Overview

This book weaves together philosophical, theological, psychoanalytical, and political paradigms, providing both a historicization and a theorization of the Israeli experience and encompassing social-political events in recent history and life in Israel. Born out of Itzhak Benyamini’s subjective experience as an “Israeli,” a “Mizrahi” (a Hebrew term referring to a Jewish person whose origin derives from the Muslim world), and a “civilian,” this book provides an in-depth discussion of the psychical and philosophical ramifications of recent sociopolitical events in Israel. Throughout chapters discussing topics such as identity, the uncanny, and the political ontology of time, Benyamini sheds light on the uncanny feelings of Israelis following Benyamin Netanyahu’s long term in office. The book deciphers the multilayered Israeli anxiety and exposes the measure of complexity that such a psycho-political identity accumulates. A multidisciplinary work combining sociological, psychoanalytical, and philosophical thought, this book will be of interest to scholars, students, and professionals in these fields and those who would like to learn more about Israeli culture.

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9781041129431

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Reviews

“Benyamini’s text zooms in on the signifier “Israeli”, in a stunning philosophic-psychoanalytic hermeneutic of self-analysis. It unpacks a kaleidoscopic heterogeneity, produced by phantasmatic dreams of past and future projected upon a present endlessly circling the unrepresented Real of trauma. The text embodies and tells of a pulsating vitality, that seeks both home and structure. Conflicted elements of this vitality continuously re-inscribe a precarious balance of complementarity and negation. In this complex, intricate ambiguity Benyamini portrays the dangers and appeals of the unequivocal, fragmenting figure of Netanyahu, before and after October 7th. The book offers a remarkable explanation of the disquieting and gripping fascination with Israel.” Shlomit Yadlin-Gadot, PhD, Chair of the Psychotherapy Program, School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University. Co-author of “Lacanian Psychoanalysis: A Contemporary Introduction” – Routledge 2023. ""A Psycho-Political Analysis of Netanyahu’s Israel: The Israeli Anxiety"" brings continental philosophy, psychoanalysis, biblical studies, and political theory to bear on the most intimate and deep-seated features of contemporary Israel. By weaving together these diverse fields of knowledge, it offers a fresh and penetrating critique of Israeli society, culture, and politics—from its origins to its current crises. This is a bold and original work by one of the most creative Israeli thinkers of our time.” Yotam Hotam, PhD, University of Haifa. Author of: ""Critiques of Theology: German-Jewish Intellectuals and the Religious Sources of Secular Thought"" (SUNY 2023).

Author Information

Itzhak Benyamini teaches at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and in the Psychotherapy Program at Tel Aviv University. Dr. Benyamini is the author of numerous books and articles, which have been translated into English, French, and German. His main interests cover, as well as weave together, the intricate relations between psychoanalytic theory and religious and political discourses.

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