A radical humanist: Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm

Omri Boehm is a former employee of Israel's Shin Bet secret service. He is also a staunch human rights defender who dreams of a state that upholds equal rights for both Jews and Arabs.

The philosopher's concept of "humanistic universalism," as articulated in his 2022 book, "Radical Universalism. Beyond Identity," has earned Boehm the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding.

Endowed with €20,000 ($21,785), the prize was awarded to the philosopher during the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair, on March 20, 2024.

The jury honored Boehm for his "obligation to recognize the equality of all human beings, against any relativization."

In "Radical Universalism. Beyond identity," the author "resolutely opposes the ideological hardening of the present," said the jury.

Against sacrificing 'difficult truths'

In his acceptance speech, Boehm referred to the devastating impact of the Israel-Hamas war on the Palestinians: "My Palestinian friends know that anyone who does what what my country is now doing in Gaza, and calls it self-defense, is bringing deep shame to my identity, the Jewish and Israeli one."

At the same time, he added, it would be "morally bankrupt" to describe the October 7 Hamas massacre as armed resistance.

He also encouraged a more open discussion in Germany surrounding Israel's policies. Describing the existence of a "German-Jewish friendship" as "a true miracle," the philosopher nevertheless warned Germany against this friendship's possible "devaluation" if no room is given to "difficult truths."

"The truth does not have to be sacrificed for the sake of friendship, quite the opposite. Hard truths must be spoken openly," said the Israeli thinker. 

Advocate for an Israeli-Palestinian federation

Omri Boehm is uncompromising when defending his ideas.

In his 2020 pamphlet "Israel. A Utopia," he describes Zionism as incompatible with humanist values and argues for a rethinking of Israeli statehood.

As also articulated in his 2021 book, "Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future," Boehm does not advocate for a separate Palestinian state. His "utopia" is an Israeli-Palestinian federation — one country for both peoples.

Even after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent outbreak of war, Boehm reaffirmed his position in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine.

"We are dealing with an intolerable situation where the impossible is necessary," he said. "We must find proposals for a political solution in the future. The only alternative to unlimited war is the compromise of a federation."

Intelligence officer and model student

Boehm was born in Haifa in 1979 and grew up in a small village in the Galilee region of northern Israel along with his German Jewish grandmother and Iranian Jewish grandfather.

He did his military service with the Israeli domestic secret service, Shin Bet.

But he was an elite student who ultimately completed his doctorate in philosophy at Yale University on "Kant's Critique of Spinoza."

Holding both Israeli and German citizenship, Boehm has conducted postdoctoral studies and research in Munich and Berlin.

Today, Omri Boehm lives in the US, where since 2010 he's been an associate professor of philosophy at New York's New School for Social Research.

In addition to his research and teaching work, he writes about Israeli politics in international newspapers such as Haaretz, Die Zeit and The New York Times.

Founding a 'bi-national state' on universal rights    

As the jury of the Leipzig Book Prize put it, Omri Boehm is not afraid to give "metaphysical justifications" for the universal rights of all people.

The sought-after voice on the Middle East conflict continues to call for a "bi-national state" where two peoples live side-by-side.

As he argued in "Haifa Republic," preeminent Zionists like Theodor Herzl and Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who founded Israel, advocated such a federation where Jews and Arabs resided together on the same land.

Interviewed by Swiss broadcaster SRF in November, Boehm posited that universalism also includes the idea that "the lives of uninvolved civilians in Gaza have to be defended like the lives of Israeli Jews."

He said that the premise of "imagining a life together with Palestinians" will also require that Palestinians "condemn both sides" in the conflict, meaning Hamas. 

The Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding has been awarded since 1994 and is one of the most important literary awards in Germany. The prize committee is made up of the Free State of Saxony, the City of Leipzig, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, and the Leipzig Book Fair.

 

This article was first written in German.