ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of whether or not there are symbols and myths with sufficient salience for most Israelis that they provide a common cultural frame of reference strong enough to withstand the strains of the political divisions that threaten to polarize the society. It considers some of the basic components of Israeli political culture and relate them to different constituencies within Israeli society. There are militantly anti-Zionist groups such as those affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which, although illegal in Israel, have supporters primarily among the Arabs. A sense of psychological security has been found to be positively associated with political tolerance in Israel. Robert Paine has suggested that a form of totemism, a nonrational eschatological politics dominated by a mythical rather than a historical notion of time, characterized the political worldview of the Begin era in Israel.
