Screening science, producing the nation: popular science programs on Israeli television (1968–88)

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 519-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merav Katz-Kimchi

From 1968 on, the state of Israel deployed television as a tool in the service of its ongoing project of reproducing the nation and as a propaganda tool that targeted the population of the newly occupied territories and the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. With the collaboration of the scientific elite, the televising of original popular science programs, aired on the sole government-controlled channel at prime time, contributed immensely to these projects. Through these programs, the state disseminated a specific image of the nation’s scientific prowess for popular consumption in the euphoric aftermath of the Six Day War. This article examines the first 20 years of the state’s projects, during which the grip of Zionist collectivism was still strong, the monopoly of the government-controlled channel was not yet challenged, and the programs enjoyed astonishingly high ratings. My examination focuses on the ideology and motivations of the producers; the ways in which the communication elite and the scientific elite, enjoying a position of hegemony, collaborated by disseminating the nation’s accomplishments in both the Arabic and Hebrew programs; and the actual content of the programs at large and specifically that of four episodes of Tazpit, the popular science program of the 1980s.

AJS Review ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Omri Ben-Yehuda

In its first season, Israeli television thriller Fauda proclaimed an utter symmetry between Israel “proper” and its Occupied Territories, by humanizing Hamas militants and treating them as equals to the Israeli characters. Throughout the story the Jewish warrior's body becomes a site for the detonation of explosives and a potential vehicle for suicide bombings, in a false but intriguing reenactment of the trauma of the second intifada, which has been repressed in Israeli consciousness. In this unwitting manifestation of Jewish martyrdom, the façade of the rule of law in the State of Israel is dismantled in what seems like a religious battle between clans. The discourse of pain in the series suggests a stream of constant retribution in a vicious circle that can never historicize the allegedly eternal conflict and work through its traumatic residues. Nonetheless, this dynamic of retribution and martyrdom also informs a multilayered structure whereby the secular, modern Jew returns to his roots by engaging with Arabness in the theatre of mistaʿaravim: in becoming Arab he also becomes, finally, a Jew.


1964 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 800
Author(s):  
Brownlee Sands Corrin ◽  
Joseph Badi

Author(s):  
Kh. Yamelska

The article reveals the content of armed aggression and the legal status of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Russia's aggression against Ukraine is considered in historical retrospect. Cases of torture and other ill-treatment on the temporarily occupied territories have been demonstrated in specific cases. The article examines the state of human rights on the temporarily occupied territories, namely the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment. Ways to prevent torture and ill-treatment in order to respect human rights and maintain the rule of law have been identified. The author determined that system of counteraction to aggression of Russia, which consists the political, legal and economic means, includes the prevention of torture and ill-treatment.The author notes that the adoption of UN GA resolutions and other documents of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe are new elements of increasing legal pressure on Russia. The submission of interstate applications by the Government of Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights against the Russian Federation is one of the effective means of preventing torture. The article reveals the impact of expert and advocacy activities of non-governmental human rights organizations on the prevention of torture and the state of human rights on the temporarily occupied territories. It is noted that maintaining contacts with the citizens of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, constant informing, as well as obtaining information by the Ukrainian side on the state of human rights in the temporarily occupied territory provides an opportunity to partially prevent such violations and allow future reintegration of these territories. Keywords: prevention of torture, temporarily occupied territories, armed aggression, observance of human rights.


Author(s):  
Ryan Shaffer

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim’s and Or Honig’s chapter focuses on the lynching and mob violence between Jews and Arabs in the area known as mandatory Palestine, and later as the State of Israel and the occupied territories. Ben-Ephraim and Honig seek to answer two questions: when and why has lynching and mob violence occurred, and how has it affected the development of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. The chapter focuses on two periods of intercommunal conflict in which lynching and mob violence took place: the British Mandate period (1920-1948), and the period following the eruption of the first Palestinian Uprising “Intifada” (1987) until today. Ben-Ephraim and Honig find that the main variable determining the use of lynching attacks was the level of institutionalization of national political movements. When there are organized institutions and society is more organized, organized forms of violence such as uprisings or terrorism tend to be more prevalent since society or elements of it can be mobilized to act in a more systematic fashion. Lynching and mob violence reflect a lack of political institutionalization because the leadership possesses the ability to incite, yet lacks the tools to restrain or guide, the violence it inspires. By contrast, when the national movements are well institutionalized, Ben-Ephraim and Honig argue, more spontaneous acts of violence tend instead to take the form of sporadic acts of vengeance.


2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Regan

With increasing frequency comparisons are being drawn between the situation of the Palestinian people both in the Occupied Territories and inside Israel with the system of Apartheid imposed on the indigenous peoples of South Africa by the Nationalist Government in 1948. The object of this essay is to explore the analogy and test its merits and shortcomings. The essay explores the legal structure of the Apartheid system and compares it to that of the state of Israel and the legal framework under which Palestinians live in the occupied territories. It concludes that whilst the term Apartheid might seem attractive and adequate for descriptive purposes rendering the plight of the Palestinians more familiar ultimately there is a gap between the appearance and reality of the two experiences.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Lustick

Zionist claims to rightful rule of most or all of Palestine/the Land of Israel ultimately depend on naturalizing those claims into common sense, for Jews, of course, but also for the international community. Following the 1967 war, Israelis in favor of withdrawing from occupied territories have relied on distinguishing between the justice of the 1949 Armistice Lines, and the process that led to the State of Israel within those lines, versus the injustice of the occupation of territories conquered in 1967 and of their settlement and gradual absorption. But as the truth of the expulsions and forced dispossession of Palestinians in 1948 becomes accepted by wider swaths of both Israeli-Jewish and international public opinion, the traditional narrative distinguishing the justice of 1948 and the injustice of 1967 breaks down. Ari Shavit's book, My Promised Land, can be understood as a response by Israeli two-staters to accusations of hypocrisy by the extreme right.


1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rotem M. Giladi

On February 24, 1998, the government submitted the International Treaties (Approval by the Knesset) Bill, 1998 to the Knesset. This governmental bill represents the culmination of fifty years of exchange between the Executive and the Legislature concerning the constitutional authority to conclude international agreements on behalf of the State of Israel.Normally, it would have been preferable to await the completion of the enactment process before commenting on the new legislative arrangements. Due to the constitutional importance of the Bill and the fact that it raises several important questions, the regular practice will be abandoned in this case.Despite the availability of an abundance of materials on the treatymaking practice of the State of Israel and the status of treaties under municipal Israeli law both in English and in Hebrew, an in-depth analysis of the Bill requires an extensive expositionde lex lataon both these questions. Only then will the provisions of the Bill be presented. This will take the form of an issue-by-issue analysis, with conclusions drawn in each segment. The review will conclude with several additional observationsde lege ferenda.


1990 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 368-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimon Shetreet

The first forty years of the State of Israel witnessed significant changes in the relative status of the various branches of government. The executive was quite powerful during the early decades of the State's existence, thanks to the strong leadership of the first Prime Minister and founding father, David Ben Gurion. Accordingly, the status of the Supreme Court during that period was weak in comparison to the Executive Branch, i.e. the Government. Subsequently, the government's position weakened as the judiciary gained strength. This phenomenon was expressed in the increasing recourse to the courts to consider issues that had previously been the exclusive domain of the government. The judiciary's broader role and enhanced position vis-à-vis the executive did not bring about commensurate constitutional protection of the judicial system. In fact, we may observe a certain decline in this respect that hopefully, will be rectified when the Constitution of the State of Israel is completed with the enactment of Basic Laws on Human and Civil Rights coupled with legislation that will provide the requisite constitutional protection.


1963 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 382
Author(s):  
Emmanuel E. Gutmann

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