Children of the State 
Yitzhak Laor
- Israel’s Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood by Idith Zertal Buy this book
In 1950 the Israeli parliament passed the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, the first constitutional expression of Israel’s belief that it must act as the heir of the Jews murdered in Europe. This status won international recognition only gradually, thanks by and large to West Germany’s decision not only to pay compensation to the victims of Nazism but also to pay ‘reparations’ to the state of Israel. In her excellent book, Idith Zertal reviews some of the trials of Jewish collaborators who had immigrated to Israel after the war and were indicted under this law. These survivors were victims too, but the law required that their victimhood be suspended. Nevertheless, they were all given light sentences, as if the judges themselves had some reservations about the law.
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Yitzhak Laor’s Le Nouveau Philosémitisme européen is published by Fabrique in Paris.
Other articles by this contributor:
Who shall we blame it on? · Lament for the Israeli Left
You are terrorists, we are virtuous · the IDF
After Jenin · Israel’s Imago
Before Rafah · Israeli militarism
In Hebron · The Soldiers’ Stories
Diary · General Boogey’s War
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