Introduction: debating the idea of Israel -- Pt. 1. The scholarly and fictional idea of Israel -- The 'objective' history of the land and the people -- The alien who became a terrorist: the Palestinian in Zionist thought -- The war of 1948 in word and image -- Pt. 2. Israel's post-Zionist moment -- The trailblazers -- Recognizing the Palestinian catastrophe: the 1948 war revisited -- The emergence of post-Zionist academia, 1990-2000 -- Touching the raw nerves of society: Holocaust memory in Israel -- The idea of Israel and the Arab Jews -- The post-Zionist cultural moment -- On the Post-Zionist stage and screen -- The triumph of neo-Zionism -- The neo-Zionist new historians -- Epilogue: brand Israel 2013.