Counterfactual Israels : Zionism, nation-building, and indigeneity in contemporary Jewish writing

Abstract EN

This article examines three works by Jewish writers that offer a counterfactual narrative of the establishment of Israel: Nava Semel’s IsraIsle (2006), Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007), and Lavie Tidhar’s Unholy Land (2018).

Focusing on indigenous experiences of settler-colonialism, these novels use alternate histories to examine a Jewish identity not exclusively defined by Zionism.

This, in turn, creates a sense of empathy, or at least sympathy, with Palestinians and Palestinian history, and opens up a space for critiquing Israel’s actions in the contemporary period, while exploring the implications of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians on Jewish, and Israeli-Jewish, identities today.