Few countries provoke as much passion and controversy as Israel. What is Modern Israel? convincingly demonstrates that its founding ideology - Zionism - is anything but a simple reaction to antisemitism. Dispelling the notion that every Jew is a Zionist and therefore a natural advocate for the state of Israel, Yakov Rabkin points to the Protestant roots of Zionism, in order to explain the particular support Israel musters in the United States. Drawing on many overlooked pages of history, including English, French, Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian sources, Yakov Rabkin shows that Zionism was conceived as a sharp break with Judaism and Jewish continuity. Israel's past and present must be seen in the context of European ethnic nationalism, colonial expansion and geopolitical interests, rather than as an incarnation of Biblical prophecies or a culmination of Jewish history.

A Threat from Within presents a history of Jewish opposition to Zionism, and challenges the myths that lie at the very root of contemporary or 'new' anti-Semitism. A principled and enduring opposition to Zionism has come from spiritual leaders of Judaism and has not died away despite the State of Israel existence as an imposing military power. The violence in Israel/Palestine acquires a different meaning when seen in the context of internal opposition to Zionism. Dire warnings voiced at the birth of Zionism now sound prophetic. The anti-Zionists have claimed all along that far from 'solving the Jewish question' and offering Jews a safe haven, Zionism would only fan hatred of the Jews. A Threat from Within and its seemingly paradoxical theme - Jews opposing Zionism in the name of Judaism - will fascinate a wide range of readers from different political and religious orientations. Yakov Rabkin's book has been translated into several languages and has been nominated for the 2006 Governor General's Literary Awards, Canada's most prestigious literary prize.