ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the main findings of the book. It argues that Israel’s securitization dilemma was not inevitable but rather resulted from policy choices made in response to perceived threats to Israel’s ontological security. The chapter discusses ways in which states may avoid securitization of their ethnic identities or desecuritize those identities by way of comparison with other ethnic states in Central and Eastern Europe. The chapter concludes that Israel may engage in desecuritization of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by engaging in a process of reconstituting the meaning of the “Jewish identity” of the state through the retelling of the story of what it means to be Jewish in ways that neither create a “security drama” around it nor require the othering of non-Jews within the state. By engaging in this reconstructive process, Israel may establish ontological security of its national identity and reconstruct BDS as a political challenge rather than a security threat to the state, thereby removing the securitization dilemma that further undermines Israel’s legitimacy.
