The Revisionists & the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism

For the first three quarters of the 20th century, the image of Zionism as a secular, socially progressive movement was part of Israel's history, and American support these years was mostly liberal. But beginning in the 1970s, a right-wing movement began to take hold in Israel that eventually caused American liberal support to become much more discerning. This was a development that took off in earnest with the election of Menachem Begin as Israel's first Likud-party prime minister in 1977. Since then, Israeli right-wing politicians have ascended to dominate Israeli politics. Menachem Begin was followed by Likud prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Olmert. What's more, in the last decade, once-fringe parties have entered the Israeli political mainstream, and Israel's present government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is the most right-wing in the nation's history. "The Revisionists & the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism" details the events that led to the rise of the Israeli right, in part, by exploring the coalitions the Likud party built with the religious right communities in Israel and the United States to gain and maintain power. It is also a study of how the rise of conservative Zionism has affected the nature of American support for Israel. Support for Zionism had been a bipartisan consensus in the U.S. for decades, but, in recent years, cracks in the foundation of this support have begun to appear, particularly (ironically) among American liberals.