New Book: Shilon, Ben Gurion – His Later Years in the Political Wilderness

Shilon, Avi. Ben-Gurion. His Later Years in the Political Wilderness. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield , 2016.

This is the first in-depth account of the later years of David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), Israel’s first Prime Minister and founding father. One of the first to sign Israel’s declaration of independence and a leading figure in Zionism, Ben-Gurion stepped down from office in 1963 and retired from political life in 1970, deeply disappointed about the path on which the state had embarked and the process that brought about the end of his political career. He moved to a kibbutz in the Negev desert, where he lived until his death. Robbed of the public aura that had wrapped him for decades, his revolutionary passion, which was not weakened in his 80s, pushed him to continue seeking social and moral change in Israel, a political solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict, and to conduct a personal and national soul-searching about the development of the State he himself had declared.

Based on his personal archives and new interviews with his intimate friends and family, the book reveals how the founding father explored the Israeli establishment he created and from which he later disengaged. It provides a thorough examination of the decisive moments in the annals of Zionism as revealed through the lens of Ben-Gurion’s worldview, which are still relevant to present-day Israel.

Table of Contents

Part I
Chapter 1: Last Dance
Chapter 2: By all Means
Chapter 3: Grief of Victory
Chapter 4: My Way

Part II
Chapter 5: Back to the Shed
Chapter 6: A man of one Trade
Chapter 7: Vision, Leadership, Path
Chapter 8: Memorandum
Chapter 9: Eternal salvation
Chapter 10: Confessions
Chapter 11: Farewell

AVI SHILON is a historian and journalist, whose articles have been published in all of Israel’s major newspapers: Ma’ariv, Globes, Israel Hayom. He currently writes a weekly column in Ha’aretz.

New Article: Caplan, Why Was Moshe Sharett Sacked?

Caplan, Neil. “Why Was Moshe Sharett Sacked? Examining the Premature End of a Political Career, 1956.” Middle East Journal 70.2 (2016): 275-97.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3751/70.2.15

 

Abstract

Drawing mainly on the diary of Israeli politician Moshe Sharett, this article examines the circumstances surrounding his forced resignation as foreign minister in 1956. It was Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion who insisted on Sharett’s removal but refused to reveal his reasons publicly. This examination of why Sharett was sacked also offers wider insight into conflicts between activism and restraint within Israel’s political and military elite in the lead-up to the Sinai War.

 

 

 

New Book: Kedar, Chaim Weizmann. Scientist, Statesman and Architect of Science Policy

ב”ז קדר, עורך. חיים ויצמן – המדען, המדינאי ומדינאי-המדע . ירושלים: האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים, 2015.

 

This collection of essays is based on the lectures delivered at a conference held on 8 January 2013 commemorating the 60th anniversary of the death of Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel, scientist and statesman.

 

Table of Contents
דברי פתיחה / יהושע יורטנר — מבוא: חיים וייצמן – המדען והמדינאי / ב”ז קדר — הכימיה האורגנית של וייצמן באקדמיה והתעשייה בראשית המאה העשרים / יהושע יורטנר — מדיניות המדע של וייצמן כמסד הביקוש המתמשך למצוינות מדעית במערך המחקר הישראלי / שאול כ”ץ — וייצמן והאוניברסיטה העברית / חדוה בן-ישראל — הון או גאון: המאבק של וייצמן ואיינשטיין על מצוינות אקדמית באוניברסיטה העברית / יששכר אונא — מכון וייצמן למדע – מצבה חיה וראויה למכונן המחקר המדעי בישראל / רות ארנון — תיאור פגישתם הראשונה של וייצמן ובלפור, 1906 – אגדה או מציאות? / ב”ז קדר — וייצמן – צמיחתו של מדינאי / שלמה אבינרי — וייצמן ועמיתיו המדענים בגרמניה – אתגרים ודוגמה אישית / שולמית וולקוב — ‬
‫ וייצמן והערבים / בני מוריס — וייצמן – מדע יישומי ופטנטים / רפאל משולם — תגלית הצלולוזום: בעקבות חזון הדלק הביולוגי של וייצמן / רפאל למד ואד באייר — קטעים גנוזים בענייני מדע וטיוטות האוטוביוגרפיה trail and error — דברי נעילה / יהושע יורטנר.

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

Conference paper: Moskovich, Ramon’s Leadership in the new Israeli Labor Union

Moskovich, Yaffa. “Ramon’s Leadership in the new Israeli Labor Union: The Histadrut.” European Conference on Management, Leadership & Governance (November 2015).

 
URL: http://search.proquest.com/openview/d52d59af091005feb53467157ab3e094/1
 
Abstract

In Israel, the old Histadrut, or organization of trade unions, was founded as a welfare agency, it employed about one third of the labor force, and it was the dominant health-service provider, primarily funded by insurance premiums. As a socialist entity, the Histadrut was linked politically and economically to the Labor Party, which helped fund it while in power. The old Histadrut was managed on a political basis, and suffered from organizational decline, including huge debts and economic bankruptcy in most of its institutions and assets. In 1994, a new leader, Haim Ramon, was elected to run the organization. Acting against union members, Ramon transformed the Histadrut into a confederation of autonomous labor unions, selling off Histadrut enterprises and assets to private investors, and severing all political ties. This paper demonstrates the unusual union leadership style of Ramon, who downsized, weakened, and destroyed the Israeli union, while most union leaders act to empower their organization.

 

 

 

New Article: Lachover, Signs of Change in Media Representation of Women in Israeli Politics

Lachover, Einat. “Signs of Change in Media Representation of Women in Israeli Politics: Leading and Peripheral Women Contenders.” Journalism (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1464884915610991

Abstract

The study seeks to examine gender portrayal of Israeli women politicians, and specifically that of candidates for Israel’s parliament on televised news and in print in the elections of 2013. The study is based on an interpretive analysis of all news items wherein the women candidates are mentioned during the month preceding the elections. This study joins recent studies that point to a change in how women politicians are portrayed in the media. Leading contenders succeed in influencing their coverage, and commensurately usually enjoy nonstereotypically gendered portrayal. Moreover, they occasionally seek to make use of hegemonic cultural norms to benefit what they perceive as structuring their positive gendered portrayal. In contrast, the coverage of peripheral contenders suffers from traditional patterns of sidelining. It emerges that peripheral contenders who gain relatively high exposure are portrayed as exceptional based either on their extraordinary other-ness or on the newsworthiness of their campaigns.

 

 

 

Conference Paper: Bar-Ilan et al, Israeli Parties and Party Leaders on Facebook during the 2013 Election Campaign

Bar-Ilan, Judit, Jenny Bronstein, and Noa Aharony. “Israeli Parties and Party Leaders on Facebook during the 2013 Election Campaign.” iConference 2015 Proceedings, 12 pp.

 

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73671

 

Abstract

During the 2013 elections in Israel one of the major methods of interaction of the political parties and their leaders with potential voters was through their Facebook pages. These pages were followed for 50 days preceding the elections. For each page, 30% of the posts on the page were analyzed in terms of their rhetoric and subject. The largest number of the analyzed posts was intended for bonding with the audience, and unsurprisingly politics was the most frequent topic. The findings show that personal posts received the largest number of likes pointing to the personal nature of the elections. Findings were compared with results of analysis of the Facebook pages of the US Presidential candidates. Similarities were found, even though in Israel there is a party system and elections are not personal.

New Book: Bar, Reinternment of Renowned Men in the Land of Israel, 1904-1967 (in Hebrew)

Bar, Doron. Ideology and Symbolic Landscape. The Reinternment of Renowned Men in the Land of Israel, 1904-1967. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2015 (in Hebrew).

 

 

Why was Theodor Herzl buried on a desolate mountaintop in West Jerusalem and why did his resting place remain many years with no tombstone?

What is the reason that Judah Leib Pinsker was buried in an ancient burial cave of the Second Temple period?

How was Ramat Hanadiv designed as a burial ground for Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild?

Why was Otto Warburg buried in Degania?

Doron Bar’s new book examines these issues. Through detailed documentation and accompanying photographs, it delineates the journeys of these figures and other prominent leaders – visionaries of Zionism, political leaders, heroes, intellectuals and pioneers – from the diaspora to their reinternment in the Land of Israel. It examines the question regarding the reasons for the great efforts to bring their remains to burial in Israel, as well as the conduct of the necessary procedures in Israel and abroad. It discusses what made the graves of these prominent men – in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Zikhron Ya’akov and Kinneret – a pilgrimage site, that contributed to the design of the symbolic and civic landscape of the State of Israel
.