Pub Date : 2022-03-24DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.07
R. Cohen-Almagor
ABSTRACT:The article opens with a discussion of my premises in relation to the separation of state and religion. Section II elucidates the goal of creating a decent and just society in Israel. Section III explains the manner in which liberal democratic values, based on the above presmises, enable Israel to fulfill this goal. These values include liberty, tolerance, human rights, equality, truth, and justice. The Respect for Others Argument and the Harm Principle safeguard the rights of women, ethnic, religious, national and cultural minorities, homosexuals and others who might otherwise find themselves at a disadvantage in society. Section IV delineates how and why justice is the all-encompassing value Israel must adopt. The Conclusion focuses on the means of compromise and deliberation used in the decision-making processes.
{"title":"Why Separate State and Religion?","authors":"R. Cohen-Almagor","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.07","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:The article opens with a discussion of my premises in relation to the separation of state and religion. Section II elucidates the goal of creating a decent and just society in Israel. Section III explains the manner in which liberal democratic values, based on the above presmises, enable Israel to fulfill this goal. These values include liberty, tolerance, human rights, equality, truth, and justice. The Respect for Others Argument and the Harm Principle safeguard the rights of women, ethnic, religious, national and cultural minorities, homosexuals and others who might otherwise find themselves at a disadvantage in society. Section IV delineates how and why justice is the all-encompassing value Israel must adopt. The Conclusion focuses on the means of compromise and deliberation used in the decision-making processes.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"76 - 91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41260292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-24DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.05
J. Fox, Ron E. Hassner
ABSTRACT:The article seeks to correct for the exceptionalist tendency among scholars of Israeli politics and religion by offering quantitative and qualitative analyses of religious discrimination, regulation of religion and support of religion in Israel compared to other countries. We find that Israel’s religious policies are unremarkable. In some areas, Israel’s policies parallel those of other democracies. In other areas, they exceed or fall short of comparable democracies. Our quantitative analysis draws on the Religion and State (RAS) Dataset. Israel exhibits far less discrimination against minority religions than many non-democratic countries, but scores average among democracies. Israel engages in a moderate amount of regulation and support of its majority religion compared to other countries. It engages in more regulation and support of its majority religion than most democracies. We conclude with a case study contrasting Israel’s religious policies as manifested in the IDF with British religious politics towards its armed forces. The purpose of this comparison is to move discussions of religion, state, and society in Israel away from normative judgments and towards a dispassionate analysis of discernible cross-case similarities and differences.
{"title":"Israel the Unremarkable: Religious Freedom Through a Comparative Lens","authors":"J. Fox, Ron E. Hassner","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.05","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:The article seeks to correct for the exceptionalist tendency among scholars of Israeli politics and religion by offering quantitative and qualitative analyses of religious discrimination, regulation of religion and support of religion in Israel compared to other countries. We find that Israel’s religious policies are unremarkable. In some areas, Israel’s policies parallel those of other democracies. In other areas, they exceed or fall short of comparable democracies. Our quantitative analysis draws on the Religion and State (RAS) Dataset. Israel exhibits far less discrimination against minority religions than many non-democratic countries, but scores average among democracies. Israel engages in a moderate amount of regulation and support of its majority religion compared to other countries. It engages in more regulation and support of its majority religion than most democracies. We conclude with a case study contrasting Israel’s religious policies as manifested in the IDF with British religious politics towards its armed forces. The purpose of this comparison is to move discussions of religion, state, and society in Israel away from normative judgments and towards a dispassionate analysis of discernible cross-case similarities and differences.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"41 - 60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44284820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-24DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.04
Nicole Maor, D. Ellenson
ABSTRACT:The Law of Return cements the connection between Israel and world Jewry by determining who is eligible as a “Jew” for full and immediate Israeli citizenship. It has also been the source of legal and political challenges since it was enacted in 1950 and until today because of controversy over “who is a Jew” for purposes of the Law. In March 2021, the Supreme Court ended decades of debate around the question “who is a Jew by choice” and “whose conversions will be recognized” for the purpose of the law by extending recognition to persons converted under Reform and Conservative auspices in Israel. This article traces the legal and political background of this landmark decision and considers its impact.
{"title":"“Who is a Convert? ”—The Law of Return and the Legality of Reform and Conservative Conversions in Israel","authors":"Nicole Maor, D. Ellenson","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.04","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:The Law of Return cements the connection between Israel and world Jewry by determining who is eligible as a “Jew” for full and immediate Israeli citizenship. It has also been the source of legal and political challenges since it was enacted in 1950 and until today because of controversy over “who is a Jew” for purposes of the Law. In March 2021, the Supreme Court ended decades of debate around the question “who is a Jew by choice” and “whose conversions will be recognized” for the purpose of the law by extending recognition to persons converted under Reform and Conservative auspices in Israel. This article traces the legal and political background of this landmark decision and considers its impact.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"24 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48067397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-24DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.08
David Barak-Gorodetsky
ABSTRACT:The article addresses the role of the Diaspora in Israel’s religious and state affairs from the perspective of post-secular society. The social covenant approach to religion and state and the diasporic interests entailed differentiate between the spheres of formal legal status and social capital. In the first sphere, diasporic interests relating to conversion are subjected to the principles of Jewish collective consensus, whereas in the second, policies may be adopted to boost the social capital of global Jewish communities in Israel.
{"title":"Religion and State in Israel-Diaspora Relations—A Social-Covenant Approach","authors":"David Barak-Gorodetsky","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.08","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:The article addresses the role of the Diaspora in Israel’s religious and state affairs from the perspective of post-secular society. The social covenant approach to religion and state and the diasporic interests entailed differentiate between the spheres of formal legal status and social capital. In the first sphere, diasporic interests relating to conversion are subjected to the principles of Jewish collective consensus, whereas in the second, policies may be adopted to boost the social capital of global Jewish communities in Israel.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"104 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47979309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-24DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.06
A. Sagi
ABSTRACT:The article examines the “is and ought” in the relationship between the two characteristics—Jewish and democratic—that define the State of Israel. Claiming that the precedence of “Jewish” to “democratic” is detrimental to both, the article concludes that “Jewish” must be a thin term allowing for the inclusion of all modes of Jewish existence, lest the State of Israel cease to be the state of the Jewish people and become the state of a new Jewish people created within it.
{"title":"A Jewish and Democratic State or a Democratic and Jewish State? —A New Outline for Jewish Existence in Israel","authors":"A. Sagi","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.06","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:The article examines the “is and ought” in the relationship between the two characteristics—Jewish and democratic—that define the State of Israel. Claiming that the precedence of “Jewish” to “democratic” is detrimental to both, the article concludes that “Jewish” must be a thin term allowing for the inclusion of all modes of Jewish existence, lest the State of Israel cease to be the state of the Jewish people and become the state of a new Jewish people created within it.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"61 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48497098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-24DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.12
Daniel Mahla
ABSTRACT:Israel has been competing in the Eurovision song contest, Europe’s biggest music festival, since 1973. The spectacle is a formidable arena for participating countries to shape their image and brand their nations. At the same time, its distinctively European character challenges Israelis, whose country is one of the few located outside the continent’s geographical borders, to grapple with their social, cultural, and political affiliations with Europe and its institutions. Against this backdrop, the article traces the participation of the Jewish state in Eurovision and the debates this has generated in the Israeli public in order to investigate the shifts that have occurred in the country’s self-representation and thereby, the messages Israel has sought to convey to Europeans.
{"title":"Distinguished Member of the Euro(trash) Family? Israeli Self-Representation in the Eurovision Song Contest","authors":"Daniel Mahla","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.2.12","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:Israel has been competing in the Eurovision song contest, Europe’s biggest music festival, since 1973. The spectacle is a formidable arena for participating countries to shape their image and brand their nations. At the same time, its distinctively European character challenges Israelis, whose country is one of the few located outside the continent’s geographical borders, to grapple with their social, cultural, and political affiliations with Europe and its institutions. Against this backdrop, the article traces the participation of the Jewish state in Eurovision and the debates this has generated in the Israeli public in order to investigate the shifts that have occurred in the country’s self-representation and thereby, the messages Israel has sought to convey to Europeans.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"171 - 194"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42521244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.03
E. Brin
ABSTRACT:During Israel's War of Independence evacuees from the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City were resettled in the abandoned Arab neighborhood of Qatamon only to be threatened soon after with eviction and replacement by members of the civil service. Repeated attempts at collective eviction ended with most of the evacuees managing to remain in their homes and enjoy comfortable rent arrangements. This outcome has been attributed by some to the symbolic capital of the Old City refugees, the empathy they elicited from the general public and the state's decision makers in response to their harsh wartime experiences and material sacrifices. Alternately, a critical analysis would suggest that the determining factor was the authorities' unrelated desire to end what had become a drawn-out affair, combined with logistical reasons that worked in favor of the refugees. The case before us offers new insights into the role of capital, symbolic and otherwise, in the shaping of Jerusalem's physical space during the early days of Israeli statehood.
{"title":"The Limits of Symbolic Capital: The Case of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter Evacuees in Qatamon","authors":"E. Brin","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.03","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:During Israel's War of Independence evacuees from the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City were resettled in the abandoned Arab neighborhood of Qatamon only to be threatened soon after with eviction and replacement by members of the civil service. Repeated attempts at collective eviction ended with most of the evacuees managing to remain in their homes and enjoy comfortable rent arrangements. This outcome has been attributed by some to the symbolic capital of the Old City refugees, the empathy they elicited from the general public and the state's decision makers in response to their harsh wartime experiences and material sacrifices. Alternately, a critical analysis would suggest that the determining factor was the authorities' unrelated desire to end what had become a drawn-out affair, combined with logistical reasons that worked in favor of the refugees. The case before us offers new insights into the role of capital, symbolic and otherwise, in the shaping of Jerusalem's physical space during the early days of Israeli statehood.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"61 - 83"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41926603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.08
Orna Alyagon Darr, Nomi Levenkron
ABSTRACT:Our study sheds light on an obscure aspect of Israel's first two decades when cases of infanticide and life-threatening abandonment were a familiar occurrence. Such cases reveal the disparity between the venerated Zionist ideal of motherhood and family, and the practical reality in which unmarried girls, mothers of children with special needs, or mentally ill and indigent mothers killed or abandoned their own children. Surprisingly, cases of this type were treated with leniency by the legal system and the public at large. Based on criminal files and the contemporary press, we argue that this response is better understood given the cultural background of the offences which reflected wider social and national distress. Each of these cases reflects not only the image of a homicidal mother, but also a fissure in the emerging Israeli society.
{"title":"Infanticide and the Life-Threatening Abandonment of Children in Israel's State-Building Era (1948–1968)","authors":"Orna Alyagon Darr, Nomi Levenkron","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.08","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:Our study sheds light on an obscure aspect of Israel's first two decades when cases of infanticide and life-threatening abandonment were a familiar occurrence. Such cases reveal the disparity between the venerated Zionist ideal of motherhood and family, and the practical reality in which unmarried girls, mothers of children with special needs, or mentally ill and indigent mothers killed or abandoned their own children. Surprisingly, cases of this type were treated with leniency by the legal system and the public at large. Based on criminal files and the contemporary press, we argue that this response is better understood given the cultural background of the offences which reflected wider social and national distress. Each of these cases reflects not only the image of a homicidal mother, but also a fissure in the emerging Israeli society.","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"182 - 207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41792138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.01
H. Cohen
ABSTRACT:In recent years, Israel's Security Agency (Shabak) launched a new psychological warfare arena with an Arabic language Facebook page addressed to Palestinians, alongside more precisely targeted pages monitored by regional field officers (the so-called "Captains"). The messaging is nearly identical to the kind of propaganda the Zionist media has aimed at Palestinians for over a century: Israel is here to stay, Israel desires co-existence, but those who defy its authority suffer the consequences. The difference is that this time the messages are targeted, personal, illustrated with documentary footage of youths detained, homes demolished, calls for collaborators and informers, and preachy holiday greetings. These Facebook pages have acquired a huge following, but their comments show that the Palestinians are not buying the message. Some signal an interest in the dangled benefits, some respond with a slew of curses, while others use the platform to send political counter-messages. Social media has so far not succeeded in winning over the hearts and minds of Palestinians, though it may discourage them from joining the struggle against the occupation
{"title":"Marketing the Occupation to the Palestinians of the West Bank: Shabak Facebook Pages in Historical Context","authors":"H. Cohen","doi":"10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.27.1.01","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:In recent years, Israel's Security Agency (Shabak) launched a new psychological warfare arena with an Arabic language Facebook page addressed to Palestinians, alongside more precisely targeted pages monitored by regional field officers (the so-called \"Captains\"). The messaging is nearly identical to the kind of propaganda the Zionist media has aimed at Palestinians for over a century: Israel is here to stay, Israel desires co-existence, but those who defy its authority suffer the consequences. The difference is that this time the messages are targeted, personal, illustrated with documentary footage of youths detained, homes demolished, calls for collaborators and informers, and preachy holiday greetings. These Facebook pages have acquired a huge following, but their comments show that the Palestinians are not buying the message. Some signal an interest in the dangled benefits, some respond with a slew of curses, while others use the platform to send political counter-messages. Social media has so far not succeeded in winning over the hearts and minds of Palestinians, though it may discourage them from joining the struggle against the occupation","PeriodicalId":54159,"journal":{"name":"Israel Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"1 - 34"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44365844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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