Israeli Jews Research Articles

“These Hearts, Can They Reach Tranquility?”

The article examines the Arabic literary poetry written by Iraqi Jews in Israel during the 1950s after their immigration from Iraq. This temporal revival of Arabic poetry by Jews was the swan song of the Arab-Jewish culture as we are currently witnessing its demise– a tradition that started more than fifteen hundred years ago is vanishing before our eyes. Until the twentieth century, the great majority of the Jews under the rule of Islam adopted Arabic as their language; now Arabic is gradually disappearing as a language mastered by Jews.

Psychological distress, optimism and emotion regulation among Israeli Jewish and Arab pregnant women during COVID-19

ABSTRACT Background Pregnancy is a vulnerable period for women, and it is especially so under the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas there is some evidence for distress among pregnant women during the outspread of COVID-19, little is known about the second wave of the pandemic. We therefore sought to examine the contribution of background variables, ethnicity (Jewish, Arab), personal resources (optimism, emotion regulation), and COVID-19-related anxieties to pregnant Israeli women’s psychological distress. Method A convenience sample of 1127 Israeli women was recruited from 5 July to 7 October 2020. Results Not having an academic degree, lower economic status, being an Arab woman, poorer physical health, lower levels of optimism and cognitive reappraisal, higher levels of emotion suppression and COVID-19-related anxieties all contributed significantly to greater psychological distress. Finally, ethnicity moderated the relationship between optimism and emotion suppression and the woman’s level of psychological distress. Conclusions The findings reveal risk and resilience factors associated with the psychological distress of pregnant women during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the potentially greater vulnerability of women from a minority group, showing that ethnicity plays a central role in the way personal resources are related to psychological distress at such times.

Ethnic Minority and Majority Social Workers Working with Ethnic Minority Clients: Culture-Bound Professional Interventions and Burnout among Arab and Jewish Israeli Social Workers

Purpose This study tests a new bicultural model of social work with ethnic minority clients. We examined how often social workers applied professional interventions rooted in the minority and majority cultures and how the choice of interventions affected the social workers' burnout. Methods: The study was conducted in Israel, and the research samples included Arab ( n = 300) and Jewish ( n = 210) social workers. Results: We found that Arab and Jewish social workers more often used interventions rooted in the minority than in the majority culture. More frequent application of both types of interventions was associated with a higher level of personal accomplishment in both groups of social workers. However, the connection between interventions rooted in the majority culture and burnout was positive among Jewish and negative among Arab social workers. Discussion: The implementation of the obtained results in social work practice with ethnic minorities is discussed.

Bridging memories: training the imagination to go visiting in Israel/Palestine

Understanding imagination as a performative political action, and therefore as an action that requires training, is at the centre of this paper. Bridging Memory is an activist intervention in which body-sized photographs of Palestinian refugees living today in a refugee camp in South Lebanon were posted by Israeli activists in the place from which they were expelled. The analysis of the project demonstrates the centrality of memory and activism in training a political imagination in Israel/Palestine. Furthermore, this case study illustrates how expanding the limits of the imagination through photography, articulating the ‘right of return’ as part of ‘the right to have rights’ can help Israeli Jews visualise the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes.

Benjamin Netanyahu as a mobilizing symbol in ethno-class divisions among Jewish Israelis, 2009–2021

ABSTRACT The public discourse over Israel’s unprecedented political crisis in 2019–2021 (four general elections in only two years) has focused on the personality and actions of one person: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Relying on a series of public opinion polls during Netanyahu’s second term (2009–2021), we examine the triadic relationship between the following components: (1) sentiments toward Netanyahu, (2) affiliation with ethno-class Jewish status groups, and (3) political attitudes along the liberal-conservative continuum. We show that while there are real socio-political divisions behind the controversy over Netanyahu, the conflict around his public image reflects and shapes the boundaries between various Jewish ethno-class status groups and enables alignments along these boundaries. The centrality of Netanyahu’s image in Israeli politics, we argue, substitutes substantive political discussions and has stemmed from the failure of some political actors, and especially the Secular Ashkenazi group, to articulate a coherent political vision.

Sonic masquerading in Israeli popular music: self-Imitation, accent, and mockery

ABSTRACT The Mistaʿarvim are Jewish undercover agents who masquerade as Arabs in order to infiltrate Palestinian and other Arab societies in the service of the Israeli military. The first Mistaʿarvim unit, which served in the pre-1948 Palmach Zionist militia, was based on Jews of Arab origin. Arabs in appearance and in speech, these undercover Jewish agents masqueraded as Arabs to blend into Arab communities without raising suspicion. They successfully executed their operations only by transforming their Arab selves into a performative imitation of ‘Arabs’ as Others. Complying with the Zionist binary separation between ‘Arabs’ and ‘Jews’ as two different identities, they broke their originally hyphenated Jewish-Arab identity, and in return they gained heroic acceptance into the exclusively Jewish nation in Israel. In this article, we examine how the military-oriented tactic of histaʿarvut (the infinitive form of acting as Mistaʿarvim) sheds light on performative acts in the field of popular music, whereby a Jewish Israeli identity is asserted through a ‘masked’ performance of Arabs. As an act of self-imitation, ‘cultural histaʿarvut’ includes symbolic borrowing of visual, linguistic, or musical elements from Arab and Palestinian cultures in order to stage a masked performance that ‘crosses’ the cultural lines to ridicule or demean Arabs and their culture, as a means of Jewish Israeli entertainment. Drawing on this, we introduce the term ‘sonic masquerading’ to elaborate on the specific performative uses of the Arabic accent and musical features as an example of cultural histaʿarvut in the work of the Israeli musicians Shefita, Daniel Saʿadon, and Tuna.

Depression, hope and social support among older people with cancer: a comparison of Muslim Palestinian and Jewish Israeli cancer patients.

Studies of depression in older Muslim Palestinians diagnosed with cancer are scarce. To gain insight into the psychological response and coping ability of this very large, globally distributed population, we collected data from older Muslim Palestinian people diagnosed with cancer concerning depression hope and perceived social support. Both hope and social support were selected because they can be manipulated through intervention and education, as shown in the geriatric literature. Data were compared to data collected from older Jewish Israeli people diagnosed with cancer. The study sample comprised 143 Muslim Palestinian and 110 Jewish Israeli people diagnosed with cancer, aged ≥ 65. All participants were either in treatment for active disease or within 6months of such treatment. Self-administered measures included depression (the Five-Item Geriatric Depression Scale), perceived social support (Cancer Perceived Agents of Social Support Questionnaire) and hope (Snyder's Adult Hope Scale). Hope and depression were both found to be significantly higher among the Muslim Palestinian patients than in the Jewish Israeli participants. In both samples, higher levels of hope were associated with lower levels of depression, with this correlation stronger in the Jewish Israeli group. To improve the psychological wellbeing of patients, healthcare providers must exercise cultural sensitivity in their interactions, respecting the perspectives of both the patients and their families. Incorporating the concept of hope into the therapeutic dialogue and language may improve psychological wellbeing and synchronize the needs and expectations of patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, resulting in more equitable, effective and value-oriented care.

Once A Diaspora, Always A Diaspora? The Ethnic, Cultural and Political Mobilization of Kurdistani Jews in Israel

ABSTRACT This paper examines the experiences of Kurdistani Jews who were airlifted to Israel from Iraq in the early 1950s with the Operations Ezra and Nehemiah. The article seeks to answer questions regarding what transnational ties Kurdistani Jews have with their former homeland in Iraq, how their ethnic, cultural, and political mobilization transpires in Israel, and whether the Kurdistani Jewish community in Israel may be considered a diaspora. The article scrutinizes their (allegedly) enduring diasporic situation and identity formation in the specific context of ethnic and cultural mobilization regarding the community’s former homeland. It also examines how this community maintain their attachment to the KRI and what kind of transnational activities they pursue to create a bridge between Israel and Kurdistan. The arguments are based on extensive fieldwork in Israel, consisting of semi-structured interviews with first and new generation Kurdish Jews who live in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, between October 2018 and May 2019.

On Revelations and Revolutions: Drinking Ayahuasca Among Palestinians Under Israeli Occupation.

The ritualistic use of ayahuasca can induce a feeling of unity and harmony among group members. However, such depoliticized feelings can come in the service of a destructive political status quo in which Palestinians are marginalized. Through 31 in-depth interviews of Israelis and Palestinians who drink ayahuasca together, and through participatory observations, such rituals were examined. In this setting marginalization was structurally rooted by the group’s inability to recognize Palestinian national identity or admit the ongoing Israeli injustice toward Palestinians. Although the groups avoided politics, they still find their way into these rituals. This happened through occasional ayahuasca-induced revelatory events, in which individuals were confronted with a pressing truth related to the oppressive relations between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians. Three case studies of such revelatory events are described in this paper. Affected by emotions of pain, anger, and guilt, these participants developed resistance toward the hegemonic Israeli ritual structure. This was followed by an urge to deliver an emancipatory message to the rest of the group, usually through a song. Moreover, affected subjects developed a long-lasting fidelity to the truth attained at these events. In time, this fidelity led to the expansion of ayahuasca practices to other Palestinians and the politicization of the practice. The article draws on Badiou’s theory in Being and Event (1988) to analyze the relations between the Israeli ritual structure, the Palestinian revelatory event, and the emancipatory fidelity that followed. Badiou’s theory elucidates the egalitarian revolutionary potential, which is part of the sociopsychopharmacology of psychedelics.

Stigma, Treatment Effectiveness, and Policy: Exploring Jewish Israeli Attitudes Towards Addiction Based on a National Sample

Stigma, Treatment Effectiveness, and Policy: Exploring Jewish Israeli Attitudes Towards Addiction Based on a National Sample

Between knowing and understanding: Israeli Jews and the memory of the Palestinian Nakba

ABSTRACT The village of Miska is one of the 530 Palestinian localities destroyed during the Palestinian Nakba (Arabic for great calamity, catastrophe, or devastation). Although the ruins of these places are part of the Israeli landscape, and most Israeli Jews have some knowledge about the Nakba, they do not understand its meaning. In this paper, I deploy Hannah Arendt’s distinction between knowing and understanding to answer the question of how the Nakba can at once be known but not understood by Israeli Jews. Drawing on the tours conducted by the activist organization Zochrot (Hebrew for ‘we remember’) to the ruins of Miska, I argue that the embodied and symbolic practices conducted during the tours to Miska can work to challenge the gap between knowing and understanding by creating a different perspective on the Nakba. From this perspective, the Nakba is not only understood as the memory of the ‘other’—that is, the Palestinian memory of the place—but is understood as a complex memory that embodies a dialectical relationship between Jewish and Palestinian remembrances: a potentially common memory of the place and the basis for the imagining of a common future.

Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy and breast cancer incidence among Jewish BRCA1/BRCA2-mutation carriers-an Israeli matched-pair study.

To study the association of risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (RRBSO) and breast cancer risk among BRCA pathogenic sequence variants (PSV). Jewish Israeli BRCA carriers who underwent RRBSO were matched with those who did not-by the mutated gene and year of birth (±1year). Breast cancer rates were compared. Overall, 127 pairs met the inclusion criteria, 79 (60.6%) pairs harbored BRCA1 PSV and 50 (39.4%) pairs harbored BRCA2 PSV. Median follow up was 8.7years (interquartile range 4.6-16.1years). Breast cancer rate for all BRCA carriers combined was not affected by RRBSO (RRBSO 21 [16.5%] versus no RRBSO 31 [24.4%], hazard ratio [HR] for breast cancer 0.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.33-1.14, P=0.127). No association between RRBSO and breast cancer incidence was noted among BRCA1 PSV carriers. In BRCA2 PSV carriers, RRBSO was associated with a decreased overall breast cancer incidence (HR 0.20, 95% CI 0.44-0.91, P=0.038), as well as after 5, 10, 15, and 20years. Hormone replacement therapy was used by 62 PSV carriers, 52 in the RRBSO group and 10 in the no-RRBSO group and did not affect breast cancer risk (P=0.463). RRBSO is associated with breast cancer risk reduction in Jewish Israeli BRCA2 PSV carriers. Risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was associated with breast cancer risk reduction in Jewish Israeli BRCA2 pathogenic sequence variant carriers.

Recreational activities as a tool for enhancing relations between Arab and Jewish students in an Israeli college

Evidence from SDP programmes around the world illustrates that structured sports and recreational activities promote interaction between individuals from different cultural backgrounds that over time can lead to a more significant understanding of one another. Based on this evidence, the effects of a recreational activities programme on the attitudes of Arab and Jewish Israeli undergraduate students (average age, 23) studying at a college of physical education in Israel were examined. A pilot recreational activities programme was conducted once a week for six weeks. An average of 70 students participated in the first five meetings and approximately 200 students participated in the sixth meeting, a peak event of Israeli folk dancing. Students filled out pre- and post-programme questionnaires on their attitudes towards each other. Written student feedback on the programme and observations of activities were collected by one of the researchers. Findings indicated positive changes in attitudes on both sides

Fifty shades of kosher: negotiating kashrut in Palestinian food spaces in Israel

ABSTRACT In this paper, I argue that the negotiation over kashrut in Palestinian food businesses in Israel reflects Palestinian citizens’ attitudes toward Israel and Israeli Jews. I illustrate my argument by demonstrating practices in which Palestinian food business owners adjust or merely present their foods according to the Israeli-Jewish dietary laws, tastes, and culture. I also offer an interpretation of the meanings they attribute to serving dishes with certain shades of kosher. By closely examining the negotiations held in food spaces in Kafr Qasim, a Palestinian town in central Israel, the following questions arise: How do business owners perceive the concept of kosher? What meanings do they attribute to their actions? And what can we learn about the relationship between Jewish and Palestinian citizens in Israel from this behavior? I will answer these questions by suggesting three typical patterns of negotiations as they manifest in Palestinian food businesses: Interceding Kashrut, Declarative Kashrut, and Official Kashrut. Lastly, I suggest that these patterns – especially the third – create new hybrid foods representing the roots of an innovative and controversial “Palestinian-Israeli food.”

Effects of power asymmetry on the sustained impact of a contact-based intervention on perceptions of relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

Effects of power asymmetry on the sustained impact of a contact-based intervention on perceptions of relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

Activity engagement and psychological distress among Holocaust survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic may pose a specific threat for Holocaust survivors, as such threats may be linked with increased psychological distress. Moreover, research has demonstrated that engaging in planful problem-solving activities is associated with reduced distress. Accordingly, we aimed to examine the link between engaging in activities during COVID-19 and psychological distress among Holocaust survivors with varying levels of post-traumatic symptoms (PTS) and comparisons (not directly exposed to the Holocaust). A cross-sectional design composed of Holocaust survivors and a comparison group. Participants were interviewed face-to-face, over the telephone, or filled the scales online at their leisure. Data were collected from 131 older Jewish Israelis (age range 76-94, M = 82.73, SD = 4.09), who were divided into three groups (comparisons; low-PTS survivors; high-PTS survivors). Participants completed scales assessing PTS, activity engagement, and psychological distress and provided additional sociodemographic, medical, and COVID-19-related information. When activity engagement was low, high-PTS survivors reported extremely high levels of psychological distress relative to low-PTS survivors and comparisons. However, when activity engagement was high, these group differences were considerably reduced, as the psychological distress of high-PTS survivors was significantly lower. The study highlights the importance of daily planning and activity engagement for Holocaust survivors with high PTS levels in reducing psychological distress. Clinicians are urged to take this factor into account when dealing with the psychological effects of COVID-19 on survivors and on traumatized older adults in general.

Secondary Cancer after Meningioma Diagnosis – an Israeli National Study

Background: There are limited data on whether primary diagnosis of meningioma may be associated with development of secondary primary cancer (SPC). Methods: All meningioma cases (ICD-O-3 morphology codes 9530/0-9539/3) diagnosed in Jewish Israelis ages 20 and over between 1990 to 2015 were located in the database of the Israel National Cancer Registry (INCR). All subsequent cancers occurring more than six months after meningioma diagnosis were identified. Risk of secondary cancer (SPC) was compared to cancer risk in the general population through the calculation of standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and excess absolute risks (EARs). SIRs were stratified by type of second cancer, sex, and age group. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios of developing SPC. Findings: Overall, 8044 eligible meningioma cases were identified: mean age at diagnosis was 64.0 years (standard deviation=14.1). Of these, 927 (11.5%) were diagnosed with SPC (SIR 1.6, 95% Confidence Interval, CI 1.5–1.7). Secondary cancer risk was found to be elevated in both men (SIR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5–1.9) and women (SIR 1.6, 95%CI 1.5–1.8) diagnosed with meningioma. Cancers most commonly encountered as secondary cancers in persons previously diagnosed with meningioma were breast (17.6%), colorectal (13.4%), lung (8.1%), prostate (5%), and bladder (4.6%) cancer. Interpretation: Meningioma diagnosis is associated with an increased risk for developing secondary cancers. This risk should be discussed with patients treated for meningioma. Funding: There was no funding for this research project. Declaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: The study was approved by the Sheba Medical Center ethics committee.

Unpacking the politics of equality, diversity and inclusion: The case of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian women in municipal councils

Abstract This research aims to unpack the politics of gender equality and inclusion in municipal councils, focusing on the patterns of women’s political practices; the institutional impact of the national and local cultures on the organizational cultures. It is based on action-research and mixed-method format. Eight municipal councils in small and medium size Jewish, Arab and Jewish-Arab towns in the Northern district participate in the study. Initial findings suggest that women's meaningful involvement in the municipal strategic decision-making is partial. There is a significant gap between the declared strive for gender equality and inclusion and women's actual influence in decision-making. This gap looms particularly large in the Arab towns. The mechanisms of exclusion and potential avenues of counteracting them are discussed.

Epistemology of the Nakba in Israeli education

In Israel, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the most fundamental political and moral issue current and future citizens face. If we accept the maxim that schools should prepare citizens for participation in determining the future of their state, Israeli students must be introduced to the historical, political and moral questions at the heart of the conflict. But this responsibility of Israeli schools and teachers is a highly contentious issue. The most important issue in Israeli political education is thus the hardest to teach. In this article I argue that, despite considerable educational and political risks, teaching Jewish Israeli students about the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (alternatively known as the Israeli War of Independence) holds substantial potential for their epistemic development as capable knowers. I begin by reviewing the political, dialogical, cognitive and epistemic deficits in Israeli education, highlighting how the Nakba is suppressed in history and citizenship education. By analysing the epistemic context of the Nakba in Israeli society and education, I present two pedagogical approaches for teaching controversial issues, arguing for an inquiry‐based approach over the widely held approach. I demonstrate the benefits of an inquiry‐based approach in the context of history education. In the final section of the article, I build on the case of the Nakba to argue for a new epistemic framework for Israeli citizenship education. I begin by outlining the shortcomings of the current epistemic framework of the subject and point to possible future directions for the subject.

A Distant Threat Made Local? The Carry-over Effect of Perceived Threat from Asylum Seekers in Europe to Israeli Local Outgroups

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of perceived threat from asylum seekers in EU (EUAS) on attitudes toward Israeli local outgroups, controlling for face to-face interaction with the latter. The study was conducted using an online survey of 1311 Israeli Jews. Realistic threat from EUAS was negatively related to positive attitudes toward three local outgroups, while the association between symbolic threat from EUAS and attitudes toward the local outgroups was insignificant. The effect of distant realistic threat was more pronounced than the effect of symbolic threat and the effect of face-to-face contact. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2021.1956668 .