“An Essay on the Triumph of Dialogue” is a self and group reflection that introduces the reader to the intricacies of the heated debate on the complicated issue of Israeliness versus Jewishness, and where Ethiopian Jews stand in this context. This attempt to present a socio-political analysis of the state of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel seeks to pave the way towards a political perspective that considers diversity in Israeli society. This approach attempts to challenge the specific form of Jewishness that dictates the religious, cultural, social, and political agenda in Israel, and to create a conceptual foundation for a discussion on how Israeliness can serve as a civil platform for political action on the part of Ethiopian Jews. In order to step outside a prevalent Jewish point of view, which assumes an imagined social uniformity – one that does not exist in practice yet has the power to cast aspersions on the possibility of a basic Israeli unity – the essay demonstrates how individuals and groups who find themselves outside the boundaries of consideration can take political action of an emancipatory nature.
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