The Constitution of the Israeli Diaspora. Crisis as a catalyst

• In Event: Diaspora-Israel Dialectics

Abstract

2023 has been critical for Israel and the Jewish People worldwide. The year began with the Ministry of Justice’s pronouncement on what was known as the Judicial Reform or Overhaul. Following this announcement, Israel grappled with the most significant domestic political and social crisis witnessed in decades.
Over ten months, the nation witnessed an unprecedented mobilization as hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens took to the streets. These protests, spanning over fifty weeks, constituted the largest and most diverse civil demonstrations Israel had ever experienced. Various segments of Israeli society voiced profound concerns about the nation’s future.
The already intricate and tense year took a sudden turn on October 7th, when the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas launched a violent attack against Israeli civilians, resulting in the highest single-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. The conflict exposed Israel’s vulnerabilities, casting doubt on the core Zionist commitment to Jewish self-protection. Furthermore, widespread anti-Israel demonstrations and rising antisemitism span the globe, affecting the Jewish and Israeli communities living abroad.
This presentation aims to examine the Israeli diaspora’s response to this constellation of crises described above. It will address pivotal inquiries, including whether the Israeli population abroad can be considered a diaspora, while also exploring the emergence of political transnationalism, which has led to what I refer to as “the awakening of the Israeli diaspora.”
A chronological timeline, or “trajectory,” has been selected as a research tool cultivated through the analysis of online posts, WhatsApp messages, press releases, media articles, and personal interviews. Employing this trajectory as a methodology facilitates the systematic organization and interpretation of changes, continuities, and disruptions in migrant actions within defined timeframes alongside the events propelling those changes.
While significant contributions have been made over the last decades regarding the migration of the Israeli population, the constitution of the Israeli diaspora remains relatively unexplored in previous studies. Moreover, the political awakening of this population remains largely unknown, positioning this article among the first to delve into this uncharted direction.

Author

• Perla Aizencang Kane, Hebraica University PCPyS-UNAM