Impossible takes longer 75 years after its creation, has Israel fulfilled its founders' dreams?

The history of Israel is "a combination of unexpected successes and maddening disappointments," according to this even-handed chronicle. Comparing drafts of the 1948 Declaration of Israeli Independence, historian and journalist Gordis (We Stand Divided) notes that "there was a chorus of often conflicting voices that gave rise not only to the Declaration but to the country itself." Once the state was created, tensions between aspirational goals and grim reality soon emerged, particularly over the doctrine of havlagah, or using force only for defensive purposes. Though Gordis defends Israel's preemptive air strikes against Egypt in 1967, he casts a critical eye on the complicity of the Israeli Defense Forces in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut. Amid harrowing episodes of political and religious violence, Gordis highlights many remarkable achievements, including the staving off of economic collapse in the 1950s and Israel's emergence as "a leader in agricultural technology, a formidable economic engine, and a technological powerhouse." On balance, Gordis concludes the Jewish state has met its primary objectives, even if it has done so imperfectly. Though unlikely to change minds, this is an accessible overview of Israeli history and a well-reasoned case for why it's worth supporting. (Apr.)

An examination of the complexities of Israel's past and future. On the 75th anniversary of the creation of Israel, Gordis, a two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, offers a nuanced assessment of its successes and challenges. Israel's Zionist founders, he writes, "did not really agree about the fundamental justification for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Was it God? History? The Bible? Something else?" Yet they managed to forge a declaration that reflected their dream of creating a unique and exemplary nation, "different because it was a Jewish state, a nation that holds itself accountable to a different set of standards." They envisioned a society that would ensure "complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex" and guarantee "freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture." Gordis considers a host of relevant issues, including Israeli democracy, treatment of minorities, the economy, secularism, religion, relationship to Diaspora Jews, and, not least, place on the international stage, underscoring Israel's determination to survive in a world in which antisemitism still rages. From the outset, it confronted violence by Palestine and volatility throughout the Middle East. Iran has repeatedly called for Israel's annihilation. Faced with these threats, Gordis asks, "If Israel can only survive by the sword, should the Jewish people give up the profound transformation in the Jews' existential condition that Israel has wrought?" The author acknowledges problems both within the nation (political corruption, internal violence, income inequality) and with its neighbors. "Israel," he writes, "can be fairly characterized as a success only if it and its people continue to be honest about who they have been, who they are, the terrible decisions that they have at times made, and who they and their country still need to become." Yet in light of its founders' dreams, he sees the nation as "one of the greatest stories of resilience, of rebirth, and of triumph in human history." A thoughtful, well-informed analysis. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.