ABSTRACT
Imagine for a moment what would happen if Israel applied for membership in the European Union. What would be the response? Its application would either be deferred like Turkey’s, or flatly rejected. Why? Is Israel not European enough? Does it even belong to Europe even though geographically it is located in Asia? Even though founded in Europe, Israel is out of Europe but not in Europe. It lies in Asia and like Turkey connects Asia to Europe. Turkey is of course the looming question that has brought this long-buried discourse of origins out of hiding. People who want to keep Turkey out have suddenly discovered that the roots of Europe lie in its Christian heritage. Those who share the European continent, but do not share this Christian heritage, are seen as Europe’s Other. Thus the same should apply for Israel and for Europe’s Jews. Israel is certainly not a Christian country. One can almost claim that it is the opposite with its particularistic and ethnic self-definition as a Jewish state. And Israel – like Turkey – is not a Western Liberal state. Israel (like Turkey) rose out of the Ottoman Empire and constantly has to balance processes of Europeanization, Americanization, the expectations of international institutions and the pressure of local groups and tradition. On the one side the European Union, the European Council and the United Nations, on the other side Kurds and Palestinians, who are in ethnic and national conflicts with both states. Both states struggle to find their own special path to modernity, which looks different from most Western states with their post-Enlightenment separation between state and religion – a Christian-based notion of just that Western Enlightenment. Turkey attempts its own way as a Muslim democratic modernity, while Israel goes its own way as a Jewish democratic modernity. Both countries show Europeans a not-yet-existing diversity beyond their participation in European song and sporting events.
