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The article analyses the effect of Israel's new maritime orientation on its foreign policy. It first demonstrates that in the last two decades Israel has changed its maritime posture in three important ways: it has developed energy dependence on offshore gas, begun extensive seawater desalination and dramatically expanded its navy's platforms and missions. The paper then investigates the effects of these changes on Israel's bilateral relations with its neighbours. Finally, the paper highlights the cumulative effect of these changes as well as some of their implications for Israel's foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mission command is a command philosophy that denotes decentralized leadership; it is a philosophy of command that requires and facilitates initiative in all levels of command and encourages subordinates to exploit opportunities by empowering them to demonstrate initiative and exercise personal judgement. In its first decades of existence, military analysts portrayed the Israeli command system as such and termed it ‘optional control’. The primary objective of this article is to explore the rise and decline of ‘optional control’ in the IDF. The first part of the article follows the development of optional control in the IDF’s first decades of existence until the 1970s. The second part of the paper will describe its decline through the analysis of command in recent IDF military campaigns. The last part is analysis; explanation for the decline in mission command is attributed to four major factors: the changes in Israel’s society and thereof in civil‒military relations; the changes in character of military operations; the lack of appropriate military education; and the role and impact of new technologies on the IDF. The combined effect of these factors impedes the ongoing efforts of the IDF to re-establish mission command as its preferred command philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

All over the world, political consumerism is on the rise and so is the number of studies. Until the summer of 2011, the use of consumer power in Israel was very limited and political scientists did not focus on it enough. But the social protest and the cottage cheese boycott during that summer were a different experience. Analysing this boycott as a case study, the paper examines the question “Why do political entrepreneurs, the boycott organizers, choose to adopt political consumerism as their main political strategy in order to create a social and political change?” Based on the neo-institutional theory and on the principles of the rational choice theory, the study offers the “triangle of political consumerism’s model” which explains the interaction between the entrepreneur, the “Israel is too expensive for us” (Israel Yekara Lanu) consumer movement, the food corporations, citizens as consumers and the state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The environment has been forced to the margins of Israeli political discourse in the past and has received little attention from formal institutes. Nevertheless, since the mid-1980s, environmental consciousness and public discourse have increased, mainly encouraged by Israeli civil society. This paper argues that since Israeli governmental and educational systems do not deal with environmental issues, the development of environmentalism in Israeli society is the outcome of a three-step process: first, an increase in the homogenization of cross-border messages; in turn this contributes to the homogenization of principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures; and finally, plays a role in creating a greater sense of belonging to the global community. The paper probes the development of global environmental messages' influence on Israeli society and politics between the two first main UN environmental conferences of 1972 and 1992 by presenting a qualitative and quantitative analysis of The New York Times (USA), The Times (UK) and Ma'ariv and Yediot Ahronot (Israel) during the time of these conferences. A comprehensive survey is presented, along with interviews with representatives from 78 environmental NGOs in Israel that were established by 1995. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Israeli online public relations practice, including Web 1.0, and social media usage among Israeli public relations practitioners and organizations. The paper demonstrates a gap between the dialogic potential of the Internet and its actual utilization by Israeli practitioners and organizations. Still, it is expected that Internet usage, and mainly social media usage among Israeli practitioners will grow as well as their awareness to the dialogic and interactive potential of social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout its existence as a state, Israel has had to cope with intense terrorism in three arenas: within its territory, across the borders, and abroad. This problem has been a major political and psychological factor in Israel's reality and the need to cope with it has forced the public and governments to deal with hard dilemmas. This article examines Israel's conduct in the struggle against terrorism with regard to the choice between maintaining human rights on the one hand and insuring public safety on the other hand. Following a review of the nature of the basic problem that a democracy faces when it has to deal with political terrorism, the paper describes the physical and psychological characteristics of the threat that Israel has had to confront. The paper then turns to examine Israel's response, focusing on two controversial issues: collective punishment, as exercised in the demolition of houses and restrictions imposed on the adversary population's freedom of movement, and extra-judicial killing of terrorists. These measures are weighed in terms of their acceptability in a democratic country and their effectiveness as anti-terrorism policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine possible implications should Israel incorporate multicultural principles in its 'basic structure'. The paper divides into two main sections. In the first section I will embark on a short theoretical discussion concerning the relationship between claims of recognition and claims of distribution. In the second section I will assess the implications of this discussion for Israeli society, focusing on the main schisms characterizing Israeli society (Israeli Palestinian and Israeli Jews, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews, religious and non-religious Jews, veterans and immigrants, and gender relations). One of the main arguments of the paper is that the separation of claims of recognition from claims of distribution presents insurmountable difficulties. These claims are very often inextricable. The fusion of these claims, however, underscores the utmost importance of the multicultural project. It shows that claims of distribution cannot be accommodated by a social system purporting to secure equality for all members of society irrespective of race, gender and cultural differences. This conclusion is valid either for societies whose basic political principles claim cultural neutrality or for societies whose principles forfeit such neutrality but promise universal inclusion of all members of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article develops an explanation for Likud’s success, which goes beyond the existing structural and circumstantial accounts. It argues that Likud’s success should be sought for in the utilization of Hobbesian logic by its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. By revealing the commonalities between Hobbes’s political thinking and Rhetoric, and Netanyahu’s political conduct, this paper sheds new light on Netanyahu’s leadership and sources of legitimation and authority in Israel, which are understudied. We demonstrate that Netanyahu’s Hobbesian dimension is best reflected in his understanding of the nature of civil and political rights in the context of an ongoing struggle for survival and self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In June 2004 the Israeli government decided to dismantle all of the Israeli settlements in the Gaza strip. During the year between the government’s decision and the implementation of this policy, ardent supporters and opponents of the move sought to sway a divided Israeli public through public relations campaigns promoting their positions. One of the central components of the government’s campaign supporting the pullout from Gaza was that it would advance the development of Israel’s southern Negev region. Promotion of the policy as a means for development of the Negev tied into Israel’s long-standing population dispersal policy, which has been a policy paradigm for land use and development in Israel since the state’s founding. This paper examines the way in which development of the Negev was used to advance the Gaza pullout and the degree to which this development was implemented in the years following the pullout. Analysis of the Israeli case is used illustrate the strategic influence of policy paradigms in public policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 2013 election campaign in Israel shows, at first glance, some unanticipated results and unexpected reactions of several political actors. Three events in particular can be noted: (1) the rise of a significant centrist middle-class party; (2) the association of the newly elected right-wing Prime Minister with his left-wing rivals; and (3) the revival of a national religious party after years of decline. A broad overview, however, reveals that from many perspectives numerous key elements of Israeli politics have remained broadly the same over the decades. Some unanticipated outcomes of the elections are to a substantial extent repetitions of past events, referred to in this paper as historic recurrences. In order to establish this claim about historic recurrence, each event is compared to past events with which several striking similarities are found. In order to explain the phenomenon of historic recurrence in Israeli politics, two sets of concepts are applied: the sociological terminology regarding reference group and collective identity, and rational choice theories about voter behaviour and the preferences of political actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding recognition of the two-state solution for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict ostensibly removes an immediate demographic threat to Israel that the Arab inhabitants between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River will soon outnumber the Jews. The demographic and social concern of maintaining the character of the State of Israel as the place where the Jewish people can realize their right to self-determination and can ensure a solid Jewish majority should be directed inward. Israel also wishes to continue to be a prosperous and developed country. This paper examines the changing proportions and characteristics of specific population subgroups and their effect on Israel's future as a Jewish and prosperous state. Further it argues that the demographic composition does not allow Israel to accept the demand for the ‘right of return’ whereas the two-state solution should involve the settlement of the Palestinian refugees in the new Palestinian state. The article discusses broader meanings of the demographic dimension for the Jewish and Arab populations in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws lessons from the role played by the black church in creating support for the US civil rights movement in relation to the struggle to involve the Palestinian and the Israeli people directly in the peacemaking efforts to resolve their tragic conflict. The civil rights struggle in both the US and South Africa eventually engaged large segments of the public in both productive debate and campaigning. The corresponding impetus now is to create a major Palestinian–Israeli public negotiating congress that can involve ordinary citizens on both sides in the peacemaking efforts. The Minds of Peace Experiment, a small-scale Palestinian–Israeli public negotiating assembly, is designed to demonstrate the peacemaking power of a subsequent major congress. The exercise, which has been conducted around the US, Canada, and the Middle East, succeeded in creating peacemaking coalitions that are based on commitment to promote the culture of peace. The question is: how can you transform this peacemaking effect into a mass movement? The American black church movement as well as the South African mass mobilization can offer important indications of effective strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a review of research on user generated content in the Israeli online journalism landscape. Findings reveal that scholarly attention has been focused primarily on user comments, with initial insight on the role of blogs and citizen journalism in the Israeli journalism landscape. Methodologically, research is derived primarily from interviews with newsroom staff and case study content analyses. The review suggests that future research should complement current data with user based inquiry about orientations and use of UGC, and examine the role of Israeli culture in the practice of UGC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a specific group of post-1989 Former Soviet Union (FSU) migrants in Israel, those who prefer to keep their Christian religion in a country with an explicitly Jewish character. Specifically, we focus on (1) immigrants' perceptions of state and institutional discrimination against non-Jewish immigrants, and (2) immigrants' construction of social distance and social boundaries across ethno-cultural groups. Our findings suggest that Christian immigrants challenge the hegemonic definition of who is a Jew, strongly contest the Israeli ethno-national regime of incorporation that discriminates against non-Jewish citizens, and advance claims for equal rights. Religion becomes the most important marker for identity construction. Shared national background (country of origin) does not necessarily guarantee solidarity and cordial social relations between immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in 2008 to examine the cultural practices and preferences of 'Russian' youth in Israel. Data was collected via structured questionnaires (187) and semi-structured in-depth interviews (21). Respondents were aged 16-24 and represented both the youth born in Israel to immigrant parents and those who immigrated before the age of 12. The results suggest that the cultural integration of 'Russian' youth in Israel does not follow a linear process. There is a large group of youngsters who choose to preserve their mixed or Russian cultural identity (e.g. in social networking, music tastes and entertainment) for reasons other than Hebrew language difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article accounts for Israel's failure to take the historical opportunity to invade the West Bank during the 1948 war. It also considers the nature of British support for Jordan between 1948 until the death of King Abdullah in 1951. British interests in Transjordan were determined by strategic factors that were outlined in the 1948 Anglo-Transjordan Treaty. Although the British were bound by the treaty to come to Jordan's assistance in the case of an invasion, in practice this would have been very difficult to achieve short of invading Israel from Egypt. This paper argues that the Israelis failed to invade the West Bank in 1948 because they were deterred by the possibility of British intervention and because of divisions within the Israeli political establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The zoning of land in Israel for purposes of development and town and regional planning are strongly influenced by the securitization discourse. The defence establishment has power of veto over most major planning decisions while it is also able to preserve land for its own long term purposes if it posits an appropriate security concern. Nearly fifty percent of the land in Israel (not including theWest Bank) is either directly or indirectly under the influence of the defence establishment. This paper distinguishes ten categories of military / security land uses, ranging from the physical location of army camps to a vague definition of the "home frontier" (internal security) and the location and construction of major transportation arteries. It then discusses the planning mechanisms through which decisions are taken, focusing on the respective role of three major players: the defence establishment; the land developers; and environmental lobbyists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the political-military implications of the roles played by Lt. Gen. (Res.) Shaul Mofaz who served as the IDF chief of staff and, almost immediately upon retirement was appointed Israel's minister of defence. There were problems not only in Mofaz's sudden transition from military to civilian office, but also in the way that he functioned both in his military role and subsequent civilian position. The two stages in Mofaz's public career are only the latest examples of the complex nature of Israel's civil-military relations, where formalized rules of procedure are absent. They also reflect the attempts of each echelon, the civil and military, to force the other's hand (although it is universally accepted that the army is subordinate to the political leadership). The power struggle is the result of two parallel processes: the army's growing influence in government decision-making on security matters, and the government's waning ability to limit the senior command's influence on security decisions. The main causes of this situation can be traced to the long and arduous process that brought the army to a pre-eminent position on national security issues. Paradoxically, the military's powerful leverage that now appears to threaten the political system is the result of the government's abandonment of the frontlines to the army's responsibility in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact that more than half of the Israeli fighting force during the War of Independence, was made up of survivors of the Holocaust has huge emotional and social implications and has also become one of the most controversial debates in the Israeli public discourse. In particular, it is connected with the issue of the integration of the survivors of the Holocaust into Israeli society and the development of Holocaust consciousness among Israelis. This paper highlights how survivors shared the same notion as the Israeli establishment, namely that the War of Independence was an existential war. Moreover, the survivors felt that their active participation in it was a huge privilege bestowed on them and as such, were actively willing to be drafted rather than cynically manipulated into battle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the quantitative trade impact by sectors of the implementation of the free trade area agreement between the EU and Jordan which was signed in 1997 and entered into force on 1 May 2002 after a long ratification process. For the investigation, a partial equilibrium model is adopted, allowing for the separate evaluation of different static effects. The article also deals with the likely comparative static effects of concluding a Free Trade Area Agreement between Jordan and Israel. Estimations also extend to agriculture even if free trade in this domain remains only a purely theoretical possibility. The focus is mainly on static integration effects although the paper tries to say something about the likely impact of the non-static (for example dynamic) effects of the two integration schemes. The main result is that the EU-Jordan FTA will deepen the asymmetric trade interdependence between the two partners and that Jordan's overall trade deficit will increase and even more so with the EU (by more than 30 per cent). The static welfare effects on Jordan appear to be negative, since trade diversion losses are significant. On the other hand, an Israel-Jordan FTA seems to be more attractive for Jordan, in view of its immediate positive although reduced impact on Jordanian's exports and on its negligible impact on Jordan's overall trade balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstracts are presented for research papers in this issue of "Israel Affairs" including: "Jews and Others: Non-Jewish Jews in Israel," by Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser; "Israel and the Realities of Mutual Deterrence," by Ralph Sanders; and "The Struggle for a Yiddish Repertoire Theatre in Israel, 1950-1952," by Rachel Rojanski.