiopian Jew and an Israeli may be an atheist yet a member of a religious state.
Does an Israel national identity still exist, asks Yehoshua? He does not ask this question of the Palestinian nationals, who clearly see themselves as apart from Israeli society, both legally and in terms of how they profess their own citizenship and nationhood. However, even for Jews, Israel proposes an interesting question of what constitutes a nation. Israel gives refuge and citizenship to every Jew, no matter where he or she may hail from, but the state of Israel also has civic institutions that are limited to professed nationals, some of whom are not even observant Jews.
Judaism must be understood as distinct from Israeli citizenship, even though the Law of Return for every Jew should stand. This interview, with a distinguished and often iconoclastic author, is perhaps not representative of the view of all Israelis. Indeed, one of the things that Yehoshua highlights is the pluralism and diversity of points-of-view in Israel. However, it is a useful interview to use as a springboard for questions of how to define identity and nationhood, when that identity springs from a religious identity, a religion that not all citizens of the nation share. Israel highlights the socially constructed and therefore unstable idea of nationhood for all citizens, even citizens of nations with less problematic questions of citizenship and national borders.
