A provocative argument for a new way of seeing Israel, Zionism, and the two-state solution.

A Future for Israel is a wake-up call to liberal Zionists. In the last two decades, Israeli politics has been changing rapidly, but Zionist thinking on the left is lagging dangerously behind. Given the demise of a viable two-state solution, the struggle for a worthwhile political future in Israel depends not on establishing borders but on securing human and citizen rights. Denying this is by now akin to denying global warming, and will lead to a catastrophe. Seventy years after Israel’s establishment, Palestinians are again verging on becoming the majority within Israel’s borders and Israeli leaders across the political spectrum can be heard speaking of ethnic cleansing. Ignoring reality will invite scenarios worse than apartheid.

A Future for Israel reclaims the vital center from Zionist chauvinism on the right and anti-Zionism on the left by articulating an alternative to two-state politics from within a liberal Zionist perspective. Omri Boehm argues that Israeli patriots must now challenge Zionist taboos as we have come to know them and dare to imagine the country’s transformation from a Jewish state into a federal, binational republic.

Omri Boehm is a professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research. He is the author of The Binding of Isaac: A Religious Model of Disobedience and Kant’s Critique of Spinoza. His writings on Israeli politics and culture have appeared in Haaretz, Die Zeit, The New York Times, and elsewhere.