Inclusion Through Exclusion : How Young Immigrant Israelis in the Nationalist Yisra'el Beitenu Party Read Israeli Citizenship

How do young people from immigrant families become engaged in politics? Anja Schmidt-Kleinert examines the case of young Israelis who are actively engaged with the nationalist Yisra'el Beitenu party, led by the Israeli minister of defence, Avigdor Lieberman. She explores how the activists present Israeli citizenship in a way that is exclusionary to non-Jewish citizens and analyses their strategy to actively construct a sense of belonging to Israeli society or, more precisely, to the Jewish collective by (re-)producing the ethno-nationalist discourse. Acknowledgement Contents List of Figures 1.Introduction I. Theoretical-Methodological Approach 2. The Grounded Theory Methodology 3. Theoretical Sensitivity I: Pre-Concepts and Pre-Knowledge 4. The Data Material 5. A Coding Paradigm of Belonging 6. Theoretical Sensitivity II: Framing the Study II. A Material Theory of Belonging 7. The Interviewees’ Objective Position in Israeli Society: Jews, Russians, Israelis? 8. Talking about Civic Engagement: “The Dirty Game of Politics” 9. Serving the Country: “The State of Israel Demands” 10. Loyalty to the Jewish State: “We are [...] a [...] Pitskalle” 11. Palestinians as Quasi Non-Citizens: “They Will Stab me in the Back” 12. The Claim of Citizen’s Rights: “I Came Here to Live Among Jews” 13. A Grounded Theory of Belonging: “All [Jewish] Israelis, Unite!” Bibliography How do young people from immigrant families become engaged in politics? Anja Schmidt-Kleinert examines the case of young Israelis who are actively engaged with the nationalist Yisra'el Beitenu party, led by the Israeli minister of defence, Avigdor Lieberman. She explores how the activists present Israeli citizenship in a way that is exclusionary to non-Jewish citizens and analyses their strategy to actively construct a sense of belonging to Israeli society or, more precisely, to the Jewish collective by using the ethno-nationalist public discourse.