by DANIEL ESTRIN
“From Generation to Generation? Avinadav Begin (second from left) resembles his grandfather, Menachem (left). But David Axelrod (right) won’t permit his face to appear in print. Great-grandfather, Leon Trotsky, is to his left.”
Kfar Tapuach, West Bank — If only Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky could see what has become of his great-grandson, David Axelrod.
The 49-year-old Russian émigré to Israel has adorned his modest living room with a singular-framed photograph: a bird’s-eye view of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock — Islam’s third-holiest shrine — digitally replaced with an image of an imagined Third Jewish Temple.
…
“Judaism is violence, Zionism is violence…. A flag is violence, an anthem is violence,” Avinadav Begin writes in his first book, “The End of Conflict,” a meditation-cum-treatise in Hebrew and Arabic which argues that clinging to nationalistic identity is at the root of worldwide violence.
Israel is used to family rebels. While American politicians’ progeny often stay out of the limelight, their Israeli equivalents tend to be more vocal — and ideologically rebellious. Former right-of-center prime minister Ehud Olmert’s daughter, Dana, has participated in demonstrations for Palestinian and gay and lesbian rights.
Forward for more
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)