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Terminal Ediacaran–late early Cambrian deposition, faunas and passive margin evolution of the north Indian margin are recorded in the Nigali Dhar syncline succession. Restudy of the upper Tal Group (upper lower Cambrian Koti Dhaman Formation, KDF) ichnofauna from the Khud-Drabil section reduces it to 18 confidently named forms. The lower KDF (Lower Quartzite Member) Cruziana-Rusophycus assemblage is in subtidal (not intertidal) sandsheet facies. The overlying black Shale Member (SM) records trans-East Gondwanan deepening, not intertidal facies, in the Palaeolenus Zone. The SM, with low diversity Planolites-Palaeophycus assemblage, is overlain by subtidal (not intertidal) sandsheet facies of the middle KDF (Arkosic Sandstone Member, ASM) with shallow burrowers and furrowers (Gordia marina assemblage, new; Cruziana ichnofacies). KDF faunas with Cruziana and Rusophycus are similar to coeval, shallow marine associations elsewhere in Gondwana and NW Laurentia. Interpretation of a second KDF section 20 km from Khud-Drabil has confused an understanding of Lesser Himalaya geologic evolution as it claims Ordovician Cruziana species in the ASM and an angular SM–ASM unconformity caused by the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary Kurgiakh orogeny. However, upper lower Cambrian microfaunas occur in and above the ASM, while the angular SM–ASM unconformity is consistent with submarine sliding. KDF-type ichnofaunas do not show a tropical location of Avalonia, which has the distinctive lithofacies and biotas of a high-latitude continent unrelated to Gondwana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines moral dilemmas faced by family caregivers of older adults who employ live-in migrant care workers. Being both a family caregiver as well as an employer of a live-in migrant care worker often puts family members at a crossroad, where moral decisions must be made. Lacking a formal role, family members do not have a professional code of ethics or other clear rules that can guide their actions, and their choices are rooted in cultural, community, familial, and personal values. This paper discusses moral dilemmas that result from family caregivers' dual commitment, to the wellbeing of their older sick relative who is the recipient of care, and to the wellbeing of the live-in care worker whom they employ. The paper uses relational ethics as a theoretical framework to discuss three cases that involve complex moral decision making in real life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potentiality of converting capitals in new national fields following migration has been the focus of a number of studies. Another, much smaller, literature examines experiences of return migration. In this paper, we follow 15 Israeli families (where both mothers and children have been interviewed) who have been globally mobile for professional reasons. We examine cultural capital accumulation strategies for the children and how these facilitate the occupation of advantageous social positions while abroad. Having returned to Israel, partly due to the COVID pandemic, the national cultural capital the families have so actively cultivated in their children is evaluated as not authentic enough. Meanwhile, the cosmopolitan cultural capital that has been so valorised abroad, is not recognised as something the children can draw on to position themselves either. The paper contributes to the study of return migration, with a unique focus on globally mobile families returning ‘home’. We also examine how national cultural capital is conceived and differentially assessed as families move from a more transnational space to that of their home country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Gohar Homayounpour responds in the format of a letter to Eyal Rozmarin's paper: Belonging and its Discontents, in which he lyrically and psychoanalytically addresses the current war in Gaza, in a deeply personal spirit as an Israeli-American psychoanalyst living under its tragic and disturbing shadow. Homayounpour attempts to question our need for belonging, towards an ethics of un-belonging. The various problematics/seductions of belonging are confronted metapsychologically, but she moves beyond that into a personal/political narrative on the horrific and ongoing tragedy in Israel and Palestine. Where dreams have failed into nightmares, where Radical hope or the ethics of the social as she puts it, becomes more radically indispensable than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The suffix "washing" refers to the practice of portraying controversial actions in a positive light by leveraging progressive principles, often used by economic corporations, organizations, political parties, or governments. This paper introduces and develops the term "studentwashing" to define the deliberate effort to present Israeli territorial development as an attractive, youthful, and unique experience. This portrayal aims to engage larger segments of society in the national geopolitical project while normalizing its settler-colonial aspects as a means to ensure its continuation. While the constant development of new territorial settlements is dependent either on the right-wing religious sector or on the "quality-of-life" settlers, studentwashing is reserved for areas that are not ideological enough for the first nor sufficiently attractive to the latter. Analyzing "student villages" in the Negev, this paper depicts a new territorial strategy meant to enhance the state's spatial control over the predominantly Arab periphery inside official Israeli borders. Accordingly, this paper offers a new perspective on Israel's territorial strategies and enhances the general study of geopolitical and geo-economic spatial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Elat/Timna area in Southern Israel provides an unparalleled opportunity for geological field studies due to its unique geology, spanning from the Neoproterozoic to the Holocene. The well-exposed rocks document the variability and evolution of three major processes: the creation of the Arabian-Nubian Shield during the Neoproterozoic, the accumulation of the Cambrian to Eocene sedimentary sequence, and the Miocene to Recent evolution of the Dead Sea Transform, an active plate boundary. The area's geological diversity and extensive documentation of its geology have made it a particularly important study site for geoscience students. Recently the Geological Survey of Israel published new 1:50,000 scale geological maps of the area, updated by additional fieldwork and presented in a series of reports. This paper presents a brief geological overview and a description of six key locations, complete with maps and photos that are a showcase document to the area's geological uniqueness as an excellently-exposed window into 800 million years of Neoproterozoic to Holocene evolution at the NE African plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonprofit organizations operating in civil society have become the main channel for social service provision in most neoliberal welfare economies. Social service nonprofits (SSNs) deliver essential services mainly to vulnerable and marginalized populations. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, SSNs have been at the frontline of dealing with its socioeconomic consequences. This paper focuses on the activities and responses to the crisis of SSNs in Israel. Interviews with SSN directors (N = 17) show that they dealt with growing demands for services due to the social implications of the pandemic, along with operational difficulties, such as deterioration in clients' condition, disruption in service continuity, and reduced funding and staff. Next to these difficulties, the findings highlighted the social innovations adopted by SSNs to maintain service provision, such as implementing remote service technologies, forming collaborations, and recruiting volunteers. Implications for the social services and policies are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks why mediation efforts between Fatah and Hamas have failed. The analysis of in-depth interviews with Palestinian stakeholders, guided by relevant theoretical frameworks, indicates that: first, Israel and its allies act as systemic contextual barriers to ending the Palestinian split. Second, serious obstacles to reconciliation exist because the split has lasted for nearly 16 years. Third, mediator characteristics did not affect the outcomes. Fourth, increased polarization in the region following the Arab Spring has adversely affected reconciliation. This research points to the futility of mediation efforts in the current circumstances and the need to challenge existing systemic barriers to reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted, in part, as a response to the horrific antisemitism leading to the extermination of millions of Jews in World War II. Yet, today, organisations that utilise human rights instruments to criticise Israel's laws, policies and practices are themselves being cast as antisemitic. How has the contemporary human rights regime come to be charged with antisemitism? The ostensible answer is that the meaning of antisemitism has expanded to include anti-Zionism and harsh criticism of Israel. While scholars have debated the validity of this expansion, this paper interrogates three types of abstractions: those deployed by traditional antisemites, those emanating from human rights, and those mobilised by the new antisemitism doctrine. An analysis of these abstractions helps clarify the new hostility between antisemitism and human rights. Whereas Zionism aims to protect Jews by asserting a right to Jewish difference within the context of a nation-state, human rights aim to protect Jews by promoting an egalitarian distribution of rights among the population. The crux of the matter is that the solution human rights offer to antisemitism also threatens the Zionist project, since it challenges the racialized mode of governance that this political ideology has implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the state apparatus classifies who are the citizens to be symbolically included in the collective, and who are to be excluded by analysing interfaith marriages in the Israeli context, where ethno-national identity is society's main category organizer. I argue that the women's social-economic standing (working-class versus middle-class) and ethnic origin (Mizrahi Jews of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry versus Ashkenazi Jews of European ancestry) play an important role not only in their strategies but in the nationalist rhetoric against them. The paper also shows how interfaith marriages, although rather rare in Israel, determine that ethno-national boundaries are more permeable than they are first appear, although crossing and shifting them is never simple. Yet the importance of this phenomenon is not in its prevalence, but in its social and political impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 10,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel - approximately half of whom are women - cross the Green Line on a regular basis to study at universities in the West Bank. Challenging views that would dismiss these cross-border flows as illustrative of their relatively privileged legal, material and socio-economic status as citizens, this paper engages the concept of mobility capital as well as the work of feminist scholars on the capital investment strategies of women and minorities to reveal the more limited capacity of Palestinian citizens to cross the Green Line as well as the defensively-oriented mobilising strategies which they have adopted not only to move but to maintain their presence, access their rights, and secure their future livelihoods in Israel. Arguing that these cross-border student mobilities should be seen as both a counter-hegemonic and 'stacked' form of capital accumulation that is heavily reliant on the bridging work of informal networks, this paper seeks to advance recent calls to centre settler colonialism within the field of mobilities while drawing attention to the more complex interconnections that exist between mobility and capital in the everyday life struggles of indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the financialisation literature, scholars have turned their attention to the state, exploring the adoption of financial activities by state actors, paying less attention to the limits of state financialisation. This paper explores these limits using the case of social impact bonds (SIBs). Pioneered in the UK in 2010 and subsequently trialed in some 35 countries, SIBs use private capital to fund social programs, with governments providing a return based on the degree of success. Despite expectations of dramatic growth, the SIB model has never truly taken hold. Based on the rollout of SIBs in the UK, Israel, and Canada, the paper considers the challenges encountered by the SIB enterprise as a form of financialised statecraft and identifies three barriers: (1) resistance to political agendas of state financialisation; (2) clashes between finance and public sector cultures; (3) financial innovation seen as 'risk' and 'disruption' to entrenched socio-technical routines. These barriers reveal tensions both within the state itself and between finance and the public sector, and indicate the importance of thinking about the limits and failures of state financialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do lesbian and bisexual, cisgender and transgender (LBT) women talk about sex? This paper looks at constructions of sexual discourse and the production of sexual subjectivity from the perspective of LBT women in the Israeli periphery, asking how they construct their lives as sexual subjects. Applying Sara Ahmed's 'orientations' concept, we argue that the periphery serves as an LGBTphobic context that impacts sexual discourses and constructs LBT sexual subjectivities. We conceptualize LBT women's sexual subjectivity as distinct and anchored in spatiality, and frame it as oriented sexual subjectivity. This particular subjectivity reveals an intertwined movement between silence and discourse, urban and rural, oriented to the space inhabited by LBT women. Oriented sexual subjectivity is constructed particularly through an alignment of LBT women's discourse on sex and sexual practices with the heteronormative spaces in which they live. Based on 61 interviews with LBT women in the Israeli periphery, we show how sex is discussed only in relation to violent experiences or while talking about urban experiences in Tel Aviv. This discursive framework reveals how in the periphery, like a palimpsest, sex is cartographically hidden in deep layers of meaning rather than discussed in the open, and how LBT sexual subjectivity is oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article ponders Israeli-Druze relations during Lebanon's 1983 War of the Mountain in light of derestricted sources pertaining to the Robert C. McFarlane mission in Lebanon. After the assassination of the Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel in September 1982 and the rise to the presidency of his brother Amine, Israel's relations with Lebanon's Christians soured. By contrast, Israel's connections with the Lebanese Druze intensified, and the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin threatened to establish a "Druze Canton/Israeli Protectorate" in the Shuf-Aley region. Ostensibly, Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze community, allied himself during the Lebanese Civil War with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Syria. Untapped diplomatic documents show, however, that Jumblatt also courted Israel and developed ties with the Menachem Begin administration. Uri Lubrani, an Israeli official who recruited members of Israel's Druze community to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the 1950s, played an important role in developing Israel's ties with Jumblatt. In this paper, I flesh out the dynamics of Israel's discrete relations with Lebanon's Druze community and their implications on the trajectory of the Lebanese conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural heritage (e.g., historic buildings, memorials and museums) has been used to construct and negotiate various identities and meanings in the present, specifically in the context of nation-states. In transforming the past into heritage, however, States may disregard other histories-ones which deviate from the historical narratives they promote. In this paper, I discuss the case of the Heritage Plan, Israel’s official cultural heritage policy. Specifically, by using the discursive approach, I expose and assess cases of silencing competing histories which would challenge the history promoted by the Heritage Plan. My findings suggest that, in addition to privileging Jewish heritage, the Heritage Plan is used as a mechanism for erasing competing, non-Jewish histories. This article presents three case-studies of silencing: the first investigates the Druze heritage center; the second inquires into Israeli heritage practices in the West Bank; the third examines the Castel national heritage site associated with the 1948 war. The analysis of these cases reveals how the Heritage Plan is guided by ethnic and religious factors, whereby heritage assets are not necessarily promoted according to their full historical value, but are instead used to sustain current power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars who study the Northern Kingdom of Israel repeatedly refer to it as a centralised state or kingdom and often take a neo-evolutionary approach in their assessments of its character. This paper argues for a different approach, one in which the agency of northern Israelite actors/taxpayers and their intricate kinship-based networks are highlighted. It applies collective action theory, which states that rational social actors cooperate with rulers, and the patrimonial household model, which states that social order is viewed as the extension of the ruler's (and god's) household, to an analysis of administration and cult in northern Israel during the Iron II. It argues that the Omrides benefited from taxpayer cooperation and a reliance on complex kin-based systems. The same can be said for the Nimshides who, it is suggested, were operating within an even less centralised system than their predecessors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the normalisation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on the part of their inhabitants. Focusing on the so-called 'non-ideological' settlements that evolved from ideological outposts into middle-class suburbs over the last three decades, this study engages spatial politics in Israel/Palestine in general, and the transformations of the settlement project in particular. Based on ethnographic research in the region, I argue that the acceptance and normalisation of the settlements among Israelis is closely related to their affective and aesthetic experiences. I focus on the co-production of space/territory, affect and aesthetics to show how physical transformations of the settlements since their establishment have turned many of these key nodes of the Israeli occupational apparatus into family-friendly communities, thus erasing the violence of the Israeli control over the Palestinians from settlers' lives. I further demonstrate that these notions are not disrupted even by one of the most prominent symbols and technologies of the occupation, the fence/wall. This study thus contributes to understanding of how the interplay of spatial, territorial, aesthetic and affective practices works to normalise colonial conquest and domination by making their manifestations seemingly natural and even appealing on the part of the privileged segments of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a comparative study of Israel and Singapore to understand the national security policies of geographically smaller states. These states are militarily powerful, geographically small, and in close proximity with much larger potential adversaries. These states are also different in terms of their relationship with that much larger state as well as their independence narratives. Israel remains in a state of conflict with Iran through Syria and through terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel was created through war. On the other hand, Singapore has a complicated relationship with Malaysia based on suspicious cooperation. Malaysia also allowed Singapore independence given differences in the voting behavior of Singaporeans. Both states share a military strategy of preemption or prevention. Since these states are geographically small, striking first may offer Israel and Singapore a better chance at avoiding annihilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the seemingly puzzling situation in which legislators vote against a government of which they will become a part. Why are legislators from the coalition parties not fully disciplined in the investiture vote? Is it because of the type of government when the characteristics of the investiture vote is similar (a simple majority and an ex-post vote)? Using Israel and Italy as case studies, we demonstrate that when the type of government is an oversized coalition and the investiture consists of a simple majority and an ex-post vote (as a constant), legislators will be willing to vote against their party. We argue that they do so to express their disappointment with the positions they are offered and/or the policies that the coalition is adopting. Given the simple majority and oversized coalition, they are risking little and potentially reaping future rewards from their actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explore a local aspect of what Bernard Capp characterized as England's Culture Wars. Robert Beake, mayor of Coventry in 1655/6, worked closely with the region's 'Major General', Edward Whalley, local ministers and constables to make Coventry an English Zion and realize the puritan mission of godly discipline and moral reformation. The paper will explore an archetypal puritan magistrate and how he went about his mission of reform in an important midland city and the success he achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the prosperity of nation states and the availability of skilled labour for the global economy, many countries have encouraged students with low socio-economic status (SES) and minorities to enrol in colleges and universities. In Israel, a significant effort was made starting in 1995 to create more colleges and to provide more access to higher education for students within the mentioned groups. Yet the question arises concerning what was achieved by this effort. This paper analyses the relationship between (i) wealth and higher education in population clusters, (ii) higher education and geographical areas, and (iii) higher education and ethnic subsets in Israel. The evidence indicates a strong correlation between the SES of a locality and the number of students per residents in that locality. This correlation, however, is affected by the existence of an affordable local college. After the correlations are presented and explained, recommendations for enabling low-SES students to be successful in higher education are explored, including developing a new curriculum for middle and secondary students, creating transitional 'discourse communities' for first-year college students from low-SES, and investing in local colleges in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the complexity of the national representation of Arab players on the Israeli national soccer team. For 90 min, the players are part of society and their presence resembles the inclusion of Arabs in Israel. However, when the match ends, they are again part of the deprived Arab minority and excluded from Israeli society. The study is based on theoretical academic materials, interviews with six prominent Arab soccer players who played in the national team from 1976 until the present day, and selected press interviews with several other Arab internationals. The research findings show that the players define themselves as Arabs who, first and foremost, represent themselves and their families and communities. They ignore racist calls based on ethnic, national, or religious differences. Ultimately, all of them have a hybrid identity and see soccer as a way of life and an opportunity to promote their career and make their families and communities proud due to being part of the national soccer squad. These findings thus adhere to the theoretical framework of instrumental inclusion that this paper offers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an analysis of the Israeli case, this paper explains why states add superfluous provisions that facilitate naturalization processes after military service. The Israeli Citizenship Law states that military service in Israel will confer exemptions from the list of requirements toward naturalization. Amendments in 1987 and 2004 and 35 proposed revisions also link military service with citizenship in Israel. I argue that those provisions were enacted mainly for symbolic reasons. Republicanism is not just a characteristic of a particular polity but a rhetorical trope for politicians in that state. In Israel, politicians wanted to emphasize the importance of republican participation, particularly through military service, as the ultimate sacrifice in constructing national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Israel's first three decades, Israeli football adopted the amateurism principle which prohibited football players from receiving any monetary or other compensation for playing football. Despite this prohibition, many top football players obtained sought-after jobs at Egged, Israel's leading transport cooperative, along with shares in the cooperative. Using a Bourdieusian theoretical framework, this paper examines Israeli football players' ability, most of whom came from the working or lower middle classes, to use the types of capital they amassed to improve their economic and social positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do protracted conflicts abroad impact the relations between diaspora groups in their shared host state? Drawing from the rivalry between the Israel and pro-Palestinian ethnic lobbies in the United States, this paper develops an original framework for assessing the relations diasporas have with one another when their 'homelands' are in conflict. The Israel and pro-Palestinian lobbies have used four strategies, along with their accompanying tactics, to actively hamper the interests of their opponent. The results raise important questions regarding the extent ethnic lobbies represent their diasporas, as well as drive the need for further research into other prospective cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the major change in the Jewish sacred space in Israel. It demonstrates the distinct process wherein pilgrimages emphasizing ancient Jewish history are often replaced by visits at the tombs of venerated contemporary figures. In various places throughout Israel (and the Diaspora), a complex system of sacred tombs has developed comprising sites that are physically and symbolically distant from Jerusalem. In recent years, cemeteries throughout the State of Israel have been transformed from burial places serving the families of the deceased to pilgrimage destinations for visitors specifically seeking to prostrate themselves on the holy graves of rabbis, public figures, and leaders of communities and Hasidic dynasties, whether Mizrachi or Ashkenazi. This tsadikification process has developed almost without institutional or national political involvement, and is the result of the activities of individuals and families, non-profit organizations, Hasidic dynasties, and various organizations promoting the expansion of the map of Jewish sanctity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the development of family mediation in Israel within the theoretical framework of the competition between professions (Abbott, 1988; Shamir, 1993), and the co-optation model of Coy and Hedeen (2005). It describes the formal institutionalization of family mediation in Israel and examines the claims made by lawyers, therapeutic mediators, and lawyer-mediators about the nature and boundaries of their professional enterprise and their goals and practices. Based on 254 questionnaires, semi-structured taped interviews and professional documents, our study found differences in the way the professionals construct the nature of the competition over mediation. While lawyers describe mediators as invading their realm of divorce practice, therapeutic professionals view mediation as a new field of knowledge which they are claiming as their own, in competition with legal professionals. Moreover, although elements of Coy and Hedeen's (2005) co-optation model were useful in describing the developing relationship between the divorce professionals, we found different strategies of resistance at each stage of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing focus in political science on right-wing populist parties. But few comparative studies address their discourses and politics relating to family values, especially when involved with policy-making. Moreover, many comparative works about populism focus on a single region – often Western and Eastern Europe. This paper adopts a definition of populism with two different dimensions: the vertical (inclusive), which regards elites, and the horizontal (exclusive), which addresses 'foreigners'. The use of family values in political discourse and policy pertains to the two axes of populism. On the one hand are elites who are accused of being uncommitted to traditional values and morally corrupt. On the other hand are demographic concerns regarding declining birth rates among native populations and immigrants with large families. The stress on family values can also originate from a value orientation – or merely a tactical move – engendered by political competition. This paper specifically examines the politics of family values in the context of policies concerning gender equality, family planning and LGBT rights in three countries: Israel, Italy and Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the help of multi-sited ethnography in Israel and Pakistan, this paper looks at the history of antisemitism in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I show that while antisemitism is widespread in parts of Pakistani society today, it was not the reason why most of Karachi's Jews left the country in the 1960s or the 1970s. In the paper, I explore possible explanations for the rise of antisemitism in parts of Pakistan's society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological developments over the last two decades have allowed researchers to employ advanced tracking technologies to collect high-resolution spatial and temporal data. Despite the extensive use of these technologies in tourism research, they have not yet been applied to the existing indicators of tourism demand. The current paper aims to fill this lacuna, proposing the use of tracking technologies to measure tourist activity in destinations and, in particular, extreme conditions such as tourist saturation and overtourism. It introduces a new index for tourism demand, the Intensity-Density Index (IDI), based on high-resolution data in time and space. After presenting an overview of the common indicators for measuring tourism demand, the most common indicators, the Tourism Intensity Rate (TIR) and the Tourism Density Rate (TDR), are calculated twice, using traditional methods and advanced tracking technologies. The second calculation is based on a unique survey conducted in Israel between 2015 and 2017, which included some 3,000 tourists whose activity in the destination was documented entirely on a national level and at high resolution. Finally, the methodology for calculating high-resolution (HR) indicators using GPS data is presented, resulting in the IDI. Advanced tracking technologies' use in calculating the IDI not only helps present tourism activity more accurately in terms of time and space but can also be applied in tourism management to serve as a tool for effective planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores trust-building strategies in future-oriented news discourse, marked by a high degree of uncertainty. While current research mainly focuses on audiences' perceptions of news credibility, this study addresses news trust from a production standpoint. We examine the trust-building efforts of media actors, focusing on their discursive labor within the context of election projections. Drawing on rich data from five election rounds in Israel and the US, we qualitatively analyzed 400 news texts and 400 tweets that were produced by 20 US and 20 Israeli media actors. This textual analysis was supplemented by 10 in-depth interviews with Israeli journalists. Our findings demonstrate three types of journalistic trust-building rhetoric in election coverage: facticity, authority, and transparency. These strategies result in a two-fold form of trust, which re-affirms traditional notions of accuracy and validity, while also challenging the ability of newspersons to obtain them in contemporary political and media cultures. Overall, these strategies hold unique opportunities and challenges for sustaining public trust in journalism and illuminate the complex communicative labor involved in building trust with news audiences. Our findings also highlight the importance of studying trust not only in relation to the past and the present, but also in future-oriented discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural boycotts of mega-events often receive high media profile, but their effectiveness remains questioned. This effectiveness is influenced by their ability to generate ontological insecurity within the target state. However, measuring the impact of such threats is challenging in light of the evasive nature of the concept of ontological insecurity. Hence, we advance a new way to operationalise the impact of both hosting and boycotting mega-events on ontological security (OS), using quantitative indicators on the societal level, thus allowing for a more systematic cross-national exploration of the dynamics of OS. We also contribute to the research on cultural sanctions and the politics of mega-events, by offering an empirical assessment of their actual impact on society's sense of OS. Finally, the paper points to the importance of de-constructing the concept of 'national' ontological (in)security and to the possibility that different segments in society may be more or less vulnerable to such threats. Using data from a national-wide survey among Jewish-Israelis in the context of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel, we found a positive association between its hosting and OS, a perception of threat to OS to some extent following calls to boycott the event, and differences in these perceptions among various social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the phenomenological perspective of social work students on their learning process following the implementation of community based participatory research (CBPR) in the context of a social work community practice course. CBPR was implemented in the framework of a partnership between the communities of the Gaza Envelope Region in southern Israel, and the school of social work at the college in the region. Throughout the academic year students engaged in data collection and participated in steering committees that focused on building a regional vision for the communities. At the end of the year stduents were asked to write reflexive essays about their learning experience. Study findings, grounded in a narrative content analysis of 83 reflexive student essays, point to four narratives that characterized their learning: 1) being part of a real-life community intervention process; 2) students-inspired by community residents: the power of hope; 3) the meaning of community; and 4) future professional identity: the desire to engage in community practice. Findings are discussed in light of theories of experiential and transformative learning, community narratives, and professional identity, with reference to the fields of social work community practice education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the discriminatory character of Israeli politics as our point of departure, this paper argues that for large numbers of Palestinian Israeli citizens, new realistic terms of collective engagement are attractive and possible. Based on analytical Marxism and writings about realist normative political theory, we contend that politicians can advance strategies that establishing foundations for resolving the minority's trap. Meanwhile, constructing identities is always delimited by the capacity of politicians to meet material needs and preserve certain distinct elements of the old "trapped identity". This framework guides elaboration of the recent political discourse and strategies of the Israeli Knesset members Ayman Odeh and Mansour Abbas. While Odeh is a radical realist, Abbas is a realistic realist, excluding arguments based on values that the Israeli state cannot accept. Nonetheless, Abbas' project is not only fragile but has also demanded the substantial political and moral sacrifice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines silent panels in five Israeli graphic novels and comics that deal – directly or indirectly – with traumatic events, whether personal, national, or both. Much has been written about comics and trauma. Such studies have mainly been aimed at revealing the importance of comics in documenting, confronting, witnessing, remembering, and reporting trauma; or answering questions such as how fiction and nonfiction comics and graphic narratives shape the traumatic event, or why the graphic memoir is a powerful instrument for coming to terms with the traumatic experience. Yet, the intersection between silence and trauma in graphic narratives has not received sufficient attention. A quick overview of the works chosen for our analysis illustrates that silence, as a theme, may relate to (a) the genre itself; (b) the authors' individual artistic language and self-reflexivity; and (c) the specific episode of personal or national trauma being dealt with in the work. In this paper, we wish to illuminate the diverse roles silence fulfills in comics dealing with trauma, which we hope will be useful in bolstering the value of silence as a form of expression – not only in oral and written communication, but also in multimodal texts – and thus substantiate current theories on silence as a semiotic sign. Our study is conducted in the framework of silence theories, which claim that silence is a meaningful signifier as long as it serves a purpose and is related to intention. It is also carried out within the framework of multimodal discourse theories. Specifically highlighting the idiosyncrasies of the Israeli arena, the present paper also addresses a significant body of works on the representation of trauma in comics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropologists have critically examined a range of reforms from education and land to finance and health. Yet the predominant way of looking at reforms has been through a lens focused on neoliberal governance. For example, prior studies of health reforms focus on insurance, financing, and access to care. Yet, seeing reform in this way fails to attend to other types of cultural work at play when calling a policy or law a reform. In this paper, we draw on ethnographic research on health policy reforms in Israel and Bolivia to examine the concept of reform and the work it does within national movements. We argue that while the language of reform often signals change or novelty, reforms also carry forward historical continuities and reifications of the past. By delving into the past and its relationship with ongoing health reforms, we attend to how reforms can reinforce and maintain health inequities in some cases, while creating a national language for new possibilities in others. Reform, as we will discuss in this paper, is not only about political ideology, neoliberal governance, or on-the-ground policy implementation, but centrally it is about representations of aspirations, and about crafting relationships between past, present, and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper expands the discussion on the effect of the subjective Holocaust influence level (SHIL) on the daily financial thinking and attitude of Holocaust survivors' offspring (HSO). For this purpose, we asked 253 Jewish-Israeli HSO about their financial satisfaction, materialism, income confidence, willingness to save money, generosity, and miserliness, and divided them into three groups based on their SHIL. We find that SHIL affects materialism, income confidence and generosity, but not financial satisfaction or motivation to save money. This paper increases our understanding of how the subjective perceptions of HSO impact the long-term influence of the Holocaust on their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is it that indigenous persons can voice support for Christian Zionism and opposition to Christian nationalism simultaneously? Why is there an incongruence between their rejection of Christian nationalism and their support for Christian Zionism? This paper explores this incongruence by shedding light on the entanglement of Christian Zionism and Christian nationalism, analysing notions of land, body, and self in relation to Christian Zionism and Christian nationalism, and by examining how such notions shape Native communities' support for Christian Zionism. This paper argues that in the American context, Christian nationalism and Christian Zionism are inherently interconnected as colonial projects, and have influenced American self-understanding and occupied the imagination of Americans, thus resulting in the colonial self. In this context, settler colonialism is normalised and shapes Native communities' understanding of their identity in relation to Israel and their response to Christian Zionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History education has been instrumental in transmitting collective memories across generations while sustaining national traditions. Many nations use history education to instill national memories in their future citizens. In the current Jewish context, history is arguably a dominant cultural discourse. History education is deemed central to preparing future Jewish citizens of Israel. In particular, Zionist scholars and educators use the Bible as their primary text, providing an infrastructure of history and myths for this national ideology. In order to investigate the relationship between political ideology, education, and national memories, this paper explores the ways in which the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history are being taught interchangeably in Jewish-Israeli schools. Drawing on various source materials (such as political videos, school curricula, and textbooks), the paper retraces the origins of this conflation, critically examines its goals, and suggests possible effects it may have on the formation of children's and adolescents' collective memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reveal and describe the context in which education policy networks in Israel have expanded recently, given the evolving interdependent relationships among the actors involved. We draw upon resource dependence theory, which assumes that actors' power relations within a network depends on their own and others' perceptions of the dependency relations among the different actors in the network. Policy documents and committee reports were identified and analyzed qualitatively, alongside transcripts of semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with stakeholders in Israeli education policy. We identified significant changes regarding which stakeholders take initiative for policy-making and implementation processes in Israeli education. We related these changes to the dynamics of resource dependence relationships among actors. In addition, we revealed a new stage in the evolution of educational governance in Israel – a transition from intersectoral collaboration within a top-down policy process defined and led by the Ministry of Education to a situation in which policy networks including non-governmental stakeholders initiate and subsequently lead many education policy processes. At this new stage, certain non-state actors increased their power, presence, and influence over Israeli education policy and can thus shape existing policies by leveraging their perceived control over a range of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why have Israel and the Palestinians failed to implement a 'land for peace' solution, along the lines of the Oslo Accords? This paper studies the application of strategic behavior models, in the form of games, to this question. I show that existing models of the conflict largely rely on unrealistic assumptions about what the main actors are trying to achieve. Specifically, they assume that Israel is strategically interested in withdrawing from the occupied territories pending resolvable security concerns but that it is obstructed from doing so by violent Palestinians with other objectives. I use historical analysis along with bargaining theory to shed doubt on this assumption and to argue that the persistence of conflict has been aligned with, not contrary to, the interests of the militarily powerful party, Israel. The analysis helps explain, from a strategic behavior perspective, why resolutions like the Oslo Accords, which rely on the land for peace paradigm and on self-enforcement, have failed to create peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay tourism is commonly studied through pride events in cities. Rethinking the role gay men's bodies and politics play in the context of tourism to Israeli heritage sites, this paper contributes to debates on geopolitics and geographies of sexualities and the embodied approach to tourism. Analyzing daytrips through the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I argue that sensual, embodied and haptic practices, which are immanent to gay men's travel cultures, play into a pinkwashing geopolitics in this specific circumstance. Thus, this paper conceptualizes pinkwashing mechanisms operation through heritage tourist sites just as much as they are produced via the presentation of Tel Aviv as a modern space of acceptance of LGBT sexualities, albeit obviously in different ways. Moreover, tourists' notions of place and non-place construct how (urban) space is produced as meaningful while other (heritage) space is marginalized. Methodologically, I present a reflexive embodied ethnography, which relies on my researcher's reflexivity to produce an analysis through a story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, neo-Zionist discourse has gain prominence in Israel. This approach, which gives preference to the definition of Israel as a Jewish state over its definition as a democracy, is a specific version authoritarian populism. This paper explores how educational discourses, policies and curricular changes are being shaped by right-wing populist organization and politicians to strengthen New-Zionism, while delegitimising liberal-democratic values. The paper draws on three examples. The first focuses on the campaign to ban the activist groups 'Breaking the Silence' – a group of army veteran who collect testimonies on Israel's misconducts in the occupied territories – from entering schools. The second example is the case of 'Im Tirtzu', a right-wing organization, and their campaign against left-wing influences in the academy. A third example focuses on the changes to the compulsory civic curriculum – an example to the ways in which education is used to perpetuate a particular notion of Jewish nationalism. These cases help reveal the reactions of academic institutions to such actions, and the partial acceptance they have gained in recent years. They also show how the boundaries of the political were redrawn and the role education policy and institutions play in delegitimizing left-wing critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have demonstrated the need for innovative and creative teaching methodologies in the field of social work education; some have pointed to the photovoice model of qualitative research in the social work classroom as a model that embodies these criteria. This paper presents implementations of the photovoice model used in three different courses for social work students: 1) International Social Work; 2) Community Work; 3) Orientation to Social Work. The paper presents four different examples, demonstrating photovoice's potential as a creative tool in student learning processes. These examples are discussed with reference to the value of creativity in the social work education framework: facilitating the internalization of the values, professional goals, modes of action of the social work; and phenomenological examination of social realities, in a way that allows the student to "freeze" certain moments in the learning experience, and to critically examine different interpretations and meanings of these realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with objects that serve as props in political speeches, and examines their role as carriers of symbolic meaning that is constructed during a performance enacted in a political space. It focuses on the use of such objects as rhetorical arguments in three speeches by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: "the bomb speech," "the drone-wreckage speech" and the "binder speech." In each of these political speeches, the initial introduction of the object serves as a declarative act of coronation. This declaration imbues the object with symbolic meaning that relates to reality on several levels: it can serve as a visual metaphor, as a metonym, as a concrete illustration of an abstract concept, or an exhibit or evidence that a certain event took place. The relations between the prop and the spoken text and its rhetoric are discussed in order to trace the unique properties of the multimodal array of arguments that the "crowned" object constructs. The unique characteristics of the objects serve to echo and accentuate the identity and worldview of the speaker, but may also give rise to meanings that undermine the speaker's intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an ethnographic study analyzing the influence of students' social backgrounds on students' entitlement and agency in relation to floor rights. Classroom interactions were video-recorded, and interviews were conducted in a socially diverse fifth-grade in Israel. Descriptive statistics and micro-analyses of participation patterns reveal a discursive mechanism whereby students from more privileged backgrounds, endowed with higher senses of entitlement and agency, use floor obtaining strategies, such as calling out and begging, which increase their learning opportunities, often at the expense of their less privileged peers. The research contributes to expanding our understanding of the mechanisms of educational injustice, advancing us towards their rectification. As such, the study may be of interest to both educational researchers as well as practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper to uncovers how leaders practice emergent strategy as a core strategic philosophy. The article uses the case of general and statesman Moshe Dayan as a principal case study to uncover leadership and management practices of emergent strategy. Following a discussion on the emergent versus deliberate strategy schools, I show why Moshe Dayan as a leader can be considered as an archetype of the emergent approach worth studying. I then present six leadership principles that enabled him to practice the emergent approach. The article concludes with discussion of the limitations and value of the emergent approach for leaders today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the significant change that has occurred in the balance between offense and defence in Israel's 'hybrid' military strategy in recent decades. Relying on fresh materials concerning the organizational, doctrinal, and procurement processes of Israel's military, we identify a shift from offense towards defence as the preferred way to protect Israel in the face of new security threats. We also show that due to rapidly changing security challenges, limited resources, and the military's organizational culture, this change has been gradual, incremental, improvised, and largely informal. We propose that similar changes may characterize other states facing new security challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vasectomy is considered a permanent form of contraception for men that can help reduce reproductive inequality. Its underutilisation in the context of the threats it may pose to perceptions of traditional masculinity has been closely investigated, but the lived experience of the procedure itself has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the experience of having a vasectomy in Israel, focusing on the recommended form of anaesthesia. Drawing on 15 semi-structured interviews with Israeli men who have experienced vasectomy, we found that the choice of anaesthesia has a significant impact on the meaning and experience of vasectomy. Unlike the widespread use of local anaesthesia during vasectomy in other countries, vasectomy in Israel is performed almost exclusively under twilight sedation administered intravenously. Based on our findings, we argue that framing vasectomy as an operation that requires sedation is related to views of masculinity and reproduction. Our data suggest that vasectomy in Israel is constituted as a potentially traumatic event, and anaesthesia is employed to protect patients from feelings of embarrassment and discomfort. We conclude that the prevailing method of sedation perpetuates the silencing and marginalisation of vasectomy as a contraceptive method, and consequently, its very limited accessibility in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions on daily life in Early Bronze Age society in the southern Levant often focus on subsistence or ritual phenomena, while aspects relating to entertainment and leisure are rarely discussed. This paper presents evidence for gaming behaviour, in the form of game boards and game pieces, that were recovered in the excavations of the Early Bronze Age (early to mid-3rd millennium bce) residential neighbourhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel. All the objects discussed are considered to be part of games (playing pieces, casting pieces, and boards) based on their resemblance to game boards and pieces published from various Early Bronze sites in the southern Levant (e.g., Arad, Megiddo, and Bab edh-Dhra), serve as the backdrop for: 1) a perspective on the social and cultural relationships reflected in these games; 2) an examination of the origins of the 'Senet/30 Houses' game; and 3) the appropriation of foreign cultural facets in Early Bronze Age Canaan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]