Forgotten, Suppressed, Denied by Meir Margalit

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Veiled in silence and oblivion, certain chapters of Israeli history conceal a submerged reality waiting to be uncovered. This work argues that just below the surface of national history, entire episodes remain hidden-so much so that we might affirm: in the field of Israeli history, there is not a stone that, if lifted, will not expose a reality different from the one imprinted in our collective memory. These cast-aside records provide essential insights into what we are, echoing E. H. Carr’s observation that “The best way to know the character of a society is to examine both the history it writes about itself and the history it does not write about.” This hermeneutic study traces the imprints of erased episodes in the body of the nation and confronts perplexing questions: What have we forgotten in our history? Which episodes of our past has the national discourse chosen to lock away in hidden drawers? For what is forgotten is not what is not remembered, but what people choose not to remember.

Year first published: 2025