Eva Illouz. “There is a struggle for Israel’s soul, its nature, and its future.”
Renowned worldwide for her studies on emotions in consumer society, French-Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz won the Israel Prize, the country's highest cultural award. However, in late March, Benjamin Netanyahu's government opposed her awarding the prize because she, along with more than 150 Israeli intellectuals and scientists, signed a petition in 2021 calling for the International Criminal Court to investigate possible war crimes in Gaza.
Of Moroccan origin, Illouz has endorsed Israel's right to defend itself following the Hamas attacks of October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza, and is critical of the anti-Israel bias she attributes to sectors of the progressive left in Western countries. However, she has simultaneously denounced Prime Minister Netanyahu's government, accusing it of autocratic measures and undermining the rule of law.
The author of numerous books, including Explosive Modernity (2025); The Emotional Life of Populism (2023) and The End of Love (2020), published in their entirety by Katz Editores, Illouz now teaches at the prestigious École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and is a regular contributor to publications such as Haaretz , Le Monde , and Die Zeit . “The sign of an authoritarian regime is to designate its own citizens as enemies, and that’s what’s happening in Israel today,” Illouz says in this interview, conducted before Israel launched Operation Rising Lion against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which led to increasing cross-attacks between the two countries.
– You have defended Israel's right to defend itself after the Hamas attack, while at the same time criticizing the government. What inspired you to consider the decision to deny you the award?
–I have defended Israel's right to exist against those who advocated for its disappearance. I have defended the right to a response to the invasion of its territory and the massacre of its civilians; I have invoked its right to get rid of Hamas. Obviously, I have never advocated the total destruction of Gaza or an endless war. In the case you mention, there is a crude political interference in a scientific decision. Only those who agree with us are rewarded. They want to exclude those who are on the opposite side. The Israel Prize scandal to which I am subjected, the brutal political interference, is one less stone in the democratic edifice that is already in the process of collapsing. We know that authoritarian regimes primarily attack two things: the judicial system and academics, intellectuals, and artists. We know that Netanyahu and his government have been methodically attacking the judicial system for several years. Dramatic reforms are being implemented, including those to the process of selecting judges, which annihilate the separation of powers. They also attack universities: I am a sad example of this. It's a fight for the soul of Israel, its nature, its future.
– What does this decision say about the current government's intervention in the state, its institutions, and the functioning of those institutions?
–It's an intervention, as you say. They exclude those who don't strictly follow their ideas and their political line. But they are increasingly hated by public opinion. On April 8, 2025, Minister [of Education] Kish attended a large conference of young scientists "of the future" in Jerusalem and was booed by the crowd of young students. The far right is determined to invade every corner of power, but it is increasingly hated. Israel is experiencing a serious moral crisis. Since October 7, some Israelis have been in a state of hyper-defense that leads them to see enemies everywhere, to demonize the other, even if they are Arab-Israeli citizens. A bit like the Americans, who had demonized the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. The sign of an authoritarian regime is to designate its own citizens as enemies, and that is what is happening today. It is the radical defeat of the Zionist project.
– How do you see the possibility of democratic debate on these issues inside and outside Israel?
–The Jews of France are a small community that doesn't even represent 0.7% of the total population. Therefore, the French Jewish community tends to think of Israel in terms of protection: Israel protects us and we protect Israel. This is also how a large part of the American Jewish community thinks. But when you are Franco-Israeli, as I am, when you belong to the majority in Israel and the minority here in France, you understand that things don't work the same way in both countries. In Israel, Jews are a majority that exercises abusive and brutal power over the Palestinians and, increasingly, over the Israelis themselves, despite the fact that there is a history and historical complexity to this situation. But you can no longer claim that against an anti-democratic regime. Israel is in the hands of messianic ideologues who question the socialist and democratic Zionist heritage, who completely reject its spirit, its principles, and its values. This is a country that has profoundly changed its DNA, to use a metaphor I don't like. I fight for the possibility that was initially formulated of creating a democratic country for the Jews, but we must recognize that today there are forces completely alien to this vision, forces that want to introduce messianic power and the idea of the Third Temple into the political arena. The question is: should we defend Israel regardless of its orientation and nature? Or should our loyalty be conditioned by a democratic regime? This is a new crisis. For many Israelis who make enormous sacrifices, more than any citizens in democratic societies, the country will cease to be habitable if it becomes undemocratic and authoritarian.
– You raise the issue of the distraught Israeli democrats are experiencing in the face of the autocratic, nationalist, and expansionist exercise of power that they observe in the current government.
–The rift lies between the communitarian position of the intellectual who defends a specific community and the universalist position of those who, like me, also and above all, defend human rights and democratic values wherever they are. I abhor anti-Semitism and defend the rights of Palestinians. I see no contradiction in that. But many experience it as a rift. I believe it's the rift that many Arab Muslims in France experience when they see their country of origin behaving badly, but are afraid to say so publicly because it would call into question their attachment to a community that already feels rejected. It's the dilemma of intellectuals who live between several communities of belonging, who are minorities in a democracy, and who identify out of affection and loyalty with a country that doesn't practice the values and institutions they enjoy. Some prefer loyalty to the community. Others, to universal values. It's the same question that arises for Jews and Muslims. A French Muslim who feels discriminated against in France has no desire to hear that the Algerian regime is authoritarian. Jewish communities around the world and the State of Israel live in a state of hyper-defensiveness. We have been victims of massive anti-Semitism since October 7th, hence a certain natural communal withdrawal. But a large part of the French Jewish community remains blind to the abuses of the Israeli government. It is hemmed in, on the one hand, by the far right and, on the other, by the far left.
– What's called the "liberal camp" in Israel seems to have been abandoned by the European left. What are the political consequences or effects of this?
–Clearly: the Israeli government and certain members of the Jewish community believe that the enemies of their enemies are their friends, while in reality, there are three different groups of enemies: the Muslim Brotherhood/Iran; the far left; the far right. Allying with the far right will not solve the problems of Israelis or Jews. It is an act of blindness that stems from anxiety. We must look for allies elsewhere. Among moderate and democratic Muslim Arabs, for example. That is where we must build our alliances. Frantz Fanon had said, addressing the Black community: “When you hear someone insult a Jew, pay attention; they are talking about you.” I would like to say to Jews: “When the far right talks about Muslims, pay attention; they are talking about you.”
Translated from French by Ezequiel Burstein; interview published on Tenoua.org
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