Kishon, the Arabs and the Political Left

Abstract

Ephraim Kishon, one of the major satirists in the history of Israeli letters, aimed most of his creative genius and satirical barbs at targets in the social-economic sphere. Although his popularity and fame were built on this sturdy foundation, a significant portion of his extensive writing dealt with Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors and the world. Here his vehement nationalistic viewpoint comes to the fore. The article analyzes Kishon’s nationalistic perspective of two entities: the Arabs and the Israeli political Left. These entities – the main external one and main internal one – are the central nodes against which Kishon’s nationalism is cognitively and emotionally comprised of. The author shows that Kishon’s nationalism serves as a precursor and prototypical template of the current surge in Israeli nationalism that appears to be sweeping the public sphere.