Israel Observed: An Anatomy of the State

June 15, 1981
Speaking of Books
Guest Reviewer: Shlomoh Sherman - Israel Observed: An Anatomy of the State By William Frankel Thames and Hudson Pub. $14.95 hc.

Mr. Frankel, an astute and experienced observer of the Israeli scene, has produced a well-written document detailing thirty-three years of politics, law, education, media, sociology, business, military, religion and Jewish-Arab relationships within the Jewish state. The reader is shown an "Israel without frills", as Frankel, former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, describes the reality of the country and paints in broad strokes a picture of the humanity and foibles of the Israeli people as well as their greatness. In doing this (at least it seems to me) he presents an apologia as a Jew criticizing the Jewish state. Nevertheless he perseveres in his very successful attempt to remain an objective reporter. In that capacity he enfolds before the reader a view of the gross negative personal behavior of Israelis in comparison with the propriety: of the citizens of other countries, and. what sounds like the general attitudinal drift of the Israeli population toward Levantinism.

Among other things, he shows us an Israeli Yeshiva world and an Israeli right-wing religious establishment incapable of responding to the search for Orthodoxy on the part of the non-religious in the wake of the Six Day War. But he also shows us the gallantry of the Jewish people of Medinat Yisrael in the face of the Yom Kippur War, in the heroic acts at Entebbe, and in the prosecution of Eichmann.

In sum, William Frankel's, Israel Observed: An Anatomy Of The State, shows us a land and a people in human terms like other lands and peoples, only more so. Accompanying the text of 277 pages are a glossary of Hebrew and general Israeli terminology and a selected bibliography.