Q&A: Is the theory of First Israel and Second Israel part of progressive identity politics?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Is the theory of First Israel and Second Israel part of progressive identity politics?
Question
There was an episode on Kan 11 of “Meeting with Roni Kuban – A.B.H. (Avishai Ben Haim),” the popular inventor of the theory of First Israel and Second Israel. One thing led to another, and Roni Kuban showed that most of the theory is based on Ashkenazim vs. Mizrahim, periphery vs. center, and so on. Since a large part of the right adopts this theory, the obvious question is whether the Israeli right (at least mostly) actually has a progressive agenda that sees the world through narrow identity politics?
Answer
That’s just semantics. By the way, he didn’t invent that theory; he only uses it and expands it in an extreme way.