Zionism and Post-Zionism in A Political Theory for the Jewish People

At the heart of Chaim Gans’ book is a central question of political morality facing Israel—the question of Zionism.1 One of the major themes of the book is that there are several distinct conceptions of Zionism, making it tricky to attempt a general definition of the idea. What various conceptions of Zionism share in common, however, are the ideas of Jewish self-determination and of the Land of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. A political theory is Zionist if it asserts on behalf of the Jewish people a right to self-determination on some or all of the territory of the Land of Israel. The premise of Gans’ book is that Zionism is a morally controversial position. Most obviously, the Zionist project is controversial because it was pursued and continues to be pursued on territory that is home to Arabs, and that is considered by Arabs to be their own homeland (or part thereof) and, thus, the site in which their own self-determination ought to take place. The project might also be seen as controversial for reasons that are internal to the Jewish collectivity. There have always been Jews who would prefer that Israel not be dedicated to the self-determination of the Jewish people.