New Article: Bick, The Evolution of Civic Service in Israel

Bick, Etta. “Institutional Layering, Displacement, and Policy Change: The Evolution of Civic Service in Israel.” Public Policy and Administration (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0952076715624272

 

Abstract

This study explores the process of endogenous institutional change. It utilizes the concepts policy layering and displacement to explain gradual but yet significant and cumulative institutional change that has taken place in civic national service policy in Israel. Layering was an expedient strategy of change given the highly charged politics surrounding national service and the opposition of ultra-orthodox and Israel’s Arab citizens to any form of service. While the government and administrative agencies were the primary agents of change, we will also take note of the important and contentious role of Israel’s High Court of Justice which served as a catalyst to policy change, compelling the government to end policy drift. However, it is important to note that judicial intervention may also derail gradual reform as will be shown in the Israeli case.

 

 

 

New Article: Weiss, How a Gentler Israeli Military Prevents Organized Resistance

Weiss, Erica. “Incentivized Obedience: How a Gentler Israeli Military Prevents Organized Resistance.” American Anthropologist 118.1 (2016): 91-103.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/aman.12501
 

Abstract

In this article, I offer an ethnographic examination of neoliberal techniques of control through absence by the Israeli military, the state institution most associated with discipline, indoctrination, and direct coercion. I highlight the ways that the apparent withdrawal of the state from practices of indoctrination and the punishment of conscientious objectors are accompanied by a shift in recruitment and training that emphasizes self-advancement and social mobility above national and ideological commitments. While in the past the Israeli state and military focused exclusively on shaping self-sacrificing citizens, today it invests a great deal of its effort in structuring the calculated choices of self-interested individuals toward favorable outcomes. I explore the uneven but strategic deployment of incentivized governance and consider some of the effects of these techniques for the meaning of engaged citizenship and the politics of state violence in a militarized society. Further, I demonstrate that the lightening of disciplinary sanctions in favor of individual freedom is an effective form of weakening dissent and that it confounds efforts to constitute organized resistance to militarism, leaving activists floundering to find effective ways to express their political concerns.

 

 

 

ToC: Israel Affairs 22.1 (2016)

Israel Affairs, Volume 22, Issue 1, January 2016 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online. This new issue contains the following articles: Articles Sixty-two years of national insurance in Israel Abraham Doron Pages: 1-19 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111632 Rethinking reverence for Stalinism in the kibbutz movement Reuven Shapira Pages: 20-44 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111640 Making war, thinking history: David Ben-Gurion, analogical reasoning and the Suez Crisis Ilai Z. Saltzman Pages: 45-68 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111638   Military power and foreign policy inaction: Israel, 1967‒1973 Moshe Gat Pages: 69-95 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111636 Arab army vs. a Jewish kibbutz: the battle for Mishmar Ha’emek, April 1948 Amiram Ezov Pages: 96-125 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111633 Lip-service to service: the Knesset debates over civic national service in Israel, 1977–2007 Etta Bick Pages: 126-149 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111630 State‒diaspora relations and bureaucratic politics: the Lavon and Pollard affairs Yitzhak Mualem Pages: 150-171 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111637 Developing Jaffa’s port, 1920‒1936 Tamir Goren Pages: 172-188 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111634 University, community, identity: Ben-Gurion University and the city of Beersheba – a political cultural analysis Yitzhak Dahan Pages: 189-210 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111631 The Palestinian/Arab Strategy to Take Over Campuses in the West – Preliminary Findings Ron Schleifer Pages: 211-235 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111639 Identity of immigrants – between majority perceptions and self-definition Sibylle Heilbrunn, Anastasia Gorodzeisky & Anya Glikman Pages: 236-247 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2015.1111635 Book Reviews Jabotinsky: a life David Rodman Pages: 248-249 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2016.112095 Ethos clash in Israeli society David Rodman Pages: 250-251 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2016.1120967 Nazis, Islamists and the making of the modern Middle East David Rodman Pages: 252-254 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2016.1120968 The new American Zionism David Rodman Pages: 255-257 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2016.1120969 Rise and decline of civilizations: lessons for the Jewish people David Rodman Pages: 258-259 | DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2016.1120970

New Article: Perez & Sasson-Levy, Avoiding Military Service in a Militaristic Society

Perez, Merav, and Orna Sasson-Levy. “Avoiding Military Service in a Militaristic Society: A Chronicle of Resistance to Hegemonic Masculinity.” Peace & Change 40.4 (2015): 462-88.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pech.12143

 

Abstract

This article examines the connection between masculine identity and avoidance of military service in a militaristic society. Based on retrospective interviews with Israeli middle-class men who initiated their release from military service on medical–psychological grounds, we argue that this choice embodies resistance to patterns identified with the local hegemonic masculinity and that this resistance gradually intensifies over the life course. The first signs of opposition emerge in early adolescence, when the perception of self diverges from the conventional masculine mold. The emotionally charged encounter with the military deepens this resistance, which is then reinforced by the decision not to serve, and ultimately leads to the construction of the present nonconformist identity. The development of a nonconformist self that is not subject to the dictates of the local hegemonic masculinity demonstrates how in a militaristic society, even a personal decision not to serve becomes an act rife with gendered meanings and political significance.

 

 

 

Conference: AJS Program Book now online (Boston, Dec 13-15, 2015)

The 47th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies will take place in Boston, December 13-15, 2015.

The full program is now available on the AJS website: http://www.ajsnet.org/conference-menu.htm

You may also download the program here: PDF

 

 

New Article: Koren et al, Disability during Military Service in Israel

Koren, Ela, Yoav S. Bergman, and Michael Katz. “Disability during Military Service in  Israel: Raising Awareness of Gender Differences.” Journal of Gender Studies 24.1 (2015): 117-28.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2013.820132

 

Abstract

Women in Israel are required by law to serve in the national army. While disabled women veterans constitute about 6% of the total disabled veteran population, their injuries during service are similar to those of men, and include injuries sustained during combat, in training, or in traffic accidents. To date, no attempt has been made to study this unique population. The current research employs the social model of disability and examines gender differences among Israeli Defense Forces veterans who became disabled during their military service, in the areas of mental and physical health, perceived stigma, and social support. Findings show that disabled women veterans report significantly lower social support, lower monthly salaries, and experience more discrimination than their male counterparts. No differences were found in other variables. This research is an important step toward raising the awareness of gender differences, and its findings stress the need for additional studies which will provide further information regarding this distinctive population.

Reviews: Weiss, Conscientious Objectors in Israel

Weiss, Erica. Conscientious Objectors in Israel. Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

 

Reviews

• Singeisen, David. “Review.” LSE Review of Books, August 2014.
• Shammas, Victor L. “Review.” Social Anthropology 22.4 (2014): 518-519.
• Stern, Nehemia. “Review.” American Ethnologist 42.1 (2015): 181-183.
• Aviram, Hadar. “Review.” Perspectives on Politics 13.2 (2015): 526-8.
• Linn, Ruth, and Renana Gal. “Review.” Israel Studies Review 30.1 (2015): 149-152.

 

 

New Book: Weiss, Conscientious Objectors in Israel

Weiss, Erica. Conscientious Objectors in Israel. Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

 
URL: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15212.html

 

In Conscientious Objectors in Israel, Erica Weiss examines the lives of Israelis who have refused to perform military service for reasons of conscience. Based on long-term fieldwork, this ethnography chronicles the personal experiences of two generations of Jewish conscientious objectors as they grapple with the pressure of justifying their actions to the Israeli state and society—often suffering severe social and legal consequences, including imprisonment.

While most scholarly work has considered the causes of animosity and violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Conscientious Objectors in Israel examines how and under what circumstances one is able to refuse to commit acts of violence in the midst of that conflict. By exploring the social life of conscientious dissent, Weiss exposes the tension within liberal citizenship between the protection of individual rights and obligations of self-sacrifice. While conscience is a strong cultural claim, military refusal directly challenges Israeli state sovereignty. Weiss explores conscience as a political entity that sits precariously outside the jurisdictional bounds of state power. Through the lens of Israeli conscientious objection, Weiss looks at the nature of contemporary citizenship, examining how the expectations of sacrifice shape the politics of both consent and dissent. In doing so, she exposes the sacrificial logic of the modern nation-state and demonstrates how personal crises of conscience can play out on the geopolitical stage.

Erica Weiss teaches anthropology at Tel Aviv University.

 

Reviews: McGahern, Palestinian Christians in Israel

Reviews of: McGahern, Una. Palestinian Christians in Israel. State Attitudes towards Non-Muslims in a Jewish State. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2011.

 

 

Reviews:

• Cardaun, Sarah. “Review.” Journal of International and Global Relations 3.2 (2012): 151-153.
• Ben-Porat, Guy. ”Review.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 36.2 (2013): 379-380.
• Jones, Clive. “Review.” Middle Eastern Studies 50.2 (2014): 346-349.

 

 

 

 

ToC: Israel Affairs 19,3 (2013)

Israel     Affairs, Vol. 19, No. 3, 01 Jul 2013 is now available on Taylor & Francis Online. This new issue contains the following articles: Original Articles ‘We     need the messiah so that he may not come’: on David Ben-Gurion’s use of     messianic language Nir Kedar Pages: 393-409 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799864 Beyond     a one-man show: the prelude of Revisionist Zionism, 1922–25 Jan Zouplna Pages: 410-432 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799871 Another     Orient in early Zionist thought: East Asia in the press of the Ben-Yehuda     family Guy Podoler Pages: 433-450 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799866 Jerusalem     in Anglo-American policy in the immediate wake of the June 1967 war Arieh J. Kochavi Pages: 451-467 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799865 A     farewell to arms? NGO campaigns for embargoes on military exports: the case     of the UK and Israel Gerald M. Steinberg, Anne Herzberg & Asher Fredman Pages: 468-487 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799869 The     politics of ‘over-victimization’ – Palestinian proprietary claims in the     service of political goals Haim Sandberg Pages: 488-504 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799868 Equality,     orthodoxy and politics: the conflict over national service in Israel Etta Bick Pages: 505-525 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799862 The     establishment of a political-educational network in the State of Israel:     Maayan Hahinuch Hatorani Anat Feldman Pages: 526-541 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799863 Between     the dream and the reality: vocational education in Israel, 1948–92 Nirit Raichel Pages: 542-561 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799867 The     influence of mergers on the capital market Tchai Tavor Pages: 562-579 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799870 Book Reviews 1973:     the way to war Raphael Cohen-Almagor Pages: 580-582 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.778094 Land     and desire in early Zionism David Rodman Pages: 583-584 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799881 Israel     in Africa, 1956–1976 David Rodman Pages: 584-585 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799899 Zion’s     dilemmas: how Israel makes national security policy David Rodman Pages: 586-587 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799882 Should     Israel exist? A sovereign nation under attack by the international     community David Rodman Pages: 588-589 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799885 The     role of US diplomacy in the lead-up to the Six Day War: balancing moral     commitments and national interests David Rodman Pages: 589-590 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799886 The     wars of the Maccabees: the Jewish struggle for freedom, 167–37 BC David Rodman Pages: 590-592 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799887 In     the aftermath of Operation Pillar of Defence: the Gaza strip, November 2012 David Rodman Pages: 592-593 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799888 The     future of the Jews: how global forces are impacting the Jewish people,     Israel and its relationship with the United States David Rodman Pages: 593-595 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799889 The     lives of ordinary people in ancient Israel: where archaeology and the Bible     intersect David Rodman Pages: 595-597 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799890 Israel     vs. Iran: the shadow war David Rodman Pages: 597-599 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799883 The     triumph of Israel’s radical right Evan Renfro Pages: 599-601 DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799884

TOC: Israel Studies Review, 27.1 (Summer 2012)

Announcement: TOC: Israel Studies Review, 27.1 (Summer 2012)

 

Israel Studies Review

Volume 27 • Issue 1 • 2012

http://journals.berghahnbooks.com/isr/

EDITORS’ NOTE

FORUM

Introduction: The ‘Religionization’ of Israeli Society (pp. 1-3) Yoram Peri

1. More Jewish than Israeli (and Democratic)? (pp. 4 – 9) Tamar Hermann

2. Yes, Israel Is Becoming More Religious (pp. 10 – 15)

Shlomo Fischer

3. Religious Pressure will Increase in the Future (pp.16 – 20) Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser

4. Seculars Jews: From Proactive Agents to Defensive Players (pp. 21- 26) Nissim Leon

5. A Need for an Epistemological Turn (pp. 27- 30) Yaacov Yadgar

ARTICLES

1. Inverted First and Second-Order Elections: The Israeli Case (pp. 31- 54) David Nachmias, Maoz Rosenthal, Hani Zubida

2. Russian Israelis and Religion: What Has Changed after Twenty Years in Israel? (pp. 55 – 77)

Larissa Remennick and Anna Prashizky

3. Avoidance of Military Service in Israel: Exploring the Role of Discourse (pp. 78 – 97)

Oren Livio

4. Wedding Ceremony, Religion and Tradition: The Shertok Family Debate, 1922 (pp. 98 – 124) Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman

 

REVIEW ESSAYS

1. Gender on the Hebrew Bookshelf (pp. 125 – 141) Hanna Herzog

2. Israel’s Palestinian Minority: From ‘Quietism’ to Ethno-nationalism (pp. 142 – 160) Jonathan Mendilow

 

BOOK REVIEWS

1. Jacob Shamir and Khalil Shikaki, Palestinian and Israeli Public Opinion: The Public Imperative in the Second Intifada Review by Murad Idris (pp. 161 – 163)

2. Eytan Gilboa and Efraim Inbar, eds., US-Israeli Relations in a New Era: Issues and Challenges after 9/11 Review by David Albert (pp. 163 – 166)

3. Uri Cohen and Nissim Leon, The Herut Movement’s Central Committee and the Mizrahim, 1965-1977: From Patronizing Paternship to Competitive Partnership Review by Yitzhak Dahan (pp. 167 – 170)

4. Sharon Aronson-Lehavi, ed., Wanderers and Other Israeli Plays Review by Nancy E. Berg (pp. 170 – 173)

5. Shalom Goldman, Zeal for Zion: Christians, Jews, and the Idea of the Promised Land Review by Barbara U. Meyer (pp. 173 – 175)

 

INDEX OF PREVIOUS ISSUES

Israel Studies Review Index, Fall 1985 to Winter 2011 (pp. 176 – 208)

Cite: Geller, Conscription of Circassians into the IDF

Geller, Randy. “The Recruitment and Conscription of the Circassian Community into the Israel Defence Forces, 1948-58 .” Middle Eastern Studies 48.3 (2012): 387-399.

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URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/mes/2012/00000048/00000003/art00004

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Abstract

This article examines the process leading to the draft of the Sunni Muslim Circassian community into the Israel Defence Forces beginning in 1958. While the Circassians were the second and final minority group to be drafted into the IDF (following the Druze in 1956), the background to and implementation of the draft of this community in Israel has been virtually ignored by previous researchers. This article is the first to examine the process leading to the Circassian draft based on original documentation, and argues that the small number of Circassians enabled the army to incorporate them without threatening the army’s fundamentally Jewish character; it also enabled the state to demonstrate its commitment to democracy and equality by incorporating a (second) non-Jewish minority group into a central state institution. Additionally, Circassian service would theoretically engender divisions between Circassian and Arab Muslims, and finally – perhaps – would garner the sympathy of highly placed Circassians in the governments and armies of neighbouring Arab states.