Rewriting Israeli History: New Historians and Critical Sociologists

The New Historians and Critical Sociologists were two groups of thinkers who emerged in Israel during the 1980s, strongly criticizing Israeli history and society. Coming from diverse backgrounds and using different methodologies, nonetheless they all shared a highly critical approach towards mainstream historians and sociologists, and, more importantly, towards key moments and issues in Israel's history. These thinkers blamed the Zionist establishment for ignoring the distress of the European Jews during the Holocaust, committing war crimes against the Arab population during the 1948 War, and abusing immigrants in the years after the state's independence. These claims raised passionate debates between mainstream and critical scholars, which strongly affected Israeli society. This paper examines the processes that led to the emergence of these thinkers, the novelty of their historical narratives and interpretations, and analyzes the specific terminology they employed, as well as their opponents' criticisms, which their research provoked.