What matters in captive societies, where siege, incarceration, and warfare are not distinct modes of oppression but different expressions of Samson’s wrath, is resistance. In this sense, abolition and decolonization point to a shared political horizon, each an articulation of the fight for national liberation—a defensive stand taken against the one... See more

In all, this makes Samson an apt symbol for the Israeli national psyche. Zionism is premised on the divine right of Israelis to the land of historic Palestine, whose native inhabitants must either submit or be destroyed, a deferred punishment for any and all historic crimes perpetrated against the chosen people. And imbued with incredible... See more