conditions, immigrants can acquire formal citizenship. 1 In particular, they examine the politics that shape these policies. In the early 1990s, when Israel began to absorb waves of non- olim immigrants, it witnessed the emergence of a new phase in the
Turkish-Israeli Relations during the Cold War
The Myth of a Long ‘Special Relationship’
Kilic Bugra Kanat
An examination of Turkish-Israeli bilateral relations during the Cold War demonstrates that a solid pact between Israel and Turkey never materialized. This was due to both internal and external factors, mainly, Cold War politics and the Arab-Israeli
Israel’s Innovative Young Adults Lists
Robust Participation in Institutional Municipal Politics
Zvi Hadar, Fany Yuval, and Rebecca Kook
). However, others have pointed to the tendency of young people to embrace an informal repertoire of political participation—political consumerism, protest behavior, and Internet activism—as a mitigating factor ( Collin 2015 ; Sveningsson 2015 ). Israeli
Yoram Peri, Tamar Hermann, Shlomo Fischer, Asher Cohen, Bernard Susser, Nissim Leon, and Yaacov Yadgar
Introduction Yoram Peri
More Jewish than Israeli (and Democratic)? Tamar Hermann
Yes, Israel Is Becoming More Religious Shlomo Fischer
Religious Pressure Will Increase in the Future Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser
Secular Jews: From Proactive Agents to Defensive Players Nissim Leon
The Need for an Epistemological Turn Yaacov Yadgar
Residential Segregation in Israel, 1961–2008
The Spatial Assimilation of Immigrants
Noga Keidar
While scholars study residential segregation dynamics in order to understand minorities’ assimilation into mainstream society, less is known about these mechanisms in ethno-national migration contexts. This article examines Israel’s demographic dynamics from 1961 to 2008 in order to evaluate and provide a framework for the process of spatial assimilation of Mizrahim and Ashkenazim in the context of segregation from the Palestinian citizens of Israel. By using the Theil index (H), I assess the level of segregation in different geographic layers and then explore how internal migration has reduced spatial distance within the Jewish society. The analysis demonstrates that despite the disadvantaged position of Mizrahim as of 1961, levels of residential segregation had decreased by 1983. Also, boundaries changed from a variance between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim into a variance among Mizrahim only, with those who relocated as the most spatially assimilated group and those who remained as the most segregated one.
Lessons from the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Talks
An Interview with Aharon Barak
Raphael Cohen-Almagor
This article is based on an interview conducted in July 2018 with Aharon Barak. In it, Barak reflects on the peace negotiations with Egypt at Camp David during 13 days in September 1978. While expressing great appreciation for the American negotiating team, first and foremost for President Jimmy Carter, for bringing the talks to a successful close, Barak considers negotiating with Carter as the toughest experience of his life. According to Barak, who had just completed his role as legal advisor to the government (1975–1978) and was appointed to the Supreme Court, the key people in the Israeli delegation were Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, and Ezer Weizman, while the key players in the Egyptian delegation were Anwar Sadat and Osama El-Baz. The negotiations went through ups and downs and had reached the brink of collapse until the Americans proposed that Carter negotiate directly with El-Baz and Barak. In the article’s conclusion, some important insights are deduced from this interview for future, successful negotiations.
The Academic Reserve
Israel's Fast Track to High-Tech Success
Gil Baram and Isaac Ben-Israel
Why is Israel world-renowned as the ‘start-up nation’ and a leading source of technological innovation? While existing scholarship focuses on the importance of skill development during Israel Defense Forces (IDF) service, we argue that the key role of the Academic Reserve has been overlooked. Established in the 1950s as part of David Ben-Gurion’s vision for a scientifically and technologically advanced defense force, the Academic Reserve is a special program in which the IDF sends selected high school graduates to earn academic degrees before they complete an extended term of military service. After finishing their service, most participants go on to contribute to Israel’s successful high-tech industry. By focusing on the role of the Academic Reserve, we provide a broader understanding of Israel’s ongoing technological success.
Men and Boys
Representations of Israeli Combat Soldiers in the Media
Zipi Israeli and Elisheva Rosman-Stollman
In this article we examine the representation of combat soldiers in Israel through their media image. Using two major national Israeli newspapers, we follow the presentation of the Israeli combat soldier over three decades. Our findings indicate that the combat soldier begins as a hegemonic masculine figure in the 1980s, shifts to a more vulnerable, frightened child in the 1990s, and attains a more complex framing in the 2000s. While this most recent representation returns to a hegemonic masculine one, it includes additional, 'softer' components. We find that the transformation in the image of the Israeli soldier reflects changes within Israeli society in general during the period covered and is also indicative of global changes in masculinity to a certain extent. We conclude by analyzing two possible explanations: the perception of the threat and changes in the perception of masculine identity.
Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Refugees
Ideology, Morality, and Praxis
Yossi Goldstein
two. Until its publication, the standard Israeli (as opposed to Palestinian or British) historiography viewed the refugee problem that emerged during Israel's War of Independence as an outcome of the war itself ( Ben-Gurion 1982 ; Dinur 1973 ; Lorch
Israel’s Recent Unionizing Drives
The Broader Social Context
Jonathan Preminger
crisis, labor resurgence has increasingly been the focus of scholarly research and union activist hopes, shored up by the renewed use of collective labor relations institutions, ‘social pacts’, and labor organizing. This has happened in Israel too