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This paper explores the role of nonlinear electrodynamics on the stable configuration of thin-shell wormholes formulated from two equivalent geometries of Reissner–Nordström black hole with nonlinear electrodynamics. For this purpose, we use cut and paste approach to eliminate the central singularity and event horizons of the black hole geometry. Then, we explore the stability of the developed model by considering different types of matter distribution located at thin-shell, i.e. barotropic model and variable equations of state (phantomlike variable and Chaplygin variable models). We use linearized radial perturbation to explore the stable characteristics of thin-shell wormholes. It is interesting to mention that Schwarzschild and Reissner–Nordström black holes show the unstable configuration for such type of matter distribution while Reissner–Nordström black hole with nonlinear electrodynamics expresses stable regions. It is found that the presence of nonlinear electrodynamics gives the possibility of a stable structure for barotropic as well as variable models. It is concluded that stable region increases for these models by considering higher negative values of coupling constant α and the real constant n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the condition of the Palestinian citizens of Israel as a minority trapped into a Jewish state. It investigates the status of the minority both under a legal perspective – focusing on the norms regarding the definition of minority in the Israeli state-, and under a social and political perspective. The paper moves forward to analysing the attitude of the Israeli state towards its Palestinian citizens and the actual recognition of minority rights, in particular regarding the preservation of group identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the center of the Israeli forest are oaks. With their impressive height and thick branches, they raise a wide dome above the forest floor that produces protection from heat and drought, providing food, protection, and desirable living conditions for animals, plants, fungi, and humans. For ages and ages, oaks have been key elements of the local ecosystem and the most important trees in local mythologies. Yet, Israeli oaks have suffered from overcutting and overgrazing, and the local landscape has become increasingly arid throughout history. This process has undergone recent change as cutting has been stopped in some areas and grazing minimized. I believe we must internalize that oaks carry the knowledge of harmonizing life and ecosystems. The present age requires us to listen to the trees and understand that their resilience is our resilience. In this paper I discuss the Israeli oaks and their place in our interactions with the environment to offer a holistic perspective on our relationship with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1974) and Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) recognise apartheid as a crime against humanity, characterised by a practice of systematic oppression and violations of human rights with the intent of one racial group to maintain domination over another. The term 'medical apartheid', although without a formal definition in international human rights law, has been used similarly to refer to situations of pervasive segregation and discrimination in health care, based upon race, and characterised by stark inequality in health care accessibility, availability, acceptability, and quality. This paper, using a combination of literature review; data on attacks on Palestinian health facilities, workers, and transport; and information from Palestinian and Israeli government authorities on referrals to specialised health care services, examines the ways in which Israeli policies and practices can be understood to constitute a form of 'medical apartheid' that deprives Arab residents of the Palestinian territories the full realisation of their right to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period of the Crusades has often been considered as an epoch of eschatological fervor for the Christians who participated to this enterprise, a mission that aimed to reconquer the holy places from the Muslims. Such a zeal, however, did not affect only Christians, but also the Jewish communities that lived in Europe, in the Byzantine empire and in the Holy Land. This paper focuses on the Jewish literary production during the Crusades, aiming to demonstrate that the eschatological texts were functional in order to explain persecutions, battles, clash of civilizations and religions. These happenings were interpreted as events anticipating the final era, the time of the advent of the Messiah(s) who would gather the exiles, redeem the Jewish people, reconquer Jerusalem and restore the supremacy of Israel. In other words, this period of crisis was understood as a sequence of events that were part of a divine plan leading to the redemption of Israel. The texts that are taken in consideration are Aggadat Mašiah, The Prayer of R. Šim'on b. Yoh'ai and 'Otot ha- Mašiah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines discriminatory attitudes of Israeli Jews towards non-Jewish immigrants admitted into Israel under the Law of Return. We looked at three spheres of discrimination: admission, political rights, and welfare rights and focused on the role of realistic socioeconomic and symbolic threats in the emergence of discriminatory attitudes. We used a mixed-methods approach that allowed to test our hypotheses among a representative sample (survey) and examine the logics underlying the respondents' justifications for endorsing discrimination (focus groups/in-depth interviews). The findings show that discrimination endorsement is strongest in the case of admission and political rights where Israeli Jews seek to prevent the presence of outgroups and deny them the right to become part of the society. By contrast, discrimination with respect to welfare rights is less pronounced – possibly because it is not viewed as awarding membership in society, but rather providing individuals their basic needs based on universalistic or democratic values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study is based on an in-depth thematic analysis of 20 interviews with German and Israeli adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) by religious authority figures (RAF). This paper aims to explore survivors' experiences within the Jewish ultra-Orthodox and Christian communities, as well as to draw comparisons between the abusive structures and disclosure in these two contexts. The results point to the complexity of CSA by RAF, which is embedded in the survivors' perceptions of themselves as emotionally and cognitively captured by the perpetrators who are a symbol of a parent or God and faith. The participants expressed great concern regarding disclosing the abuse against the backdrop of familial, cultural, and community inhibitors, such as fear of social stigmatization, inability to recognize the abuse, and the taboo of sexuality discourse. The survivors' traumatic experiences were intensified in light of negative social responses to disclosure and encounters with insensitive officials. A comparison of the cultures revealed differences regarding the nature of community life and educational institutions, which may have shaped the disclosure and recognition of the abuse. The study highlights the importance of comparative follow-up studies related to this phenomenon in order to examine its universal and unique cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a time when theological and scientific concepts of the New World were molded, European Jews, like their fellow Christians, were exposed to increasing knowledge about the discoveries in the western hemisphere and endeavored to understand and integrate it into their worldview. As Europe's former Others for centuries, the Jews now had to define their attitudes towards Europe's new Others, the indigenous people of America. To portray a long-range and wide historical process, this article discusses different works by early modern Jewish authors from the sixteenth century through the middle of the seventeenth century. The paper examines the ethnographical aspect of works by Abraham Farissol, Yosef ha-Kohen, and Menasseh ben Israel, along with several other texts, and illustrates the process of knowledge acquisition and construction of new perceptions regarding the conquest of America and its people. The study indicates that these authors held different attitudes towards the colonial project, the conquerors, and the indigenous people, identifying with the European conquerors, but at times criticizing the colonialists, especially their attitude and behavior towards the indigenous people. The analysis of the differing attitudes of Jewish authors, reveals three central models of perceptions regarding native Americans and Christian Europeans: the dichotomous model of Abraham Farissol, the triangular model of Yosef Ha-Kohen, and the multifaceted model of Menasseh ben Israel. Each of these authors identified their own group, primarily as White Europeans, different from the uncivilized natives. Nevertheless, the representations of the stranger—the Others of Europe, the indigenes—became variable, complex and, at times, authors even identified with the conquered and forged an imagined alliance against Europeans. While describing the conquest of America and its indigenous people, Jewish authors were defining the boundaries of their own unique identity vis-à-vis these different Others and constructing their self-perception as Western European in the early modern period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of public parades involving marches has been used historically by political and civic actors as a tool of helping to accomplish recognition of particular agendas or, at the very least, suggest a peaceful proclamation of justice within a democratic framework. Over the past two decades, The pride parade and The flag parade are drawing the attention of radical stakeholders in Israel whilst taking place in Jerusalem—a religiously divided space. Based on EU official reports and data from news reports and social media publications between 2002 and 2022, this paper examines religious extremists' presence in the above parades, in parallel to the appearance of incitement, physical violence and vandalism. All as part of an ongoing Radicalisation process. In addition, it observes the establishment of The flower parade as a civic counter-response initiated by deradicalisation agents. The research reveals that under the values and rule of democracy, the mechanism of public parades can self-trigger a dynamic between participants and opposers, exploited by extreme collectives for violent purposes. It reflects upon a fundamental dispute between different interpretations of the connection between Judaism, nationality and family values in the light of the democratic framework. One is leading to religious-based exclusion agenda on the one hand, while the other is reacting with inclusion activities on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the popularity of student voice initiatives, there is ample evidence that they fail to challenge power relations at school or help marginalized students make their voices heard. This paper presents a student voice project based on the Photovoice method. The project was implemented with marginalized youth in an urban high school in Israel. Findings show that students experienced significant improvement in their self-confidence and self-esteem and in their ability to engage in dialogue with the school administration in a way that altered their school life, yet they remained skeptical regarding their ability to change power relations at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polekhovskyite, MoNiP2, is the first terrestrial Mo phosphide, a phosphorus-rich homolog of meteoritic monipite, MoNiP. The mineral represents a novel phosphide type of terrestrial Mo speciation. It was discovered among phosphide assemblages in pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Formation (the Mottled Zone) in Israel, the area confined to the Dead Sea Transform fault system. Polekhovskyite occurs in the altered diopside microbreccia, as micrometer-sized euhedral crystals intimately intergrown with murashkoite, FeP and transjordanite, Ni2P, in association with Si-rich fluorapatite, hematite, and magnetite. In reflected light, the mineral has a bluish-gray color with no observable bireflectance and anisotropy. Chemical composition (electron microprobe, wt%): Mo 44.10, Ni 22.73, Fe 4.60, P 29.02, total 100.45, which corresponds to the empirical formula Mo0.99(Ni0.83Fe0.18)1.01P2.01 and leads to the calculated density of 6.626 g/cm. Polekhovskyite is hexagonal, space group P63/mmc, a = 3.330(1), c = 11.227(4) Å, V = 107.82(8) Å3, and Z = 2. The crystal structure has been solved and refined to R1 = 0.0431 based on 50 unique observed reflections. The occurrence of Mo-bearing phosphides at the Dead Sea Transform area is a regional-scale phenomenon, with the localities tracked across both Israel and Jordan sides of the Dead Sea. The possible sources of Mo required for the formation of Mo-bearing phosphides are herein reviewed; they are likely related to the processes of formation of the Dead Sea Transform fault system. The problem of anthropogenic contamination of geological samples with Mo and Ni is also discussed in the paper in the context of the general aspects of discrimination between natural and technogenic ultra-reduced phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arab-Palestinian citizens are one of the most marginalized social groups in of Israel. It is therefore not surprising that a vast proportion of the sociological literature pertaining to this group focuses on mechanisms of oppression and/or alternative forms of political resistance. While undeniably important, this narrow focus has been blind to one of the most fundamental changes in Arab-Palestinian society: the steady emergence of an Arab-Palestinian middle class. The paper addresses this blind spot in the research literature. We present the previously untold story of this structural change by describing the historical processes and socio-political mechanisms that have led to this development. We focus on specific periods of time and show that in each period, the Arab middle class developed primarily by seizing opportunities paradoxically created by policies that were meant to marginalize Arab-Palestinians, identifying prospects unlocked by the free market, and pursuing higher education. We then present descriptive results indicating the rise of the Arab middle-class in the last three decades. In contrast to the pessimistic and often deterministic view of the conditions of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, this article, which required the authors to free themselves of the limits imposed by critical sociology, paints a picture of agency and change. Theoretical and political implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article re-examines the social role of group boundaries in mixed families. While most studies depict, resonate, or even endorse a progressive vision of mixed families, characterized by the crossing, blurring, or challenging of group boundaries, this paper portrays a vision designated by the reinforcement, safeguarding, and tense management of group boundaries. This vision arises from the lived experience of religious educators who belong to a non-liberal group in Israeli society – the ultra-Orthodox Mizrahi community. As I will demonstrate, many Mizrahim in Israel (Jews originating from Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa) live in mixed families. Yet, these families are significantly unlike those often described in the literature. First, their mixedness is not conjugal; instead, it is forged through differences between parents and children, siblings, cousins, etc. Second, the dissimilarities between these family members are not ethnic, racial, national, religious, or class-based, but rather stem from differences in observance. By this, I refer to disparities in religious ways of life, stringency of observance, and openness to modernity of family members who belong to distant, sometimes even hostile, sub-groups in Jewish society in Israel: ultra-Orthodox, religious, traditionalists, and secular. I will show how ultra-Orthodox Mizrahim who live in mixed-observance families maintain their bonds with their non-ultra-Orthodox relatives by safeguarding the boundaries that separate them. Hence, the tolerant vision that arises from their experience invites reconsideration of how living together differently is possible in societies in which liberal and non-liberal groups share a joint political space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A salvage excavation held at the city of Yehud (Israel) revealed an unusual burial of the Middle Bronze (MB) IIA period. The grave was isolated from other MB burials in the Yehud area and was exceptionally large and rich in terms of the types and diversity of burial offerings, which included pottery vessels, metal objects, and animal bones. An outstanding find among the burial goods was an anthropomorphic jug whose neck was shaped in the form of a seated figure supporting its head with the right hand, evoking the image of Rodin's "Le Penseur." This paper presents the grave and offerings uncovered in the excavation and an interpretation of these finds, along with a discussion of the grave within the wider context of Middle Bronze Age burials in Yehud and beyond, suggesting it was associated with an elite warrior, who served most likely as a local leader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two brief alphabetic inscriptions from Area D in the lower city of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, both deriving from Iron Age IIA contexts. The first is written in an Early Alphabetic script similar to an inscription previously published from the site (Maeir et al. 2008) and is interpreted as being related to the storage of wine. The second, written in later, "formalized" alphabetic script, is quite fragmentary and difficult to decipher, for which several possible interpretations are suggested. These two new inscriptions join the relatively large number of alphabetic inscriptions from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, second only in number to contemporaneous Tel Rehov, and provide additional evidence to the outstanding role of the site during the early Iron Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeland-construed perceptions of the diaspora can yield valuable insights into the discourse around the homeland's collective identity. I illustrate this claim using the debate surrounding the Kotel Compromise, a government plan designed to regulate pluralistic and non-Orthodox Jewish prayer at the Western Wall (Kotel in Hebrew). This plan has recently become a subject of contention between the State of Israel, where Orthodox Judaism has an institutional monopoly, and Diaspora Jews, many of whom identify with non-Orthodox Jewish denominations, such as Reform and Conservative Judaism. Drawing on protocols of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), I show how the different participants in this debate used their perceptions of Diaspora Jews not only to reaffirm external boundaries relating to Jewish peoplehood, but also to reconstruct internal boundaries relating to Judaism as religion. This paper suggests that analyzing homeland perceptions of the diaspora can widen our understanding of the construction of homeland identities and boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes have been a common policy instrument to mitigate traffic congestion. Yet, their effectiveness remains a controversial topic among researchers, policy makers, and the public. In this debate, a key unknown has been the impact of HOV lanes on commuters' carpooling behaviors. This paper brings a new piece of evidence by offering a data-driven assessment of carpooling intent and adoption, using revealed-preferences data. We partner with Waze, a major carpooling platform, and leverage a natural experiment following the introduction of three HOV lanes in Israel in 2019. Using tailored treatment and control groups coupled with econometric analyses, we derive four main findings. First, HOV lanes bring new users to the carpooling platform, which contributes to alleviating the "cold-start" problem in the marketplace. Second, HOV lanes have a positive impact on carpool intent: the number of carpool offers sent by drivers increase manifold following the introduction of the HOV lanes. Third, HOV lanes have a disparate impact on carpool adoption: carpools increase significantly for two out of three HOV lanes. This result underscores the critical impact of HOV lanes design: it seems more beneficial to have round-trip HOV lanes (as opposed to one-way lanes) and two-passenger occupancy requirements (as opposed to three-passenger requirements). Last, HOV lanes have a broader impact, by increasing carpooling on non-HOV routes and shifting the travel behaviors of non-carpoolers. We conclude by discussing policy implications, highlighting collaboration opportunities between policy makers and digital carpooling platforms to enhance the design and operations of HOV lanes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is possibly the profession most frequently addressed with expectations of dealing with contemporary forms of antisemitism. However, the topic is not prominently discussed in the field of didactics and teachers report of feelings of overburdening, dealing especially with forms of antisemitism relating to the State of Israel and the Middle East Conflict. These forms are the most controversial variations of antisemitism and also the ones often not mentioned and also not interpreted and responded appropriately. The paper argues for a stronger awareness of non-intended effects of education on antisemitism. It shows their relevance focussing three exemplary contexts regarding spontaneous interventions to antisemitic statements as well as pedagogic concepts represented in published documents. Without a profound understanding of antisemitism as a complex phenomenon with specific patterns, awareness for possible non-intended effects can hardly be reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Features, factors, and facets of solar pond design and construction. • El Paso Solar Pond experience as the basis for design specifications. • Design and planning ensure solar pond reliable and sustainable operation. • Purpose of solar ponds provides focus for design and configuration. Over the last four decades, salinity gradient solar pond (SGSP) science and technologies have advanced in practical projects. In this work, we show that understanding a salinity gradient solar pond's purpose provides the focus for preparing a preliminary design and physical configuration. This paper aims to share lessons learned in designing and constructing the El Paso Solar Pond. Features, factors, and facets of solar pond design and construction are presented straightforwardly to inform and guide planning for future work. Emphasis is on sodium chloride-based ponds, the base salt used for the El Paso Solar Pond. However, lessons learned are pertinent to additional salt source configurations. Reference to solar ponds operating in Australia and Israel provides design and construction insights. Careful design and planning prior to construction ensure the solar pond operates reliably and sustainably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers whether biblical narrative was used as part of a technology of the self in Jewish antiquity. Many have seen the assumption that Israel's ancestors were perfect and, hence, worthy of imitation as essential to the Bible's identity as Scripture around the turn of the Common Era. Recently several scholars have detailed the specific dynamics of exemplarity among certain readers of the Bible, such as Philo, particularly in light of Hellenistic and Roman models. Such work draws attention to the relative lack of explicit attestation for such a practice in much of ancient Jewish literature. As a next step, we need to further delineate what constitutes a literary practice of exemplarity and explore alternatives or additions to it, such as memorialization. To do so, this paper examines a range of texts, including the Genesis Apocryphon, the Book of Jubilees, Ben Sira, Philo, Josephus, and the rabbinic collection, Genesis Rabbah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how local culture may curb the homogenizing forces of globalization in the diffusion of planning ideas. Given that the built environment is constructed both physically and culturally, this paper draws a comparative case study of territorial planning and the creation of new towns in Israel and Brazil in the mid-twentieth century. The private colonization scheme in northern Paraná state, in Brazil, and the Physical Planning in Israel were both based on widely influential ideas collected in the Greater London Plan 1944. Although the resulting regional strategies were similar, their urban forms differed largely due to their unique modes of being-in-the-world. While the Israeli new towns acclimatized the physical aspects of garden cities for ideological reasons, the Brazilian new cities stuck to a more practical gridiron layout. As a conclusion, this study illustrates how culturally sensitive projects gave local form to ideas and models that had been diffused through global interconnectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the economy-wide effects of cross-border movements of Palestinian labor for employment in Israel. The integration of Palestinian and Israeli labor markets is unique, as it differs from international labor migration and associated remittances described in the literature. Especially, it departs from the cultural and social dimensions associated with international migration because there is no shift in residence. We find based on an economy-wide model calibrated to a newly developed database of the West Bank economy that increasing Palestinian labor demand in Israel negatively affects the West Bank economy by bidding up domestic wages, reallocating labor away from tradable activities and reducing competitiveness of the Palestinian export sector. However, increasing labor income from Israel has positive welfare effects for Palestinian households. Considering these results, the paper identifies policy options for the Palestinian National Authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The West Bank wall is a contemporary manifestation of the protracted violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Yet, the Israeli state-promoted discourse has detached the wall's construction from the conceptualization of violence. It has achieved this by relying on the employment of the traditional conceptualization of the violence, governed by the regimes of instantaneity, visibility and physicality. Embracing Johan Galtung's concept of structural violence, the paper problematizes the restricted understanding of the notion. It draws attention to the politics of conceptualizing violence and explores various nexuses between the modalities of violence and the production and governance of conflict 'realities', as well as the regimes of legitimacy, accountability and responsibility. The paper argues that the discursive inequalities in the representation of violence in the conflict are not independent from the material power of the Israeli occupation regime; they constitute an extension of Israel's dominant status, and as such should be analysed as an intentional strategy that enables and legitimizes the occupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies obscure the traditional boundaries associated with the military realm. As the first examination of the conditions underlying the assimilation of 4IR technologies in Israel's armed forces, this paper makes several contributions. It expands the knowledge on the military assimilation of 4IR technologies and describes the interaction between military doctrine and technology using current evidence. It also enriches the evolving discussion on the strategic effect of emerging technologies. Finally, it demonstrates how emerging technologies involve neither straightforward spinoff or spin-on processes but a reciprocal transfer of know-how between the military and civilian sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to understand the place of the Russian immigrant community in the larger Israeli culture and to explore how immigrants themselves negotiate their position. One site of such negotiation is the film Paper Snow (2003) created predominantly by Russian-Israeli filmmakers. Their distinct vantage point emerges through the film's casting, genre, style, and language. Paper Snow features such iconic figures of Israeli culture-in-the-making as actress Hanna Rovina and poets Alexander Penn and Avraham Shlonsky, but represents them as part of the Russian intelligentsia. In this way, the film adheres to the familiar story of nation building, but tells it with an accent: by emphasizing the Russianness of the Israeli national past, the film inscribes contemporary Russian immigrants onto the grand narrative of the nation. By revising the official collective memory, Paper Snow produces accented memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the national identity argument in unsettled times by using the COVID-19 pandemic as a test case. It uses a longitudinal survey among Jewish Israelis to examine whether the pandemic influenced levels of national identity and solidarity and whether it altered their relationship. The findings indicate a clear reduction in levels of solidarity, national attachment, and national chauvinism over time. They also show that the positive connection between national attachment and solidarity grew stronger, while the connection between national chauvinism and solidarity became weaker and insignificant. These findings provide complex evidence for the national identity argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, the civics curriculum for Israeli high-schools has become the centre of a heated political debate. Following this debate, in May 2016 a revised official textbook was introduced. This paper draws on an in-depth analysis of the revised official textbook, comparing it to the previous official textbook published in 2000. The analysis focuses on the discursive changes that took place regarding the ways in which the revised textbook conceptualises Israeli citizenship. A particular focus is placed on how the revised version of the official textbook often prioritises the ethno-national model of the nation state over and above the commitment to democratic values, including minority rights. The main argument of this paper is that these changes are a reflection of the penetration of a neo-Zionist discourse into the civics curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does energy securitization promote or hinder regional cooperation over energy resources? This paper argues that policymakers frame energy issues as existential threats to facilitate both outcomes, depending on how they perceive the reliability of their country's energy supply. When countries are confident in their supply, they begin to seek regional cooperation opportunities that they had previously rejected. Rather than abandon existential rhetoric that served to prevent cooperation when supply was vulnerable, policymakers adopt opposing constructs of security and direct them toward different audiences to gain their support. When addressing the international community, policymakers employ neoliberal concepts of security as a mutually beneficial result of trade and cooperation. When addressing domestic audiences, policymakers employ realist paradigms of security as competition toward self-preservation and dominance. Israel serves as a case study to test this argument. This paper examines how major natural gas discoveries in 2009 shifted longstanding Israeli isolationism and encouraged it to seek deeper economic ties with its neighbors. To promote its new policy, the Israeli government argued before its domestic audience that gas exports are essential for creating leverage against the EU and preventing terrorism on its borders, while simultaneously arguing toward foreign audiences that the exports serve to promote regional unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the swift pivot to online learning, teachers and students have been forced to adopt a new way of teaching and learning, which has required students to become more self‐directed in their learning. In addition, teachers are faced with the challenge of preparing students for the workforce and lifelong learning. One emerging approach for addressing both these challenges is that of heutagogy, or self‐determined learning. This paper discusses the rising demand for lifelong learning skills and the role that heutagogy can play in supporting students in developing self‐directed and lifelong learning skills. Specifically, the paper presents a case study of a higher education institution that has introduced heutagogy, using interviews with programme leaders/instructors to investigate how a college in Israel incorporated heutagogy into their master's education programmes. Case study results reveal that there are challenges in incorporating heutagogy (eg, difficulty for students in adopting the approach), but once adopted, students preferred learning in a self‐determined way. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic?Lifelong learning skills are critical to student employability, and there is a need for exploring new theories and approaches for developing these skills.The current pandemic has forced traditional learning into the online space, requiring more self‐directed learning skills in learners.Heutagogy has been identified as a net‐centric teaching and learning theory for online learning.What this paper addsPositions heutagogy for use in traditional and online classroom settings in order to develop learners' self‐directed and lifelong learning skills.Explores the pedagogy‐andragogy‐heutagogy continuum and its use as an instructional strategy.Presents a case study of a higher education institution that has implemented self‐determined learning.Implications for practice and/or policyThis study encourages further research into use of heutagogy for developing self‐directed and lifelong learning skills.This study provides guidance for those who want to introduce self‐determined learning into classroom settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-true is defined as partial information that is aimed at achieving a political goal while using the truth but not the whole truth. The paper examines the impact of post-true politics in political systems, concentrating on the secular-religious relations in Israeli politics. The significant of Israeli politics as a test case to examine the validity of post-true in modern politics is since a long-standing compromise has identified Israeli politics and society on religious issues. This compromise consists of an agreed status-que under which all segments of society accept a post-true environment and agree not to agree and not to argue on the volatile issue of state and religion relations. The examination is based on analysis of post-true in Israeli politics according to four leading theories of truth: correspondence, coherence, pragmatic and pluralistic. The purpose of explicating the four theories is to show that the relations between secular and religious groups can be examined according to different standards for truth. The paper predicts that the social, political and religious conflict that identifies Israel since its establishment is going to continue with full force in the years to come, since the post-true environment that this conflict is based upon serves the social aspirations and the political interests of different political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace between Israel and the Arab world appears to be progressing like never before. It started with the UAE, followed by Bahrain and Morocco, and then with Sudan. A "new" Middle East is finally becoming a reality. Yet, on the other hand, the colonization of Palestinian land is progressing at full speed ever since President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the American Embassy there. During both the Embassy move and the so-called Abraham Accords with Arab countries and throughout the Trump era, biblical language has been employed. This paper will examine these political developments and biblical connotations. At the heart of the issue lies the question of what constitutes real peace. This paper argues that 'the deal of the century' was a form of Pax Romana rather than Pax Christi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discursive variations of human rights are typically examined in a cross-national comparison, while usually referring to local arenas as homogeneous particularistic spaces confronting glocal uniform performances of human rights. Using a comparative analysis of six paradigmatic altruistic Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and critically reviewing globalization and human rights literature, this study challenges the cross-national-oriented studies and the common analysis of human rights in local settings as a monolithic phenomenon. By mapping the Israeli organizational field of human rights, the study reveals substantial variations in terms of glocal identity, which allow the creation of an analytical framework for contextualizing local diversity. This diversity, as this paper shows, includes distinct models of human rights activities, which were mostly absent or dismissed as inauthentic in research thus far. The paper discusses the importance of future awareness of intranational variations, and the potential contribution this may have to the sociological understanding of current human rights institutions. Finally, the paper concludes by raising awareness to liberal normative assumptions in research, which may lead to the exclusion of alternative social phenomena from inquiry, especially in the case of moral discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the historic distrust between Iran and United States, signing of a landmark nuclear deal emerged as a hope for regional and international stability. This deal is supported by global powers and covered by UN Security Council Resolution but the unilateral withdrawal of Trump administration and Iran’s partial withdrawal raised serious concerns for all stakeholders. However, Joe Biden’s election as the US president brings hope that the deal will be revived. The victory of Iranian hardliners in the Parliamentary Elections of 2020 and the success of a conservative president in 2021, presents a gloomy scenario. The paper addresses the factors responsible for mutual distrust between the two nations and how, Tehran and Washington managed to overcome it for reaching a nuclear deal? The paper looks into the future of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It highlights the attempts made to halt the Iranian nuclear program and emphasizes the significance of an Iranian Nuclear Deal. The options for Iran in the nuclear context are also under discussion in the wake of a recent rapprochement between Israel and Arab States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing attention has been devoted to the political geography of urban social movements but trauma, its urban context and spatial politics, have been significantly neglected. This paper aims to develop the concept of 'queer urban trauma' and its aftermath in the sense of urban and spatial activism, through an analysis of two traumatic events for the LGBT community in Israel. It explains how traumatic events taking place within urban contexts affect the spatial politics of LGBT and queer urban activism. Based on geographies of sexualities and queer theory, this paper aims to fill this gap by analysing traumatic events in two Israeli cities: the 2009 shooting of two young queers in a youth club in Tel Aviv, and the 2015 stabbing of a young girl during the Jerusalem Pride Parade. Tel Aviv is considered the liberal centre of Israel and a local 'gay heaven', as well as a destination for global gay tourism. Jerusalem on the other hand is usually described with a sense of alienation among LGBT and queer individuals and movements, where every political, spatial, cultural and financial achievement is a struggle. We argue that the politics of trauma are constructed differently in these two urban settings, producing important nuances of urban activism and politics. Through this empirical discussion, we develop the concept of 'queer urban trauma', revealing divergent forms of spatial visibility, presence and activity of the queer movements within urban spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solidarity between the citizens of a country is both good and desirable, and public educational institutions are the clear site of education for such civil solidarity and its natural place is in Civics lessons. Nevertheless, this paper argues that it is impossible to educate for solidarity for all citizens in a liberal-democratic state when civic classes teach basic civil laws that exclude groups or minorities and expel them from the general civil population. Therefore, we can ask: What are the modes of action that are open to Civics teachers and other educators who are caught in this trap when trying to educate for solidarity? As a reply to this question and by borrowing ideas from Michel Foucault's thought, this paper equips teachers with some guidelines for pedagogical resistance to the excluding wave, that enable strengthening an inclusive civil solidarity, and demonstrates the applicability of these guidelines in the Israeli reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of aesthetic qualitative research conducted in Israel for the purpose of increasing the understanding of the reception process among kindergarten children (aged 5–6). The paper focuses on the link between Theatrical Communication, personal 'Cargo' young audiences 'carry' upon attending a theatrical event and Theatrical Competence. We argue that the encounter between theatrical cargo and theatrical communication form the theatrical competence of the audience at this young age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of the cultural discourse around women's paid work in Israel is limited, and until now research has ignored its early periods and dynamics. This paper focuses on Israel's third decade, 1967–1977, when women, including mothers, were for the first time encouraged to work outside the home. Using feminist critical discourse analysis, I examine La'isha (For the woman), Israel's veteran commercial women's magazine, which has self-declared its nationalist role. Mainly dedicated to traditional feminine subjects directed at middle-class women, La'isha has followed the pattern of most popular women's magazines. However, it critically problematized the issue of women's employment in a wide social context, emphasizing gender and class inequality and expressing a complex of hegemonic liberal feminism and socialist feminism. In examining this radical discourse, the paper looks at the cultural and civic roles of popular women's magazines and the characteristics of this journalistic genre, and considers historical macro and micro explanations. The study demonstrates the value of women's magazines as a historical source and highlights the potential of popular women's magazines to take on oppositional power and play a transformative role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric correction (ATC) of radiance image data is a preliminary and necessary procedure to reach a coherent unsupervised classification. Though ATC results in removal of noise artefacts related to path radiance, loss of some data is inherent by the process. The unsupervised principal component analysis-based classification (PCABC) was harnessed in this paper using radiance data that bypass the ATC protocol. Being primarily based on the variability of the input hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) image regardless of its physical attributes, it was assumed that PCABC can be applied to radiance HRS image just as already shown on reflectance domain. To test this assumption, PCABC was tested on a radiance HRS image of Specim's AisaFENIX taken over the Mediterranean forest of Mount Horshan, Israel. With no application of ATC or noise reduction, while tested unsupervised classification methods were insufficient, PCABC was able to classify four different plant species with an overall accuracy of 68%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent excavations at Ḥorvat Tevet and the finding of ca. 260 Late Iron IIA cylindrical holemouth jars provided an unparalleled opportunity to study these relatively unknown vessels. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of cylindrical holemouth jars and includes a study of typology and morphology, alongside the analysis of provenance and distribution patterns. By shedding new light on these vessels, this paper provides the opportunity to understand and illustrate the economy of early monarchic Israel in a new and innovative way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigated the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on teleworking. • Descriptive statistics and logit models revealed trends in Israel and Czechia. • Teleworking for 20+ weekly hours is expected to increase from 10% to 14%. • Mixed trends in commute trips translated to a drop of 9% in such trips. • First-time telecommuters during COVID-19 increase the probability to continue it. The COVID-19 crisis has forced many people to work from home, rather than at their regular workplace. This paper aims to assess the impact of the pandemic on telecommuting and commuting behavior after the end of the crisis: Will people embrace teleworking and reduce commuting, even to some extent, or will they resume their pre-pandemic work patterns? This study, implementing a cross-country survey from Israel and Czechia, combines data regarding revealed preferences about work habits before and during the pandemic and stated intentions data regarding anticipated work patterns when life returns to "normal" after the pandemic. Two models were used for the data analysis, one addressing factors that affect the increased/decreased teleworking trend and the other addressing factors that affect the frequency of actual commutes. The results reveal that most respondents (62% in Israel and 68% in Czechia) will maintain the same telecommuting/working from home balance. About 19% of respondents in both countries expressed their intention to reduce the number of commuting days, while 6% stated they would increase out-of-home days. However, these estimates rely only on workers' expectations not accounting for employers' point of view and other constraints they may have. Not accounting for potential bias, a moderate reduction of 6.5% and 8.7% (in Israel and in Czechia, respectively) in the number of commuting trips is expected in the post-pandemic era. The anticipated decrease in commuting days is accompanied by an increase in teleworking: from 10% to 14% among those who work more than 20 h a week (in both countries) and a drop in the rate of those who telework five hours or less a week (down from 73% to 63% in Israel and from 76% to 70% in Czechia). Self-employment, travel time to work, working solely on premise during the lockdown, and personal preferences regarding telework versus working away from home were found to significantly contribute to a decrease in the number of commuting days and to an increase in teleworking. An interesting finding is the high probability of increased teleworking among people who teleworked for the first time during the lockdown or who increased their teleworking time during the lockdown. This indicates that the teleworking experience due to the pandemic has enabled some people to view working from home as viable. Although, overall, the change in working habits does not seem dramatic, our results suggest that hybrid schemes for combining on premise and telework are expected to be adopted by some sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns Let me tell you a story about Israel, a theatrical play tasked with influencing existing perceptions of the Palestine/Israel conflict amongst international audiences. Drawing on the work of philosopher Baruch Spinoza, I explore the complex issue of how to address the need to change people's political perceptions by using theatre as a form of activist persuasion. The play attempts to create an image of the conflict mostly absent in the commentaries of international observers who are unaware of the full implications of the conflict's settler colonial character. Typically, they understand it in terms of two sides competing over land, frontiers and recognition. The sense of balance that this perception conveys pre-empts coming to grips with the colonial history of Palestine beginning with the advent of Zionism from late 19th century. Such a view also obscures the nature of current forms of Israeli domination and fails to take into account a major historical factor: that the settler colonial dynamic in Palestine rests on the ways social life in Israel is organised and reproduced. Hence, the play aims to make perceptible the relation between the social mechanisms of subjectivity formation in the Israeli society on the one hand, and the everyday performance of settler colonial power on the other. Making this relation observable is a necessary step towards rethinking where change could possibly come from. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding the introduction of education multilingual policies worldwide, testing and assessment procedures still rely almost exclusively on the monolingual construct. This paper describes a study, part of a larger project fostering a new multilingual education policy in Israeli schools, exploring bi/multilingual assessment. It included two types of second language learners—immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, who learn all their school subjects in Hebrew, and Arab students, whose school language of instruction is Arabic but who learn some subjects in Hebrew. The experimental groups received a bilingual version of a test (Hebrew-Russian; Hebrew Arabic) and the control groups a Hebrew-only version. In the Russian-speaking experimental group, students received significantly higher scores than in the control group, while no significant differences surfaced between the groups among the Arabic-speaking students. Yet, attitudes toward bilingual assessment, evaluated via questionnaires, think aloud protocols and focus groups, were highly positive in both groups, addressing the availability of L1 in the test as contributing greatly to a more relaxed and positive approach. Multilingual tools emerged as a fairer method of assessing knowledge for second-language learners, who cannot fully demonstrate their academic knowledge in L2, and their use is recommended as part of the new multilingual policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to argue that the Zionist idea offers an effective lens through which we can understand the X-Men comics. Through the metaphor of mutants as Jews, Marvel has presented readers with both literal representations of Israel and what can be read as a Jewish state. Early storylines placed allegorically Jewish characters in Israel and appear to endorse the need for a mutant nation. Later comics, following shifts in international perception of Israel, feature the Israeli superhero Sabra, whose Zionist rhetoric is perennially ignored or curtailed. Most recently, the mutant nation of Krakoa, which provides safety and unity for a historically persecuted and globally-dispersed people, can be productively understood as a Zionist utopia, fulfiling the potential offered in earlier comics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper demonstrates exegetically that God's prophesied gathering of the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30,1-10 can happen only after repentance and a return to devoted service of God, which is made possible by a divine or spiritual regenerative work on the minds and moods of Israel. This is supported by evidence that this pericopé was an intentional chiasm giving focus to this theme. Current relevance theologically is argued on the basis of how this understanding of Deuteronomy 30,1-10 can be applied to renewed and ongoing debate over the literal versus spiritual future fulfillment of, especially the timing of, Israel's restoration as a "nation." In particular this has implications for the current discussions over so-called Replacement Theology or Supercessionism, wherein some have tended to base evaluations on political correctness over exegesis. The question here clarified is what role this passage plays in regard to the nature of renewed Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the complex mechanism of evolving charged self-gravitational (dissipating or non-dissipating) systems using a structure scalar Y T F , resulting from the basic procedure of orthogonal decomposition of the Riemann–Christoffel curvature tensor. The influence of electrical charge on the complexity of the considered system is analyzed in detail. We find several analytical Einstein–Maxwell models fulfilling the quasi-homologous ( Q H ) evolution plus the vanishing complexity factor ( C F ′ ) condition. Few of the presented models fulfill the Darmois constraints and exhibit shells, however, others satisfy the Israel constraints on both the boundary surfaces. Finally, some possible applications of the presented solutions are mentioned, which are important from astrophysical stand points. It is expected that some of the provided evolving Einstein–Maxwell fluid configurations may be utilized as a toy model of general frameworks like supernova explosions. It is found that the Q H implies the vanishing of the C F and gives rise to a unique and simplest configuration (Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker model) fulfilling the condition Y T F = 0 and evolving in the Q H regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Census of a nation's people and housing provides statistics about its health, income and social structures at a local level. While the demand for these statistics is unchanged the way they are collected is changing in many nations because of common drivers: cost pressure, web-based collection, decreasing response rates, environmental shocks and the availability of administrative data. Within this context, this paper gives an overview of the evolution of the Census in Israel, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and thereby provides an insight of the challenges and solutions of the modern Census. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rapid globalization along with the growing trend of openness and sharing approach enabled widespread of digital technologies all over the world. However, we can still find differences between countries in technology use and perceptions of usefulness for learning. Understanding students' use of educational technology and their perceptions of its usefulness is especially significant today, given the rapid penetration of online learning into higher education as a response to Covid‐19. Objectives: This research aimed to understand students' actual experiences with digital technologies during their academic studies and their perceptions of technology usefulness across institutional and international contexts (Israel and Australia). Methods: This quantitative study used data from a large‐scale bi‐national online survey of 3003 students in both countries. Comparative analyses were conducted. In addition, factor analysis was used to identify latent factors from 16 variables of students' perceptions of the usefulness of digital resources usefulness. Results and conclusion: The results revealed significant differences in technology usage and its perceived usefulness between students in the two countries. They confirmed the predominance of 'official' digital resources, such as learning management systems and online library resources. However, large percentages also reported the use of 'non‐official' digital resources, including academic search services; subject‐related videos and audio recordings on content‐sharing websites such as YouTube and Wikipedia; and communication and/or collaboration with other students through social networks. Thus, universities need to consider the potential use of incorporating these resources for improving teaching and learning. Moreover, understanding the differences will assist in implementing tailored techno‐pedagogical solutions to the students. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Technologies can enhance learning experiences, however the actual usage and sense of usefulness by higher education students is not well understood.Most technologies are under‐utilized for learning purposes, partly because the quality of students' learning experience is not yet guaranteed.Learning‐environment culture is important factor in the adoption of digital resources and practices in academic studies. What the paper adds to this: A large‐scale bi‐national survey of 3003 students at Monash University in Australia and Tel Aviv University in Israel adds to our empirical understanding of student use and perception of usefulness of digital technologies for their studies.'Official' digital resources, such as LMS and online library resources as well as 'non‐official' digital resources, including specialized academic search services, subject‐related videos and audio recordings on content‐sharing websites and communication were found to be in predominance.Significant international differences in technology usage and its perceived usefulness were found in 'official' and 'non‐official' digital resources. Implication of the study findings: Students use a range of 'non‐official' technologies to support their studies, which suggests universities need to consider the potential use of incorporating these resources and practices.The advantage of the digital technologies for academic learning is not utilized yet. We still have work to do in order to cross the chasm.The high usage and perceived usefulness of the external video materials (OER, such as MOOCs) raise questions regarding how to integrate them in academic learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether the sporadic publication of decisions in family law cases, which is customary in most commonlaw jurisdictions, even in the digital era, serves the interests of the public, the legal profession, or the development of knowledge in family law. The paper includes a theoretical overview of the debate surrounding the status of published versus unpublished decisions within the context of the construction of legal knowledge, a summary of studies examining the differences between digital databases and actual court rulings, and the particular policies and practices of the publication of rulings in family law in a number of common law jurisdictions. The empirical research in this study is based on a content analysis of a sample of 1,373 decisions from the family court archives in Israel and 1,145 decisions from five databases over the same seven-year period. We found that in general, not only was a very small percentage of decisions regarding family law published in the commercial databases, but the image of family courts that is reflected in the databases is distorted on several dimensions: Courts are depicted as more confrontational (adversarial) than they actually are; family disputes in the databases address more complicated issues than actual family court litigation; published decisions are longer and more complex than actual court decisions; decisions are more beneficial to women in the databases than they are in reality; there are a majority of male judges in database decisions, despite the fact that in practice family court judges are mostly female; and judicial work in the periphery is under-represented. This study contributes to understanding the dynamics of the publication of rulings and the pitfalls of the partial accessibility of legal decisions in a particularly challenging and constantly evolving area of law. If the distorted version of family litigation and case law that appears in the databases constitutes the knowledge that professionals have about family law, one can only speculate about the effect of this biased view on future practice and judicial decisions in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing number of undecided voters has attracted a lot of interest due to its important role in determining election results. Many studies have addressed the media consumption of undecideds but few have examined the role of undecideds' attitudes towards the media institution. This paper is innovative in its attempt to address the issue of the role of media trust in undecided versus decided voters' media engagement, based on a survey (N = 1427) followed by a multivariate analysis during the Israeli April 2019 elections campaign. The analysis revealed that although decided voters have more doubt in the accuracy of the news media, they still consume more news from more diverse sources, highlighting decideds as more critical and simultaneously more informed than undecideds. A parallel experiment (N = 121) identified that undecideds tended to rank a fake news item shared by one of their Facebook friends as credible significantly more often than decideds, demonstrating undecideds' lower critical ability to identify misinformation. The present study highlights the under-explored roles of undecideds (mis)trust of the news media and high susceptibility to believe fake news items, thus adding new evidence to the notion that elections are often won by the least informed and least critical citizens. We discuss the grim implications of our findings to current literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]