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In the Belly of the Whale: Portraits from a Fractured Israel
“Margalit is one of those rare, dogged reporters who renders real lives with the subtle beauty and pain of fiction. Her portrait of Israeli society is intimate, humane, and haunting. Future generations must read this book to understand the time in which we lived.” — Evan Osnos, author of The Haves and Have-Yachts
For more than a decade, Ruth Margalit has been chronicling life in contemporary Israeli for The New Yorker and the New York Times magazine as the country has embraced right-wing extremism under Benjamin Netanyahu. Here she collects 11 of her profiles of wide-ranging figures from across society, returning to consider and update them from her current reality as a writer and mother living in Tel Aviv at a time of war.
To live in Israel today, Margalit writes, is to be either a whale or a Jonah—trying to make do in the belly of the whale. Her profiles of Israelis from all strata of society represent outsiders trying to make a life in a system designed against them, and insiders hatching plans and amassing power all while riding the twin waves of populism and jingoism.
Richly reported and animated by a novelist’s eye for detail and drama, Margalit’s writing is distinguished by its political acuity and narrative sweep. Kaleidoscopic in scope and poignant in its portrait of a country in turmoil, In the Belly of the Whale traces an unforgettable journey through present-day Israel, illuminating realities that can seem inscrutable even to the keenest observers.
For more than a decade, Ruth Margalit has been chronicling life in contemporary Israeli for The New Yorker and the New York Times magazine as the country has embraced right-wing extremism under Benjamin Netanyahu. Here she collects 11 of her profiles of wide-ranging figures from across society, returning to consider and update them from her current reality as a writer and mother living in Tel Aviv at a time of war.
To live in Israel today, Margalit writes, is to be either a whale or a Jonah—trying to make do in the belly of the whale. Her profiles of Israelis from all strata of society represent outsiders trying to make a life in a system designed against them, and insiders hatching plans and amassing power all while riding the twin waves of populism and jingoism.
Richly reported and animated by a novelist’s eye for detail and drama, Margalit’s writing is distinguished by its political acuity and narrative sweep. Kaleidoscopic in scope and poignant in its portrait of a country in turmoil, In the Belly of the Whale traces an unforgettable journey through present-day Israel, illuminating realities that can seem inscrutable even to the keenest observers.
- GenresJewish
272 pages, Paperback
Published September 22, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 10, 2026
Bought from the evil empire.
I saw this down at the Ferry Building and figured I could count it as a class expense. It's a series of portraits of major Israeli cultural figures, drawn with escalating despair, over the past 12 years. We begin with Israeli Arab comic novelist (and alter TV writer) Sayed Kashua, who exiles himself ahead of a wave of xenophobia and seems deeply unmoored in America after being only slightly moored in an Israeli society that only glancingly housed him. I read Dancing Arabs a looong time ago and have no memory of it, so clearly should reread. And then we get a parade of mostly horribles: Itamar Ben-Gvir, from legend a nice guy in person and yet a foaming racist and extremist bigot in practice (Smotrich, who's not directly profiled, honestly comes across as worse--reminds me of this independent study I did last year where we read about the careful, detailed, organized campaign Modi is running in India, which made us glad Trump doesn't have 1% of Modi's discipline to an awful cause--that's Smotrich as well); culture minister Miri Regev, who reads exactly like one of these Trump acolytes like Harmeet Dhillon, out there ready to shill for the boss; the TV presenter who converted to extremism somewhere along the way and now does Pravda-like about-faces as quickly as the Netanyahu party line changes course. There's a heart-rending visit to kibbutzniks after October 7, a profile of the Arab politician Mansour Abbas, who's trying to maintain some sort of tiny space of maybe possibility and compromise (very old-school Chicago alderman flavor here), and Yair Golan, a former General now running a campaign trying to resuscitate what remains of the left. Since these pieces come from a concentrated period, there's a fair degree of repetition, especially about Bibi's attempt to basically throttle the independent judiciary, that might have been cut down. But the cumulative effect reminds me of the line everyone knows from Yeats about how the worst are full of passionate intensity. Because wow, they sure are.
The meta-narrative here is really the rise of Mizrahi Jews who are now close to the majority, but they still mobilize all the old resentments about being condescended to culturally and politically by the old-line Ashkenazi elite, and so their politics are full of rage, deliberate provocations and insults, and a religiously-fueled insistence on maximalist readings--to the extent they even really care about linking their expansionist ideals to anything textual any more. Was talking to my parents this morning about my cousin in Haifa, who was talking about how embarrassed and horrified he felt about the directions the present leadership is taking the country. Reading this collection, unfortunately, does not provide much in the way of optimism. Unless you believe the rules of parliamentary governance will solve this, I suppose.
I saw this down at the Ferry Building and figured I could count it as a class expense. It's a series of portraits of major Israeli cultural figures, drawn with escalating despair, over the past 12 years. We begin with Israeli Arab comic novelist (and alter TV writer) Sayed Kashua, who exiles himself ahead of a wave of xenophobia and seems deeply unmoored in America after being only slightly moored in an Israeli society that only glancingly housed him. I read Dancing Arabs a looong time ago and have no memory of it, so clearly should reread. And then we get a parade of mostly horribles: Itamar Ben-Gvir, from legend a nice guy in person and yet a foaming racist and extremist bigot in practice (Smotrich, who's not directly profiled, honestly comes across as worse--reminds me of this independent study I did last year where we read about the careful, detailed, organized campaign Modi is running in India, which made us glad Trump doesn't have 1% of Modi's discipline to an awful cause--that's Smotrich as well); culture minister Miri Regev, who reads exactly like one of these Trump acolytes like Harmeet Dhillon, out there ready to shill for the boss; the TV presenter who converted to extremism somewhere along the way and now does Pravda-like about-faces as quickly as the Netanyahu party line changes course. There's a heart-rending visit to kibbutzniks after October 7, a profile of the Arab politician Mansour Abbas, who's trying to maintain some sort of tiny space of maybe possibility and compromise (very old-school Chicago alderman flavor here), and Yair Golan, a former General now running a campaign trying to resuscitate what remains of the left. Since these pieces come from a concentrated period, there's a fair degree of repetition, especially about Bibi's attempt to basically throttle the independent judiciary, that might have been cut down. But the cumulative effect reminds me of the line everyone knows from Yeats about how the worst are full of passionate intensity. Because wow, they sure are.
The meta-narrative here is really the rise of Mizrahi Jews who are now close to the majority, but they still mobilize all the old resentments about being condescended to culturally and politically by the old-line Ashkenazi elite, and so their politics are full of rage, deliberate provocations and insults, and a religiously-fueled insistence on maximalist readings--to the extent they even really care about linking their expansionist ideals to anything textual any more. Was talking to my parents this morning about my cousin in Haifa, who was talking about how embarrassed and horrified he felt about the directions the present leadership is taking the country. Reading this collection, unfortunately, does not provide much in the way of optimism. Unless you believe the rules of parliamentary governance will solve this, I suppose.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Is there any other country in the world whose nature is as discussed as Israel? Ever since its creation there has been great debate about what Israel should be, not just internally, but from people around the world. What kind of country is Israel, what does it mean to be Israeli, what is the country's furute and can it escape its past? There are even some who feel the country is guilty of apartheid and genocide and should not exist.
Yet Israel is not composed of one person and never has been. That's why I really enjoyed reading this book, it does a great job of portraying the diversity and complexity of Israeli society. The book is composed of 10 profiles of different Israelis such as ultra-nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, archeologist Israeli Finkelstein, survivors of October 7th, the leader of an Arab political party, a conservative tv personality, a left wing politican and the writer of Shtisel, a show I saw on Netflix about the Haredi.
All of this gives a broad range of perspective on Israel from the left to the right, the religious to the secular, the powerful and the excluded (and even powerful people who believe they're part of the excluded). The author clearly sympathises with the Israeli left (although it's unlikely many reading an English language book on Israel will be on the side of hardline Israeli nationalists). Each chapter is written in a very clear and engaging manner, the book does a good job of explaining the context for people unfamiliar with Israeli politics. I found the book very interesting and I would highly recommend it to others.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Yet Israel is not composed of one person and never has been. That's why I really enjoyed reading this book, it does a great job of portraying the diversity and complexity of Israeli society. The book is composed of 10 profiles of different Israelis such as ultra-nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, archeologist Israeli Finkelstein, survivors of October 7th, the leader of an Arab political party, a conservative tv personality, a left wing politican and the writer of Shtisel, a show I saw on Netflix about the Haredi.
All of this gives a broad range of perspective on Israel from the left to the right, the religious to the secular, the powerful and the excluded (and even powerful people who believe they're part of the excluded). The author clearly sympathises with the Israeli left (although it's unlikely many reading an English language book on Israel will be on the side of hardline Israeli nationalists). Each chapter is written in a very clear and engaging manner, the book does a good job of explaining the context for people unfamiliar with Israeli politics. I found the book very interesting and I would highly recommend it to others.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is exactly the kind of nonfiction I gravitate toward: deeply reported, politically engaged, and interested in the human stories behind complicated headlines. What draws me to Margalit's writing is the way she approaches Israel's divisions through individual lives rather than reducing everything to political arguments. I particularly appreciate journalism that makes room for complexity, contradiction, and uncomfortable questions. The combination of intimate portraits, politics, and literary storytelling makes this a book I'm eager to spend time with.
October 11, 2026
Despite its format of short previously published essay portraits resulting in occasional repetitiveness, this is an excellent, balanced, and interesting overview of modern Israeli politics and internal (and obviously external) conflict. The final chapter is a bit of an outlier to the book, but I understand the author's desire to memorialize her mother.
October 10, 2026
Learned a lot and quite enjoyed the writing. Would definitely recommend.
October 13, 2026
A really well written book of profiles of different people on Israeli society before and after October 7th. A great way to understand Israeli society
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews