ToC: Israel Studies Review 31.2 (2016)

Israel Studies Review 31.2 (2016)

Table of Contents

Articles

• The Puzzle of The University on Air: A Story of Media and Academia in Israel, 1977–2013 / Hagai Boas and Ayelet Baram-Tsabari (1–21)
• Menachem Begin’s World Travels in the 1950s: A Road to Political Legitimacy / Ofira Gruweis-Kovalsky (22–40)
• The New Economic Policy of 1962: How Israeli Economists Almost Changed the Israeli Economy / Ronen Mandelkern (41–60)
• War and Memory: The Israeli Communist Commemoration of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1986 / Amir Locker-Biletzki (61–79)
• Israel Goes to the Polls: The Road to Elections for the Constituent Assembly, 1948–1949 / Meir Chazan (80–100)
• Westernization and Israelization within Israel’s Extreme Orthodox Haredi Society / Menachem Keren-Kratz (101–129)
• Turkish-Israeli Relations during the Cold War: The Myth of a Long ‘Special Relationship’ / Kilic Bugra Kanat (130–149)

Reviews

• Uri Ram, The Return of Martin Buber: National and Social Thought in Israel from Buber to the Neo-Buberians [in Hebrew].
• Christopher L. Schilling, Emotional State Theory: Friendship and Fear in Israeli Foreign Policy.
• Marwan Darweish and Andrew Rigby, Popular Protest in Palestine: The Uncertain Future of Unarmed Resistance.
• Erella Grassiani, Soldiering under Occupation: Processes of Numbing among Israeli Soldiers in the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
• Assaf Meydani, The Anatomy of Human Rights in Israel: Constitutional Rhetoric and State Practice.
• Yael Raviv, Falafel Nation: Cuisine and the Making of National Identity in Israel.

Bulletin: Religion in Israel

Books:

• Sharaby, Rachel. The Revival of a Tradition. Seharane Celebrations in Israel (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2016; in Hebrew).
• Hakak, Yohai. Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics: The Sage, the Warrior and the Entrepreneur (Leiden: Brill, 2016).

Articles:

• Engelberg, Ari. “Religious Zionist Singles: Caught Between ‘Family Values’ and ‘Young Adulthood’.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55.2 (2016): 349-64.
• Shoham, Hizky. “‘He had a Ceremony—I had a Party’: Bar Mitzvah Ceremonies vs. Bat Mitzvah Parties in Israeli Culture.” Modern Judaism 36.3 (2016): 335-356.
• Levy, John. “Freedom and Authority in Israel.” In Freedom and Authority in Religions and Religious Education (ed. Brian Gates; London and New York: Bloomsbury, 1996, reprinted 2016), 86-94.
• Uzan, Elad. “From Social Norm to Legal Claim: How American Orthodox Feminism Changed Orthodoxy in Israel.” Modern Judaism 36.2 (2016): 144-62.
• Shilon, Avi. “Menachem Begin’s Attitude toward the Jewish Religion.” Middle East Journal 70.2 (2016): 249-74.
• Levy, Yagil. “Religious Authorities in the Military and Civilian Control. The Case of the Israeli Defense Forces.” Politics & Society 44.2 (2016): 305-32.

Reviews:

• Waldron, Mary Ann. Review of: René Provost, ed. Mapping the Legal Boundaries of Belonging: Religion and Multiculturalism from Israel to Canada (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). Journal of Church and State, 2016 (online first).
• Ward, Ian. Review of: Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, and Aurora Nou, eds. Secularism on the Edge: Rethinking Church-State Relations in the United States, France, and Israel (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). Journal of Church and State, 2016 (online first).
• Greenberg, Yoel. Review of: Raffi Ben-Moshe, Experiencing Devekut: The Contemplative Niggun of Habad in Israel (trans. Jonathan Chipman; Jeursalem: Jewish Music Research Center, 2015). Notes 73.1 (2016): 120-122.

 

Bulletin: Journal ToCs, Israel Studies, Israel Affairs, Constellations

Journal ToCs:

Israel Studies, 21.3 (2016): https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/34103

• Pnina Lahav, “Zivotofsky v. Kerry: The Supreme Court of the United States, the Politics of American Jewry and the Biblical Balaam“
• Michael Zank, “The Jerusalem Basic Law (1980) and the Jerusalem Embassy Act (1995): A Comparative Investigation of Israeli and US Legislation on the Status of Jerusalem“
• Arye Naor, “Menachem Begin and “Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel”
• Ben Herzog, “The American Diaspora in Israel: Intersecting Identity, Ideology and Politics“
• Kobi Peled, ““Germany in Jerusalem” The Inauguration of the Augusta Victoria Church and Hospice on the Mount of Olives in 1910“
• Ofira Gruweis-Kovalsky, “Between Ideology and Reality: The Right Wing Organizations, the Jerusalem Question, and the Role of Menachem Begin 1948–1949“
• Kobi Cohen-Hattab, “Designing Holiness: Architectural Plans for the Design of the Western Wall Plaza After the Six-day War, 1967–1977“
• Hila Zaban, “In the Name of Pluralism: Fighting the (Perceived) Ultraorthodox Penetration in the Baka Neighborhood of Jerusalem“
• Lior Lehrs, “Jerusalem on the Negotiating Table: Analyzing the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks on Jerusalem (1993–2015)“
• Anat Zanger, “City and Memory: Jerusalem in Israeli Cinema“
• Miriam Fendius Elman, “Jerusalem Studies: The State of the Field“

 

Israel Affairs 22.3-4 (2016): http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fisa20/22/3-4

• Eithan Orkibi, “Israel at the polls 2015: a moment of transformative stability“
• Manfred Gerstenfeld, “The run up to Israel’s 2015 elections: a political history“
• Nir Atmor & Chen Friedberg, “Who turned out at the polls? Socioeconomic and geographic perspectives on 2015 voter turnouts in Israel“
• Dganit Ofek & Assaf Meydani, “A new integrated model of the formation of coalitions: perspectives on the Twentieth Knesset“
• Doron Navot & Aviad Rubin, “Likud’s success in the 2015 elections: Netanyahu’s Hobbesian moment“
• Udi Lebel & Guy Hatuka, “De-militarization as political self-marginalization: Israeli Labor Party and the MISEs (members of Israeli security elite) 1977–2015“
• Nissim Leon, “The covert political ethnicity of the Kulanu party“
• Arik Rudnitzky, “Back to the Knesset? Israeli Arab vote in the 20th Knesset elections“
• Michal Alon-Tirosh & Dorit Hadar-Shoval, “Leadership and identity politics on the eve of the Israeli 2015 elections: children’s perspectives“
• Sharon Haleva-Amir, “Not all about that Facebook: political campaigns and civic engagement in the 2015 elections”
• Dana Weimann-Saks, Yaron Ariel, Vered Malka & Ruth Avidar, “Trends in public and media agenda-setting during the 2015 Israeli elections“
• Nili Steinfeld, “The F-campaign: a discourse network analysis of party leaders’ campaign statements on Facebook
• Mira Moshe, “The enemy within us: emotional politics in the 2015 Israeli elections“
• David Kleczewski & Ruth Amossy, “Pragmatic and value-based argumentation in the 2015 Israeli elections“
• Rafi Mann, “The Bibi Sitter and the Hipster: the new comical political discourse“
• Editorial Board

Constellations 23.3 (2016): Special Section: Israel and Palestine: Thinking the “One State Solution” onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8675.2016.23.issue-3/issuetoc

• Uri Ram and Andrew Arato, “Israel and Palestine: Thinking the “One State Solution” (pages 327–328)”
• As’ad Ghanem and Dan A. Bavly, “Seeking an Egalitarian State in Palestine/Israel: The Recent Debate about Binationalism (pages 329–339)”
• Honaida Ghanim, “Between Two “One-State” Solutions: The Dialectics of Liberation and Defeat in the Palestinian National Enterprise (pages 340–350)“
• Raef Zreik, “When Does a Settler Become a Native? (With Apologies to Mamdani) (pages 351–364)”
• Amal Jamal, “Conflict Theory, Temporality, and Transformative Temporariness: Lessons from Israel and Palestine (pages 365–377)”

 

New Article: Almog, Israel, Romania and the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Accord

Almog, Orna. “Unlikely Relations: Israel, Romania and the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Accord.” Middle Eastern Studies (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2016.1186015

 

Abstract

The history of Israel’s turbulent relations with the Eastern bloc nations during the Cold War has one exception, Romania. Unlike other Warsaw Pact members, Romania did not sever relations with Israel following the 1967 war. Central to these relations was Romanian Communist leader Nicolai Ceausescu, who managed to establish himself as an important figure among both Arabs and Israelis. This article will examine Romanian–Israeli relations during the 1970s and especially Ceausescu’s role in the Egyptian–Israeli peace negotiations. Recent Israeli and some Romanian documents released from the Israeli State Archive and the Begin Centre reveal much about Israel’s attitude towards Romania and Ceausescu’s involvement in the Middle East, and serve to shed light on a heretofore neglected aspect of Israeli foreign policy. Some of the main issues to be addressed are Ceausescu’s influence on Egyptian and Israeli decision makers, Israel’s prime motives in maintaining a close relationship with Romania, the importance of Romanian Jewry’s position to Israel’s policy vis-à-vis Romania and the extent to which these relations represented a back channel that facilitated some contact with the Kremlin. All these will be examined against the larger backdrop of the Cold War and the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Review article: Donno, Recenti studi sull’ebraismo, Israele e Medio Oriente

Donno, Antonio. “Recenti studi sull’ebraismo, Israele e Medio Oriente.” Eunomia 4.2 (2015): 627-32.
 
URL: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/eunomia/article/view/15754 [PDF]
 
Abstract

This article reviews recent publications such as Artur Patek’s Jews
on Route to Palestine, Hillel Cohen’s 1929, Eric Gartman’s Return to Zion, Ofer Shiff’s The Downfall of Abba Hillel Silver, Jesse Ferris’ Nasser’s Gamble, Daniel Zoughbie’s Indecision Points, and more.

 

 

 

Workshop: at Taub Center, on Yigal Allon and Menachem Begin (NYU, Feb 26, 2016)

2/26/16 – Taub Center Graduate Workshop
10am – 2pm

The Taub Center organizes regular workshops for graduate students and faculty in the field of Israel Studies at NYU and other universities in the tri-state area. The regional workshops are an opportunity for students and faculty to present and discuss their respective areas of research. The workshops also serve as an important forum for networking and strengthening the field of Israel Studies.

• Ehud Manor, Oranim College (Israel): Writing the Biography of Yigal Allon
• Avi Shilon, Taub Center for Israel Studies: Menachem Begin: His Life and Ideology

New Book: Golan | Lavi: The United States, Israel, and a Controversial Fighter Jet

Golan, John W. Lavi. The United States, Israel, and a Controversial Fighter Jet. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2016.

The Lavi fighter program, the largest weapons-development effort ever undertaken by the State of Israel, envisioned a new generation of high-performance aircraft. In a controversial strategy, Israel Aircraft Industries intended to develop and manufacture the fighters in Israel with American financial support. The sophisticated planes, developed in the mid-1980s, were unique in design and intended to make up the majority of the Israeli air force. Though considerable prestige and money were at stake, developmental costs increased and doubts arose as to whether the Lavi could indeed be the warplane it was meant to be. Eventually the program became a microcosm for the ambitions, fears, and internal divisions that shaped both the U.S.-Israeli relationship and Israeli society itself. But the fighter never made it to operational service, and until now, the full breadth and significance of the Lavi story have never been examined and presented.

Lavi: The United States, Israel, and a Controversial Fighter Jet traces the evolution of the Lavi fighter from its genesis in the 1970s to its scrapping in August 1987. John W. Golan examines the roles of Israeli military icons and political leaders such as Ezer Weizman, Ariel Sharon, Menachem Begin, and Yitzhak Rabin in the program and in relation to their counterparts in the United States. On the American side, Golan traces the evolution of government policy toward the program, detailing the complex picture of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus and of U.S.-Israeli relations in general—from President Reagan’s public endorsement of the program on the White House lawn to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger’s unremitting attempts to cancel it in succeeding years.

 

JOHN W. GOLAN has served as a designer, structural analyst, and engineering manager in the U.S. aerospace industry for the last two decades, developing future-generation technology concepts. He has published articles with Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, Aviation History, and the Jerusalem Post Magazine.

 

ToC: Journal of Israeli History 34.2 (2015)

Journal of Israeli History, 34.2 (2015)

No Trinity: The tripartite relations between Agudat Yisrael, the Mizrahi movement, and the Zionist Organization
Daniel Mahla
pages 117-140

Judaism and communism: Hanukkah, Passover, and the Jewish Communists in Mandate Palestine and Israel, 1919–1965
Amir Locker-Biletzki
pages 141-158

Olei Hagardom: Between official and popular memory
Amir Goldstein
pages 159-180

Practices of photography on kibbutz: The case of Eliezer Sklarz
Edna Barromi Perlman
pages 181-203

The Shishakli assault on the Syrian Druze and the Israeli response, January–February 1954
Randall S. Geller
pages 205-220

Book Reviews

Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s

Deborah Bernstein
pages 221-224

The “Magic Carpet” Exodus of Yemenite Jewry: An Israeli Formative Myth

Ari Ariel
pages 224-227

The Bride and the Dowry: Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians in the Aftermath of the June 1967 War

Itamar Radai
pages 227-230

Editorial Board

Editorial Board

.

New Article: Goldstein, Olei Hagardom: Between Official and Popular Memory

Goldstein, Amir. “Olei Hagardom: Between Official and Popular Memory.” Journal of Israeli History (early view; online first).

 

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13531042.2015.1068974

 

Abstract
This article examines the interaction between official memory and popular memory through the case study of Olei Hagardom – Jewish underground fighters executed by the British in Mandatory Palestine. Studies of collective memory usually maintain that the ruling elite, with its control of state resources, dominates collective memory formation. However, the case of Olei Hargardom demonstrates the potentially limited power of institutional commemoration and exclusion in a democratic society. David Ben-Gurion and his government’s attempt to exclude these right-wing heroes from the national pantheon had limited impact. Menachem Begin’s persistent, partisan political efforts to include them were only partially successful. Ultimately, Olei Hargardom became entrenched in Israeli collective memory as a result of apolitical literary works, popular culture, and the establishment of a site of memory by spontaneous, grassroots efforts.

 

 

Thesis: Gerdes, Israeli Public Opinion and the Camp David Accords

Gerdes, Daniel L. The Possibility of Peace: Israeli Public Opinion and the Camp David Accords, Hamline University Departmental Honors Projects, 2015.

 

URL: http://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp/28/

Advisor: Nurith Zmora

 

Abstract

The Camp David Accords, September 5-17, 1978, were a momentous development in Middle East relations. For over 30 years Israel and her neighbors weathered periods of warfare and aggression, but when leaders from Egypt, Israel, and the United States descended on Camp David in the United States for two weeks of peace negotiations everything changed. Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin became the first leaders in the Middle East to negotiate peace after decades of war between the two countries. This research discerns the changes in Israeli public opinion on the peace process with Egypt that occurred between the 1973 Yom Kippur War (the last major conflict between Egypt and Israel), and the 1978 Camp David Accords. Understanding these changes helps bring to light new aspects of the peace process that have not received as much scholarly attention in the past—in particular, the changing discussion within Israeli society. This research examines the public debate in Israel prior to the accords, and specifically the role of the press in disseminating commonly held political beliefs of the general Israeli public. This project centers on analyzing articles from four major Israeli newspapers which represent different audiences in Israeli society to shed light on the changing perspectives held by Israelis from 1973 to 1978. Five major events were identified for this period: the 1973 war, the military disengagement after the war, the visit of Sadat to Jerusalem, before the Camp David conference, and after the Camp David Conference. Articles were selected from the various newspapers reflecting public opinion about each event. Each article was analyzed with special attention paid to changes in arguments, opinions, and messages over time from various political perspectives in Israel. Scholars claimed that Sadat’s famous 1977 visit to Jerusalem was the defining moment in the change of public opinion on peace with Egypt; however, my research shows a gradual shift in public opinion toward peace starting after the 1973 war. These changes in discourse about peace can enhance understanding of the effects of public discourse on foreign policy and peace negotiations in the Middle East; they could also help explain the tremendous difficulty in achieving lasting peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors.

ToC: Israel Affairs 21.3 (2015)

Israel Affairs, Volume 21, Issue 3, July 2015 is now available online is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online.

Special Issue: Judea and Samaria Jewish Settlers and Settlements – Cultural Sociology of Unsettled Space: A Look From Within

This new issue contains the following articles:

Introduction
Introduction: Judea and Samaria Jewish settlers and settlements – cultural sociology of unsettled space
Miriam Billig & Udi Lebel
Pages: 309-312

Section 1: History and Philosophy of Jewish Settlement
Settlement in Samaria: the ethical dimension
Tamar Meisels
Pages: 313-330

The Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (1967–2008): historical overview
Miriam Billig
Pages: 331-347

Section 2: Place Identities – Reality and Representation
Self-segregation of the vanguard: Judea and Samaria in the religious-Zionist society
Nissim Leon
Pages: 348-360

Settling the Military: the pre-military academies revolution and the creation of a new security epistemic community – The Militarization of Judea and Samaria
Udi Lebel
Pages: 361-390

Hilltop youth: political-anthropological research in the hills of Judea and Samaria
Shimi Friedman
Pages: 391-407

Judea and Samaria in Israeli documentary cinema: displacement, oriental space and the cultural construction of colonized landscapes
Eithan Orkibi
Pages: 408-421

Section 3: Dynamics of Regional Policy Making
Regional framing: Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in the eyes of the security elite
Asaf Lebovitz
Pages: 422-442

Against all odds – the paradoxical victory of the West Bank settlers: interest groups and policy enforcement
Ami Pedahzur & Holly McCarthy
Pages: 443-461

‘A simple historical truth’: Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in Menachem Begin’s ideology
Arye Naor
Pages: 462-481

ToC: Israel Studies 20,1 (2015)

 

 

1. Special Section: Landscapes
   1. Zippori National Park as a Composite Narrative (pp. 1-30)

      Tal Alon-Mozes and Matanya Maya
   2. The Geopolitics of Interment: An Inquiry into the Burial of Muhammad Ali in Jerusalem, 1931 (pp. 31-56)

      Maoz Azaryahu and Yitzhak Reiter
   3. Greening the Curriculum: Current Trends in Environmental Education in Israel’s Public Schools (pp. 57-85)

      Gonen Sagy and Alon Tal
2. Articles
   1. The Need to be Part of Europe: Israel’s Struggle for an Association Agreement with the EEC, 1957–1961 (pp. 86-109)

      Gadi Heimann
   2. Crisis and Development: Menachem Begin’s Leadership Throughout the 1960s (pp. 110-133)

      Amir Goldstein
   3. Imperialism and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Revisions in Matzpen’s Historical Perspective (pp. 134-158)

      Joshua Blass
   4. Pinchas Sadeh’s Religiosity (pp. 159-179)

      Gideon Katz
   5. Homogeneity vs. Heterogeneity in the Young Adult and Children’s Literature of Devorah Omer (pp. 180-194)

      Rima Shikhmanter
3. Notes on Contributors (pp. 195-197)
4. Guidelines for Contributors (pp. 198-200)

ToC: Journal of Israeli History 33.2 (2014)

Journal of Israeli History 33.2 (2014): Table of Contents

 

Articles

Communists and the 1948 War: PCP, Maki, and the National Liberation League

Ilana Kaufman
pages 115-144

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946278

Mapam in the War of Independence: From the war front to the opposition back benches

Aviva Halamish
pages 145-168

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.948277 

The Israeli left between culture and politics: Tzavta and Mapam, 1956–1973

Tal Elmaliach
pages 169-183

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946297

From Yekke to Zionist: Narrative strategies in life stories of Central European Jewish women immigrants to Mandate Palestine

Dorit Yosef
pages 185-208

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946300

“Operation Exodus”: Israeli government involvement in the production of Otto Preminger’s Film Exodus (1960)

Giora Goodman
pages 209-229

DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.94630 

Book Reviews

1929: Shnat ha-efes ba-sikhsukh ha-yehudi-aravi [1929: Year zero of the Jewish-Arab conflict]

Motti Golani
pages 231-235

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946302 

 Menachem Begin: A Life

Colin Shindler
pages 235-238

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946303 

Representing Israel in Modern Egypt: Ideas, Intellectuals and Foreign Policy from Nasser to Mubarak

Uriya Shavit
pages 238-241

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946304 

Embodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine

Shelly Zer-Zion
pages 241-244

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.946305

Editorial Board

Editorial Board
page ebi

• DOI:10.1080/13531042.2014.957020

Lecture: Lawrence Wright on Camp David’s Complex Peace

Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 7:30 – 8:45pm

Lawrence Wright: Camp David’s Complex Peace

In September of 1978, three nations came together at Camp David to create what ultimately became the first Middle Eastern peace treaty. Through a day-by-day account of the peace talks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright looks at how this landmark agreement was reached. Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David is the untold story of Carter’s push for peace, hard feelings felt by participants, and far-reaching implications of the agreement. By analyzing the actions of President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, he offers “hallmark insight” into those tense days. He’ll also analyze the ripple effects created by this tumultuous process. Wright is also the author of Going Clear, The Looming Tower, and a staff writer with The New Yorker.

Post-Event Discussion: Following the program, there will be a post-event discussion moderated by Resat Kesaba, Director of UW’s Jackson School of International Studies, as part of Town Hall’s Civic Roundtable Series. Stay for this 9 pm discussion to share thoughts on Wright’s lecture and learn about the Jackson School’s resources for staying up-to-date on current affairs in the Middle East.

Presented by: Town Hall, World Affairs Council, and University Book Store, as part of the Civics series. Series supported by The Boeing Company, the RealNetworks Foundation, and the True-Brown Foundation. Series media sponsorship provided by The Stranger and KUOW.
Tickets: $5.
Town Hall member benefits: Priority seating, discounted onsite book sales.
Doors open: 6:30 p.m.

URL: http://www.townhallseattle.org/lawrence-wright-camp-davids-complex-peace/

 

New Article: Wolf, Peacemaking and Political Survival in Sadat’s Egypt

Wolf, Albert B. “Peacemaking and Political Survival in Sadat’s Egypt.” Middle East Policy 21.2 (2014): 127-39.

 

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mepo.12076/abstract

 

 

Excerpt

By May 1980, the peace process served as the opposition’s focal point for action against the regime. The Lawyers’ Syndicate joined the opposition and helped groups coordinate with one another. By summer 1981, these forces joined the other syndicates in the country to oppose the treaty with Israel. The opposition cited the Knesset’s passage of a law making Jerusalem the indivisible capital of Israel and the Begin government’s attacks on the PLO in Lebanon as evidence that Sadat had abandoned the Palestinians and was helping to promote Israeli aggression.

The regime’s continued support for normalizing relations with Israel contributed to the outbreak of the protests known as the Autumn of Fury. By September 1981, nearly 1,500 of Sadat’s critics, including the Coptic pope, the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the brother of the man who would murder Sadat, were arrested. Khalid al-Islambouli and three fellow Islamic fundamentalists assassinated Sadat on October 6, 1981, during a military parade commemorating the October War of 1973. Al-Islambouli later said that he was primarily motivated by the signing of the Camp David accords and the Egypt-Israel treaty of 1979.

[…]

This piece provides a first cut into the political consequences for non-democratic leaders pursuing cooperation with enduring rivals: they risk their political survival. Autocracies often use foreign antagonisms as a means to legitimate their rule. When longstanding conflicts are resolved, domestic challengers are provided with a focal point for organizing against the regime and presenting themselves as a patriotic alternative to the incumbent. Ensuing protests threaten to unseat the nominal leadership by unleashing a secondary bandwagon of opposition movements, or by promoting a coup or revolution. In Egypt, peacemaking with Israel led to the Autumn of Fury and the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

This piece indicates a few additional avenues for future research. To what extent are the paper’s results generalizable beyond the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli dispute? Do the domestic pressures examined here give dictators a bargaining advantage with their rivals (as arguments on hands-tying suggest), or do they make dictators seem unreliable and untrustworthy, especially when bargaining over objects that affect the future balance of power. A third direction to investigate is whether these domestic pressures increase the credibility of secret diplomacy. Dictators who are likely to be punished for pursuing cooperation send a costly signal of their benign intent when they “go private” or pursue secret diplomacy with an enemy. When they talk to an adversary behind closed doors, dictators are putting their domestic political survival in the enemy’s hands. If he chooses to make the content of the negotiations public, it could destroy the dictator’s hold on power.

ToC: Israel Studies 19.1 (2014)

1. Special Section—Arabs as Israeli Citizens
   1. Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon and the Arab Draft That Never Was (pp. 1-23)

      Randall S. Geller

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.1

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.1
   2. The Contemporary Historiographical Debate in Israel on Government Policies on Arabs in Israel During the Military Administration Period (1948–1966) (pp. 24-47)

      Arik Rudnitzky

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.24

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.24
   3. The Politization of History and the Negev Bedouin Land Claims: A Review Essay on Indigenous (In)justice (pp. 48-74)

      Seth J. Frantzman

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.48

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.48
   4. Increased Constructive Engagement Among Israeli Arabs: The Impact of Government Economic Initiatives (pp. 75-97)

      Robert Cherry

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.75

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.75
   5. Democracy, Clan Politics and Weak Governance: The Case of the Arab Municipalities in Israel (pp. 98-125)

      Yakub Halabi

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.98

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.98
   6. The Quest for Identity in Sayed Kashua’s Let It Be Morning (pp. 126-144)

      Michael Keren

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.126

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.126
2. Articles
   1. From Peace in the South to War in the North: Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, 1977–1983 (pp. 145-165)

      Yechiam Weitz

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.145

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.145
   2. Societal Values: Impact on Israel Security—The Kibbutz Movement as a Mobilized Elite (pp. 166-188)

      Zeev Drory

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.166

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.166
   3. Postsecular Jewish Theology: Reading Gordon And Buber (pp. 189-213)

      Hagar Lahav

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.189

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.189
3. Notes on Contributors (pp. 214-215)

   DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.214

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.214
4. Guidelines for Contributors (pp. 216-218)

   DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.216

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.216

Reviews: Avner, The Prime Ministers

Avner, Yehuda. The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership. New Milford, Conn.: Toby Press, 2010.

 

 

Reviews

• Fertig, Mayer. “Review.” Jewish Star, September 1, 2010.
• Smith, Lee. “Premiership.” Tablet, September 15, 2010.
• Gerstenfeld, Manfred. “Review.” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, November 5, 2010.
• Steinberg, Gerald M. “Book Review.” Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, November 8, 2010.
• Leibler, Isi. “Candidly Speaking: Yehuda Avner’s Best-Seller.” Jerusalem Post, December 22, 2010.
• Lozowick, Yaacov. “Yehuda Avner, The Prime Ministers.” Yaacov Lozowick’s Ruminations (blog), February 13, 2011.
• Massel, Morris. “The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner and The Revolt by Menachem Begin.” Walk with a Book (blog), July 5, 2011.
• Gruen, George. “Review.” American Foreign Policy Interests 34.3 (2012): 169-170.

 

See also interview with author by Michael Freund on Jewish Action website: http://www.ou.org/jewish_action/05/2011/up_close_with_yehuda_avner/

Cite: Weitz, The Revisionist Movement and Democracy

Weitz, Yechiam. “The Revisionist Movement and Democracy.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 10.2(2011): 185-204.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14725886.2011.580975

 

Abstract

This article deals with the attitude of the Revisionist movement towards the idea of democracy. This will be examined by studying the attitude of the central figures of the Revisionist movement to democratic ideology. The first of these is Ze’ev Jabotinsky, founder of the Revisionist movement in 1925 who wished to present a Zionist policy that was different from the formal policy of the Zionist Organization. He adopted the rules of democracy within the organization but in 1931, during the Seventeenth Zionist Congress, he abrogated the rules after the Congress rejected his suggestion regarding the “final goal” of the Zionist movement. Consequently his movement left the Zionist Organization and in 1935 he founded the New Zionist Organization (NZO) whose aim was to replace the “old” organization. The second Revisionist leader was Menachem Begin, Commander of the Irgun and the founder of the Herut movement, established in 1948. He fully accepted democratic ideology, seeing the ballot box as the way of achieving power. His democratic vision was one of the elements that led him to become Israel’s sixth Prime Minister.