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Is Israel Athens or Sparta?

Author(s)

Leonard Fein

Publication Name

Jewish Daily Forward

Publication Date

Publisher

Forward Association

Abstract

In 1976, Saul Bellow wrote of how Israel sought to be both Athens and Sparta - and largely succeeded. But have 35 years of occupation and war turned the country into Fortress Israel, into only Sparta? Yes and no. Israel is what it has always been, a land of stunning contradictions - between wholly Jewish and wholly democratic, between Nobel Prizes and border fences. In short, it is still somewhere between Athens and Sparta.

Geographic Coverage

Israel
Palestinian Territories

Copyright Info

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BJPA Record

Bibliographic Information

Is Israel Athens or Sparta?. 2010:  https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-bjpa15369
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