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.
Men and Boys
Representations of Israeli Combat Soldiers in the Media
Zipi Israeli and Elisheva Rosman-Stollman
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.
Assaf Shapira
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
Brent E. Sasley
For many scholars of Israel, the growth in Israel-related courses on college campuses and the emergence of a field of study devoted solely to the country, Israel Studies, have been welcome developments. 1 Yet this shift has underscored the long
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
Liberal Whispers and Propaganda Fears
The American Jewish Committee and Israel’s Palestinian Minority, 1948–1966
Geoffrey P. Levin
Scholars and other commentators frequently discuss Israel’s role in American Jewish discourse, paying growing attention to debates over Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (e.g., Waxman 2016 ). Yet no study has ever investigated how
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
The New Economic Policy of 1962
How Israeli Economists Almost Changed the Israeli Economy
Ronen Mandelkern
In February 1962, the Israeli government adopted the New Economic Policy, a program for comprehensive economic liberalization reform, which is most remembered for the dramatic devaluation of the Israeli pound that it included. While the Israeli
From Jewish Sentiments to Rational Exhortations
Battle Missives in the Israel Defense Forces
Netta Galnoor
History has chosen us to be at the forefront of the fight against the Gazan terrorist enemy, who is taunting, blaspheming, and cursing the armies of Israel's God … We are ready to sacrifice our lives to protect our families, our people, and our
Trauma, Time, and the ‘Singular Plural’
The Israeli Television Series Fauda
Nurith Gertz and Raz Yosef
been replaced by one imagined for fetuses and children,” as Lauren Berlant (1997: 1) asserts, not only characterizes Smotrich’s worldview, but is also prevalent across the Israeli political spectrum—from the assumption that Gilad Shalit, who was