Amanda Mindlin Kevin Khosrowzadeh Angela Stevenson

The Construction of womanhood  Gender inequality in the socioeconomic sphere in Israel resembles that in most Western states.  However, in most Western liberal democracies, men and women at least formally share equal legal citizenship.  In Israel women are subject to explicit legal discrimination, because personal status laws are under the jurisdiction of rabbinical courts, which rule according to patriarchal Halachic law.  Recently, secular family courts have been established, but their authority is limited.

The construction of womanhood  Sociologist Nitza Berkovitch believes that woman in Israel have been constructed, not as equal individual citizens, but first and foremost as mothers and wives.  Demographic threat  population growth is a national imperative  Defense Service Law (1949) – imposes compulsory service on all physically eligible citizens of the state, except for married or pregnant women, mothers, or women who plead reasons of conscience or religious conviction.  Only about half of the women of relevant age have been drafted over the years and those who have been drafted have not filled the same roles as men  The Women’s Equal Rights Law (1951) – considerably improved the status of women in Israel, but still looked at women as only mothers and wives.  The Israeli state’s basic attitude to women’s citizenship has continued to emphasize their biological and sociological role as mothers and wives.

The construction of a democracy  Western scholars generally consider Israel to be a democracy.  The following 5 conditions are necessary for a regime to be classified as democratic:  1) Periodic free elections, including the possibility of changing the ruling political elites or parties through such elections.  2) Sovereignty of the people, exercised through a legislative system constructed by a parliament, according to which the judicial system operates. No independent or parallel legislative and judicial system can be created by the state.  3) Equal and inclusive citizenship and equal rights.  4) Universal suffrage where every vote is equal.  5) Protection of the civil and human rights of minorities from the tyranny of the majority.  Only one of the 5 necessary conditions for considering Israel a democracy is present.  Rights within the state are determined more according to ethnic-national religious belonging than according to citizenship.

State and ethnicity  Whenever the authorities have claimed that “state security” was involved, the High Court of Justice has simply accepted it.  Ex – the High Court’s sanctioning of Israel’s violation of international law in allowing Jewish settlement of the occupied Arab territories.  International law forbids an occupying power to make any substantial changes in the status of occupied territories, except for reasons of security.  Accordingly, from the perspective of the HCJ, all the settlements in the territories were built for security reasons.  The general political culture also condones discrimination against Arabs.

State and Ethnicity  The state of Israel is committed to being both a Jewish and a democratic state.  However, the state’s definition of “Jewishness” makes these two concepts mutually contradictory in some respects.  Israel inherited the millet system, which subjects citizens to two legal and judicial systems, which are separate and operate according to different, and even opposing, principles.  Judaism has been incorporated into legislation  Immigration laws like the “Law of Return” and “Law of Citizenship” are favorable to Jews, but discriminatory against the Palestinians who fled.  Some laws facilitate granting particularistic benefits only to Jewish citizens of the state - the Law on the Status of the World Zionist Org. and the Social Security Law (requires service in the IDF) (ex. of Consociational model)  Agreement between the Jewish National Fund and the Israel Lands Authority prevents the leasing of state lands (93% of territory within Green Line) to non-Jews

An Immigrant Settler Society In Search of Legitimacy  Israel was founded as an immigrant settler frontier state and is still an active immigrant society.  Engaged in a settlement and territorial expansion process down to present day  Continual presence of danger posed by surrounding Arab states.  Occupied vs. Administered Territories

Return to Zion  Zionism distances itself from the global colonial context.  Despite advocating immigration and resettlement  Emphasized the “Jewish Problem,” anti- Semitism, persecutions, and later the Holocaust.  Presented as the sole realistic and moral solution to these ills  Immigrants differed in ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds (ie “Western”

Return of Zion – Cont’d…  Constant existential threat to Zionism posed by international community, particularly Palestinian Arabs  “The Land of Israel” (ie. Palestine) chosen for ideological-religious reasons, not practical ones.  Religious ideas, symbols, and scriptures serve as the backdrop and justification for Israel’s existence.  Return to “Holy Land” provided collective redemption to Jews

Secularization of Nationalism  Zionism has two central goals: 1. Reconstruction or reinvention of Judaism as an essentially modern and secular movement, rather than a religious or civilization 2. Recruit and concentrate Jews within a territorial framework to enable the establishment of an independent political entity.  Contradictions and tensions led to a social order with semblance to democracy and theocracy.

Secular roots of Zionsim  Founders of the Zionism (ie. Theodore Herzl) originated from European intelligentsia.  Reflects secular, nationalist roots  Ideological commitments also contained elements of socialism and communism  Eurocentric & paralleled colonial movement

Religious Zionism  Jewish religious nationalists (ie. Religious Zionists) were marginal in the Jewish religious conscious ( viewed as “forcing an end”)  Religious worldview, however looked positively to ascent (aliyah) to the Holy Land

Orthodox Backlash  Zionist movement prompted political organization of the haredim to counter Zionism and secularization in the general political sphere.  Augudat Yisrael (political party of ultra-orthodox) founded in Poland (1912)  Sought to exert role in political arena along with assimilators and secularizers

…And the Secularization of a Nation  Zionism adopted some central ingredients of the Jewish religion, but gave them different meanings and put them in a national context:  World Jewry in one single imaginary community  Targeted territory: Palestine  Religious symbols and holy tongue, Hewbrew, secularized and transformed into an everyday language.  Expropriation and historicization of the Bible provided rationale (ie. “chosen people,” “Holy Land”)

Toward an Atheistic Judaism?  First aliyah (ca ) to Palestine consisted of Russian and Romanian modern Orthodox Jews.  - Intended to establish religious agricultural communities (moshava)  Second and third aliyah immigrants (ca ) had a materialist social vision  Expressed active secularism as opposed to religious Judaism of their parents’ generation

The Pre-State Jewish Community  The absence of discourse on the specific character of the regime in Zionism: - More pressing issues at hand - Most thinkers, statesmen, and implementers of Zionism already had some form of image in mind - An effort to avoid inflaming prior tensions within the collectivity  A need arises for tools and rules for allocations of resources  Ben-Gurion’s letter to Agudat Yisrael becomes cornerstone of political culture and church-state relations

Non-separation of State & Religion  The issue of defining Israel’s identity and the source of it’s legitimacy as an immigrant settler state  Major Supreme Court Rulings -The Case of Benjamin Shalit -The Case of Oswald Rufeisen  The Transfer of State Authority to Religious Institutions in areas of personal status.

Westernization and Statization  Western Bloc VS. Eastern Bloc? - Dominant political party of time defined themselves as socialists - Connection to American Jewry deemed too costly to part with  Finding Legitimization in a Postcolonial Age - Importance of Religious Interpretation of the State

The Limits of Democracy in Israel  Limitation of Halachic Rule  Limitation of Jewish Female Citizenship  Limitation of Israeli Citizenship  Ethnic Limitation  Limitation of the Israeli Control System