In this week’s New Statesman we explore Israel’s identity crisis and the social and political anxieties dividing the nation. In our cover story, our deputy editor, Jon Bernstein, reports from Jerusalem on how a proposed oath of allegiance to a “Jewish and democratic state” has split the country along religious and ethnic lines.
Elsewhere, in the politics column, Mehdi Hasan looks at what Ed Miliband can learn from Barack Obama’s midterms defeat and the shadow chancellor, Alan Johnson, attacks what he calls the coalition’s “Orwellian level of misinformation”.
Meanwhile, John Pilger says Britain must prepare for a rebirth of direct action, Alice Miles suggests that the Tea Party is already a waning force and Noam Chomsky looks at the plight of Palestinians in Gaza – the “world’s largest prison”.
All this, plus Russell Brand on the BBC’s “suicide mission”, Leo Robson on Saul Bellow’s letters and an exclusive extract from a new edition of The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better for Everyone.