What is the history of libertarianism in Israel?
In general, libertarianism and market liberalism is not a big part of Israel’s history. Aside from an abortive anti-tax party in the 1970s and similar such marginal attempts, there’s precious few libertarian activists in this country. There are several think tanks, however, that do great work promoting libertarian ideas, especially libertarian economics, through seminars, press releases and so forth. I must especially commend the Jerusalem Institute of Market Studies, who focus on the promotion of Austrian economic thought. Why is it do you think that Jews and libertarianism don’t get along? I would have thought the pair would be a perfect match, with the shared focus on law and justice and freedom. Next week is Passover, the Jewish festival celebrating their exodus from slavery, one of the most libertarian holidays anywhere. I think that the main issue is that, when you look back to the history of zionism, it didn’t grow up in a vacuum. Zionism was inspired greatly by the nationalist
