Search

The article discusses the educational character of Israel's post-secondary religious seminaries for women who identify as Haredi-Leumi (ultra-Orthodox nationalist). On the basis of rabbinic texts originating in the Haredi-Leumi "Har Hamor" circle, it describes the educational goals of these institutions; their doctrines regarding women's roles in public and political life; their construction of feminine identity; and their ways of dealing with the alternative narratives in modern society concerning women's roles in the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts of literacy and illiteracy are fluid; their meanings vary according to sociocultural-political trends and language ideologies. Reflections of literacy workers about their involvement in national literacy campaigns are a source of data for such fluctuations. This paper analyzes the recollections of Israeli former soldier-teachers from the time of the campaign, and additional data collected decades later in personal interviews. Close attention to discourse strategies used in both sets of data demonstrates how changes in the structure of society, and the public discourse of identity, affect the cluster of meanings along the continuum of literacy-illiteracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE ESSAY LOOKS AT THREE SPHERES IN WHICH IDEOLOGICAL BIAS and political activism work to delegitimize the State of Israel by maligning Israel and Zionism in mainstream British public discourse. Postcolonial theory is one weight against any objective treatment of the Jewish state. The demonization of Israel in the press draws on conspiracy theories and stereotypes familiar from anti-Semitic tropes. British Jews are fairly supportive of Israel, though divided on solutions to the Arab-Israel conflict, however a small group of anti-Zionist Jews assert their moral stance "as Jews" by defaming Israel's allegedly criminal activities. The analysis of public discourse in Britain in the first decade of the twenty-first century raises disturbing questions about the complex relationship between the anti-Israel campaign and latent anti-Semitism on the left and the right, and draws attention to the local context of race relations as well as the global Jihad against Israel and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the Israeli women's group Checkpoint Watch (CPW), which stands at checkpoints throughout the Palestinian Occupied Territories to protest checkpoints and the occupation. The authors examine the role of the CPW activists through the lens of gender, the female body, and corporeal excess, arguing that corporeal excess occurs when one component of the body becomes dominant over the others and subsequently materializes outside of accepted norms. The authors explore the ways in which checkpoints create corporeal excess in the bodies of the CPW activists, Israelis, the soldiers at the checkpoints, and Palestinians in popular discourse and in relation to the activities of the CPW.

What were the conditions that encouraged the opening of the civic university in Tel-Aviv? What is the part of public opinion in reshaping the higher education system? This article explores the relationship between different interpretive concepts on institutions of higher education in the first decade of Israel's existence. Analysis of the media discourse around the foundation of the university in Tel-Aviv, points out that it is an essential context for understanding the formation of public opinion. More specifically, it helps to understand the paths as an innovative idea spread from marginal and insignificant newspapers to become a dominant strategy that was adopted by the municipality. By this we want to emphasize and to clarify the important and crucial role of the civic society that was raised against the power of the government and hegemonic university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1948 and 1970, Israeli society witnessed a proliferation of discourses on juvenile delinquency, adopting a critical, historically informed approach. This paper shows that debates on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, as well as the inclusionary or exclusionary policies they promoted, were grounded within the project of nation building and interwoven in broader attempts to reshape the social and moral order of the new society. Reflecting an emerging conception of a "normal insider" citizen, a norm against which all individuals were measured, the discourse on juvenile delinquency created a hierarchy of "others." Middle-class juvenile delinquents were seen, in spite of their criminal acts, as deserving members of the new community. Delinquency in Orientals was attributed to their lack of readiness to participate in the socio-cultural milieu, something to be treated by resocialization. Arab delinquents were considered aliens and received limited services and treatment. Discourse analysis techniques indicate that this structuring of delinquent groups by class, ethnicity and nationality was part of a broader definition of the ideal moral traits of the Israeli citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]