For instance, the Russians have their own newspapers, watch Russian television and often consider the level of Israeli culture as below that of Russia. There are other sub-groups whose grievances may trigger violence. One of the most savage riots in Jerusalem in recent years came in 1996 when 10,000 Ethiopian Jews almost stormed the prime minister's office. They were enraged by the discovery that blood donated by Ethiopians to the national blood bank was secretly discarded for fear that it might be infected by the HIV virus. Jews who came from Yemen are increasingly alienated by the belief that their babies were kidnapped when they arrived after the war of independence.
Nobody quite knows the answer.
The figure of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, is deeply divisive and he continues to be loathed by the secular left. When widespread fighting with Palestinians followed his opening of a tunnel under Jerusalem's Muslim quarter in 1996, many Israeli army reservists did not report for duty. But there are countervailing forces. Suicide bombs may remind Israelis that there is no peace with the Palestinians, but they also ensure Israel's political and religious unity.