Reflections on a Visit to Israel |
Israel
I spent two weeks teaching and lecturing in Israel. Here are some tentative impressions.
Ilya Somin | 12.30.2025 1:09 PM
I recently returned from a two-week trip to Israel where I taught a course on "Knowledge and Democracy" at the law faculty at Uriel Reichman University (the former IDC Herzliya). I also did presentations at both Uriel Reichman and Tel Aviv University (both schools are among Israel's leading academic institutions). During our time in Israel, my family and I also met with Israeli relatives of mine, various Israeli academics, and even a justice of the Israeli Supreme Court (that latter discussion is confidential; I promised not to write what she said). I saw a society that is resilient, but also beset with difficult challenges. Many Israelis also worry about the future of their relationship with the US.
This was my fifth trip to Israel, but the first in which I was actually a visiting professor at an Israeli university, and the first since the October 7 war. Given worldwide attention on Israel in recent years, my impressions may be of some interest. But I must caution that I do not speak Hebrew or Arabic, and I am not a true expert on Israeli politics and society. Also, although I have a variety of contacts in Israel, those I know are by no means a representative cross-section of Israeli society. Thus, the analysis here is just one part of a broader picture. But it could be helpful, despite its unavoidable limitations.
Some recent accounts of Israel depict a society traumatized by the events of October 7 and the resulting war. I didn't get that impression. Most of the people we met seem upbeat and going about their ordinary lives. Unless and until the subject of the war comes up, you would hardly know they have been through one. I have seen people traumatized by war and repression, such as some of the Cambodian refugees I worked with as a college student, or some Ukrainian ones I have met more recently. Few if any Israelis I met are like that.
I thought we might encounter more onerous and elaborate security precautions than in my pre-October 7 visits. But, for the most part, we did not. Even when we visited the Israeli Supreme Court (at the invitation of one of the justices), the security was less extensive than at its US counterpart.
At the same time, the war has had an impact, in ways that become apparent when the subject does come up. Israel is a small country (about 10 million people), and almost everyone has friends, relatives, or acquaintances who were killed, wounded, or taken hostage on October 7, or in the subsequent fighting. About 1200 Israelis (mostly civilians) were killed on October 7. As a proportion of the population, this one-day casualty toll is similar to all the US losses in the Vietnam War, which occurred over a nine-year period, and about ten times greater than the proportion of the US population lost on 9/11. Many, perhaps most, Israelis also have relatives serving in the armed forces. Typical, in some respects, was a Russian Jewish immigrant ride-share driver I spoke to, who worries that Israel faces ongoing crises with little end in sight; his son is an infantryman serving in Gaza.
Most people are happy that the US-sponsored October ceasefire deal with Hamas led to the release of the remaining hostages (I myself am not a fan of such hostage deals), but worry that the peace may not last. The arrangement leaves Hamas still armed and in control of much of Gaza, and fighting could easily break out........