abstract
This article analyzes Menachem Begin’s attitude toward the Jewish Diaspora based on documented evidence from his international travels. Begin spent a significant amount of time traveling overseas in the 1950s and 1960s. When his leadership was threatened by Revisionists in Israel and challenged by key members of the Herut party, which he had founded, Begin looked for political legitimacy from Revisionists around the world. The staunch support of Diaspora Revisionists was an asset he could not disregard, and he recruited them as partners in decisions that had an impact on life in Israel. The backing of Diaspora Jewry was one of Begin’s sources of power and helped to secure his leadership in the Herut movement and in the State of Israel.
Contributor Notes
ofira gruweis-kovalsky is a Lecturer at Zefat Academic College and an Associate Researcher at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute(HBI), Brandeis University. Her research focuses on the Israeli right wing, women in the right wing, Jerusalem, and symbols and myths. She is the author of The Vindicated and the Persecuted: The Mythology and the Symbols of the Herut Movement, 1948–1965 (2015, in Hebrew).