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Introduction: Amid escalating global antisemitism, particularly following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, this study addresses critical gaps in understanding the psychosocial impact of antisemitism on Jewish communities worldwide. Methods: Focusing on the Jewish community in Germany, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 420 Jewish individuals (mean age = 40.71 years, SD = 15.90; 57% female). Participants completed measures assessing four distinct forms of perceived and experienced antisemitism: everyday discrimination, microaggressions (subtle antisemitism and collective experiences such as encountering antisemitic comments on social media), vigilance against antisemitism, and perceived prevalence of antisemitism. Psychosocial outcomes—including depression, anxiety, subjective well-being, and social participation—were also measured. Data were analyzed using correlation analyses and multiple linear regressions, and Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) identified distinct groups based on shared perceptions and experiences of antisemitism and levels of Jewish identification. Results: Results indicate that experiences of antisemitism, particularly everyday discriminatory acts, were significantly associated with poorer mental health outcomes and reduced social participation. The LPA revealed three distinct groups, with the high-identity, high-antisemitism group (53% of the sample) reporting significantly higher anxiety levels than those with average identification and more rare experience with antisemitism. Discussion: These findings underscore the pervasive nature of antisemitism and its detrimental effects on the well-being of Jewish individuals. The study highlights the need for targeted interventions to promote resilience within Jewish communities and calls for broader societal efforts to combat antisemitism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on recently released papers in Israel, Britain and the United States which shed new light on a crisis in US-UK relations between September and November 1981. The papers go beyond the published literature in demonstrating how determined London was to pursue an independent policy towards the Arab-Israel conflict, even at the cost of confrontation with Washington. President Reagan urgently requested British participation in the Sinai Multinational Force, in order to facilitate the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Sinai. The Reagan administration perceived Britain’s involvement as essential for efforts to establish the Force. However, the Americans faced two difficulties: Israel was reluctant to accept Britain’s involvement in the Force because it had played an active role in the much-reviled European Economic Community Venice Declaration of June 1980 which had called for Palestinian self-determination and an accommodating approach towards the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In addition, Britain refused to commit to participation in the Sinai Force, fearing a backlash from an Arab world that rejected the 1979 Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty. The impasse over the Sinai Force provoked a row between London and Washington, amid the US fears that it would scuttle the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive intergroup violence such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to inflict devastating harm to individuals and societies. Civil societies generally do not need to remain inactive and can support peace processes even in severely escalated, apparently unsolvable intergroup conflicts. However, such engagement is delicate, and the exact conditions that make such commitment possible and effective in ‘classic’ interstate war settings remain unclear. Herbert C. Kelman (1927–2022), a social psychologist at Harvard University, developed seminal approaches of unofficial ‘Track Two’ diplomacy and problem-solving, mainly in the Israeli-Palestinian intergroup conflict. Using metatheory and critical hermeneutics, we suggest its current updated form is the conceptual enhancement from inter-group to complex intra/inter-national settings. Therefore, Track Two approaches can be valuable in the Russia/Ukraine setting. The paper outlines initial efforts of ongoing facilitated dialogue, unilateral on both sides and inter-coordinational between, offering inroads in an interstate context where conflict transformation is desperately needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe social arts (SA) are a subfield of the participatory arts that integrate the arts and social practices. SA are defined as art created by socially engaged professionals, including artists, creative arts therapists, social workers, and/or others who collaborate with nonprofessionals. SA artists aim to raise awareness, kindle empathy, and instill hope while urging action. SA works are often created to increase public awareness, influence government policy, and process trauma and grief. This qualitative study describes and contextualizes eight SA works made in Israel in response to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th, 2023, and the hostage crisis in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. The study also sought to explore the underlying meanings of these works through semiotic analysis. The semiotic analysis revealed recurring themes: the use of signifiers (for example, teddy bears and the figure of a woman) to signify innocence and vulnerability, unoccupied furniture (empty beds, dinner tables awaiting guests) to signify loss, and the use of yellow to signify solidarity and support. The SA works evoked grief, longing, and horror, but also camaraderie and resilience, thus reflecting the range of human experiences during the war. Future research recommendations include exploring the long-term impact of SA and, in particular, its role in encouraging healing, resilience, and hope within the context of conflict and loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security sector reform often involves integrating marginalized groups into the police. Extensive discussion surrounds the benefits of inclusion to the marginalized group, but we know little about impacts on the dominant group. I argue that exposure to out-group police can increase dominant group civilians' trust in the out-group, opening the door for further reforms and increasing the likelihood of peace. I explore dominant group citizens' responses to out-group police officers in Israel. First, using a survey experiment, I find no evidence that exposure to Arab (marginalized) police officers leads to backlash by Jewish (dominant) civilians. Then, drawing on multiple surveys and panel data on the identity of officers at every station over six years, I find that exposure to Arab police is associated with increased trust in Arabs among Jews. This trust extends to both everyday situations like willingness to live next door to an Arab and to beliefs about Arabs' intentions to commit political violence. Collectively, these results contradict fears that backlash by the dominant group might spoil peace, opening the door for police integration as an important part of peace processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "The Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood in Gaza: A Sequence of Events" addresses the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, focusing on the confrontations between Hamas and Israel. The report reviews the human casualties, attacks on medical facilities, and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions, in addition to international reactions and humanitarian initiatives. It also discusses statements from officials, such as Nabil Abu Rudeineh, who rejected the presence of any foreign forces, and Benjamin Netanyahu, who affirmed that Israel's position regarding the hostages had not changed. The article also mentions calls from the Israeli Minister of National Security for the execution of Palestinian prisoners and the use of prisoners as human shields by the Israeli army. [Extracted from the article]

Drawing mainly on cognitive pragmatics, supplemented by insights from positioning theory, the paper aims to identify the pragmatic features and highlight the argumentative potential of the victimhood narratives propagated online. The paper analyzes a corpus of approximately 130,000 user-generated comments discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Conceptualizing frames as relevance establishers priming tendentious implicated premises, various corpus linguistic techniques are used to identify the frame-evoking elements of the storyline advanced by commenters. The analysis shows that frames can license conclusions potentially influencing the audience's epistemic attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, making a particular victimhood narrative looks more relevant and more coherent. The argumentative potential of a given victimhood narrative lies in its ability to prime cognitive and affective effects that optimize relevance and activate emotional procedures making the audience more epistemically vulnerable to manipulation. The paper provides fresh insights as to how cognitive pragmatics can account for manipulative political discourse in online public sphere. The paper also demonstrates the efficacy of corpus linguistic techniques in identifying frame-evoking elements in large corpora. • Victimhood Discourse has particular pragmatic features and the argumentative potential. • Frames are background relevance establishers priming tendentious implicated premises. • Victimhood discourse triggers both cognitive and affective framing effects. • These effects activate emotional procedures facilitating the exploitation biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay represents the continuation of my research, on the Hamas Organization's novel methods of psychological warfare against Israel. The previous article, which covered the period between 2007 and 2014, demonstrated the relative clumsiness of Hamas's attempts to influence Israeli public opinion. In the current study, which covers the period from 2014-October 2023, we examine Hamas's attempts to improve its methodology, inter alia through the appropriation of Israeli popular culture and its retooling toward purposes of psychological warfare. This attempt, while bearing some impressive fruit, has still not seen any real penetration of the organization's messages into the consciousness of Israeli society. Hamas remains tied to a conception of Israeli culture that mirrors its own (Arab-Muslim-Palestinian) culture, whereas in truth, Israeli culture has long since 'moved on' from the days in which such material informed its daily existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the responses of Yemeni Islamists to the war in Gaza, focusing on the ideological, domestic, and international factors influencing their actions. The Houthis, as the dominant Islamist group in Yemen, engaged in maritime attacks to impede Israeli traffic, while other groups like Islah and Al-Rashad expressed solidarity with Palestinians but in a more moderate manner. AQAP, unburdened by constraints, adopted a radical stance calling for violence against Jews, Americans, and Britons. The Houthis' involvement in the conflict aimed to enhance their domestic standing, ideological commitments, and international alliances, particularly with Iran. The article highlights the complex interplay of ideology, pragmatism, and strategic considerations shaping the responses of Yemeni Islamists to the war in Gaza. [Extracted from the article]

As a powerful discursive trope, irony is used to interpret the recent Israeli-Palestinian ‘conflict’ since 7 October 2023. Hinging on various political discourses, the paper examines the workings of the political language, emphasising irony. Interconnected with semiotics, hyperrealism and Jean Baudrillard’s concepts of simulacra, where the boundaries between what is real and imaginary are blurred, the paper aims to fulfil three objectives. First, it stresses the importance of studying irony in understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how language is used to manufacture consent, especially in media discourses. Second, based on the definition of a ‘lack of fit’ between what is real and what is imaginary, the paper argues that irony surpasses the classic pragmatic interpretations. It is used as a social critique but also contributes to the hyperreal. Third, the paper explains how the use of language in political media discourses aims to score ideological goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the complex landscape of modern warfare, understanding combat-related injuries leading to hospitalization is crucial for optimizing injury treatment. This study aims to compare combat casualty characteristics and outcomes during the major conflicts between Israel and Hamas in 2023 and 2014 as a basis for understanding the effectiveness of trauma care practices for wounded soldiers. Methods: A cohort study of soldiers hospitalized due to combat injuries during two major wars between Israel and Hamas in 2023 and 2014, using data from the Israeli National Trauma Registry. This study did not include deaths before hospital arrival or casualties who were discharged from the Emergency Department. Results: Of the 1,198 study subjects, 67.8% belonged to the 2023 cohort and 32.2% to the 2014 cohort. The percentage of casualties with severe and critical injuries (Injury Severity Score [ISS] 16–75) was higher among the 2023 cohort (18.6% vs. 13.7%, p = 0.036), as was the percentage of casualties with multiple severe injuries (≥ 2 regions with Abbreviated Injury Score ≥ 3: 11.5% vs. 7.5%, p = 0.035) and firearm injuries (19.6% vs. 14.5%, p = 0.081). Injuries to the torso and extremities were more frequent among the 2023 cohort. Among the critically injured casualties (ISS 25–75), the mortality rates were 17.3% vs. 28.6%, respectively, for the 2023 and 2014 cohorts (p = 0.351); adjusted HR (95% CI): 0.56 (0.21–1.49). The 2023 cohort had higher rates for treatment in the trauma bay (61.5% vs. 47.9%, p < 0.001), ICU utilization (admission: 16.3% vs 11.7%, p = 0.036), surgical intervention (51.5% vs. 42.7%, p = 0.005), longer duration from arrival to surgery (median [interquartile range]: 4.6 (1.2–18.5) vs. 2.6 (1.1–10.1) hours, p = 0.037), and longer hospital stays (> 14 days: 15.5% vs. 8.8%, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our data demonstrated that more casualties who survived to hospital arrival were severely and multiply injured in the 2023 Israel-Hamas war as compared to the 2014 war. Despite the increased severity, in-hospital survival did not worsen though there was an increase in hospital resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, through the lens of several theories of evil. It applies frameworks from Christopher Bollas, Ruth Stein, Sue Grand, Robert J. Lifton, and Aner Govrin to explore the psychological underpinnings of this act of terror. The study employs an interpretative approach to analyze the attacks, considering the perpetrators’ backgrounds and the sociopolitical context. Key concepts explored include Bollas’s ‘killed self’, Stein’s analysis of religious justification for violence, Grand’s ‘malignant dissociative contagion’, Lifton’s theory of totalism, and Govrin’s prototype of evil perception. The paper discusses how these theories illuminate the role of trauma, ideology, and psychological distortion in fostering extreme violence. It also considers the ethical implications of applying psychoanalytic theories to large-scale events and acknowledges the limitations of this approach. The analysis reveals common threads across theories, including the impact of psychological damage, disconnection from empathy, and the interplay of love and hate in acts of evil. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing suffering on all sides of the conflict while maintaining a clear moral stance against acts of terror. It calls for further interdisciplinary research to inform strategies for conflict resolution and prevention of future atrocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political violence has, for a very long time, been a focus of academic interest in various disciplines, probing the relentlessly cyclic nature of violence and counter-violence. This essay looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with reference to the map of links by means of which Bion conceptualized the relations between two individuals, giving special attention to how negative configurations of these links impede contact with truth on both sides. Relating to theoretical writings by Baudrillard, Benjamin, and Arendt, this essay suggests replacing planar with spatial thinking and the condition of revenge with that of forgiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Militant Islamism in Lebanon and the War on Gaza" analyzes the involvement of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon (IRL) during the conflict between Palestinian Hamas and Israel from October 2023 to September 2024. The IRL primarily focused on supporting the Palestinian war effort while defending its territory and preserving its structure. The article also discusses the evolving relationships between Hizbullah, Hamas, and other Sunni players in Lebanon, highlighting the complex dynamics of regional alliances and the impact on Sunni Islamists in Lebanon. The article provides insights into the pragmatic strategies and interactions within the Axis of Resistance, emphasizing a balance between ideology and self-preservation. [Extracted from the article]

As Jewish Israelis, members of the Zochrot community, and people who have lost loved ones in the Hamas attack, our work insists that history did not begin on October 7, 2023. Despite Israeli authorities' attempts to frame October 7 as an isolated incident, we recognize the decades of direct, administrative, and legal violence that culminated in this moment and refuse to examine it in a vacuum. To build a future where all who dwell between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea share a land of freedom and mutual liberation, and a legal structure which respects the equality of everyone, we as Israeli Jews must not silence the memory of the past and must recognize the Nakba as part of our own history as well. Lawyers and scholars, in engaging with the challenging legal context of Palestine/Israel, similarly ought to reckon with this often-erased history. Despite Israel's narrative that often omits the massacres and displacement of Palestinians which underpin the modern state, this foundation is necessary to fully grasp the present. The Essay highlights Zochrot's pre-transitional justice work, which seeks to use mnemonic interventions to spark legal and extralegal processes of social and political transition. These efforts illuminate the persistent impact of the Nakba, the foundational displacement of Palestinians in 1947-1948, on all who dwell in the land of Palestine/Israel. We deploy legal and social interventions in Israeli Jewish society that challenge Israeli Jews to embrace reparative frameworks, not only for self-preservation but because it is the morally right course of action. The Essay also highlights the role of lawyers in engaging with memory as a critical resource to grasp the legal reality in Palestine/Israel and work towards reparation and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2023 Israel-Gaza conflict has ignited an intense legal and ethical debate over the definition of antisemitism, leaving deep scars on communities and college campuses. This debate clashes over one major question: does sharp criticism of Israel amount to antisemitic speech? Through various legal instruments, U.S. law has accepted this premise. This Article argues against such stretching of the definition of antisemitism and develops a novel legal framework to challenge it. Existing scholarship has shown that antisemitism is often weaponized against Palestinians and their liberation struggle. Widening the scope of this critique, we theorize an additional layer of harm imposed upon American Jews. We argue that the broadening of the definition of antisemitism has resulted in a narrowing of Jewish identity and a delegitimization of anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jewish communities. Constructing Jewish identity along rigid and fixed lines, the contemporary legal definition of antisemitism imposes upon Jews a straitjacket of Zionism. This Article begins by explaining the peculiar positionality of Jews within the U.S. liberal legal order, examining how Jewish communities have often articulated political commitments through religious vocabularies. As such, Jewish identity presents a challenge for American liberal ideas regarding religion. The redefinition of antisemitism to protect the state of Israel reflects a failed attempt to respond to this challenge. It favors one specific version of Jewish identity (Zionist) while suppressing others. The Article then moves on to track the evolution of the legal definition of antisemitism vis-à-vis the state of Israel, from post-WWII cases, to what we dub as the "IHRAera." The codification of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism has stigmatized anti-Zionists and other critics of Israel as antisemites. Following a detailed account of the harms to pro-Palestinian actors, we advance to the heart of our argument, arguing that IHRA-type rules discipline Jewish identity and diminish the richness of Jewish political traditions. To combat this harm, the Article develops two legal arguments. First, we argue that for many American Jews, criticizing Israel is a way to exercise their religious freedom. Further, we argue, the redefinition of antisemitism should be seen as a governmental interference in religion, deciding the content of Jewish identity, in violation of the Establishment Clause. Second, we argue that antidiscrimination laws should protect Jews who are targeted as Jews due to their political position. We recognize two types of discriminatory dynamics: (1) discrimination based on association and solidarity with Palestinians; and (2) discrimination based on stereotypes regarding how Jews ought to perform their identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research is dedicated to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the politicised debates held on its forum. The purpose of the research was to investigate political debates on the ICAO forum and to analyse the attempts to terminate them through references to their political character or the technical character of ICAO. The main research question concerns the arguments used by the delegates/representatives engaged in political debates held on the ICAO forum. The researchers argued that the participants in these debates, mostly diplomats representing member states, have been employing depoliticisation techniques to terminate inconvenient debates, claiming that the ICAO is a technical organisation and political issues should not be debated there. The study covers several diplomatic standoffs at the ICAO forum: debates over ICAO membership/statehood in Spain, Taiwan, Cyprus and South Africa; various instances of the Arab-Israeli conflict; shootdowns of the Korean aircraft by the USSR and the Iranian aircraft by the US; and aviation aspects of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The study specifically covered individual statements of state representatives and debates on the forum of the ICAO Council and Assembly. The research has been performed through qualitative content analysis of the ICAO archival documents acquired both online and during research visit to the ICAO headquarters in Montreal. It was observed that state representatives have been employing depoliticisation in order to defend their countries on the forum of the ICAO from the attacks associated with international conflicts. Depoliticisation as a diplomatic tactic, however, in most cases proved unsuccessful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comment piece, prompted by the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the terrible toll of lives of Gazan people following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, argues that the field of cultural studies has its origins in a notion of post-war peacetime and that this has created a vocabulary deficit in regard to war, genocide and state violence. Paul Gilroy and Stuart Hall have confronted patterns of violence in regard to the urban environment and the policing of Black youth as well as the escalation in day-to-day authoritarianism and the rise of the right. There is a strong case to be made however for the field of cultural studies to more fully draw on political philosophy including Middle East scholarship to engage more directly with the politics of occupation, settler colonialism, neo-nationalism and the far right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Executive Summary: This paper sheds light on the often-overlooked intersectionality of armed conflict, displacement, and sexual and gender identity, with a focus on the experiences of LGBTIQ+ internally displaced persons (IDPs) from South Lebanon amidst the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study conducted 18 in-depth interviews with members of the displaced LGBTIQ+ community to capture the nuances of their lived experiences. Through thematic and narrative analysis, the research aims to uncover the multifaceted challenges faced by LGBTIQ+ individuals who have been internally displaced due to the protracted conflict. The findings highlight the intricate interplay between the external conflict dynamics and the internal struggles of sexual and gender minorities navigating displacement. Themes such as resilience, identity negotiation, discrimination, and community building emerge from the narratives, providing a rich and textured understanding of the intricate fabric of their lives. The paper not only contributes to the growing body of literature on conflict-induced displacement but also foregrounds the unique challenges and coping mechanisms employed by LGBTIQ+ individuals in the face of adversity. By amplifying the voices of those often silenced, this research seeks to inform policies and interventions that are more inclusive and responsive to the specific needs of internally displaced LGBTIQ+ populations in conflict settings, fostering a deeper understanding of the complexities inherent in their journeys of survival, resilience, and identity reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and the Brazilian genocide against Black and Indigenous populations provide an opportunity to investigate the processes of elimination in settler-colonial nations. This article aims to examine the conditions under which settler states can exercise sovereign power against subaltern populations. It is argued that the escalation of structural genocide to expand settler colonization and govern surplus populations was facilitated by the rise of far-right governments. Nevertheless, the Brazilian state's capacity to exercise sovereign power has been restricted by the transition to neocolonialism, which enabled Brazilians to contain the far right. The space for the promotion of the largest genocide in recent history in Gaza was created by the Israeli effort to abort any possibility of transition to neocolonialism in Palestine, resulting in the maintenance of direct settler colonialism, the far-right government, and its close alliance with the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was a national tragedy, and the war in Gaza that followed it changed the reality in the area. This distinctive setting allowed us to examine attitude structure in an uncertain existential context compared to previous studies conducted in relatively more mundane settings. We conducted a preregistered study (N = 565) in which we hypothesized that actual-desired attitude discrepancies and objective attitude ambivalence would both positively predict subjective attitude ambivalence and that actual and desired attitudes would independently predict congruent biases in information interest. We also predicted that Israelis' conservative political ideology would negatively predict objective attitude ambivalence, subjective attitude ambivalence, and actual-desired attitude discrepancy, and positively predict attitude certainty. The results supported nearly all of these hypotheses. Furthermore, we found evidence consistent with ideological projection. Participants' political ideology predicted the direction and strength with which they perceived political ideology change in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli military response have been widely covered in the Arabic press, reinforcing the popular narrative of a strong and aggressive Israeli state and the victimized Palestinians. The coverage underlines the wide support for Palestinians in the Arabic press. Broadly, one can divide the Arabic press into state-aligned and independent media, with the former's coverage reflecting the opinions of the respective governments, while the latter showcases the views of non-state actors. A key trend that emerges is the strong anti-Israel sentiments prevailing in the Arab countries and the increased support for Palestinian statehood. Notably, there are serious discussions about the possibility of a two-state solution and the role Arab governments can play in convincing the two warring sides. There are some nuanced and veiled criticisms of Hamas's actions that triggered the current spate of violence. A closer reading of select international Arabic-language media (print and online) reveals the nuanced shifts in their coverage toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urdu is widely spoken in India, and due to historical, demographic, and political reasons, it is commonly associated with the Indian Muslim population. India has a vibrant Urdu press represented in both electronic and print media that caters largely to the Muslim population and reflects their views. Issues related to Israel, Zionism, and Jews, in addition to other Middle Eastern developments, are widely covered in the Indian Urdu press due to religious and historical factors. The coverage also reflects the ignorance, biases, and prejudices that are widely held among South Asian Muslims regarding Jews, Zionism, and Israel, which at times acquire extremist and anti-Semitic overtones. The Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli military response have been widely covered and commented upon in the Indian Urdu press, reinforcing the established ideas of the oppressive Israeli state and the perpetual Palestinian victimhood. However, one witnesses certain nuances and a diversity of opinion within the Urdu press. A systematic content analysis of the Indian Urdu press and its coverage of the Gaza crisis provides an understanding of views held among a large section of the Muslim population in India toward the Israel–Hamas conflict, in particular, and toward the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's attitude on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict marks a significant departure vis-à-vis India's own position toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as the general view of the Global South. Its prime focus has been on the terrorist nature of the October 7 violence and the resolution of the conflict through the two-state solution. Both these positions exhibit the sympathy of the Indian government toward Israel, and despite reservations and criticisms, the domestic reaction to the official position has been more muted than in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how German politicians have responded, through the use of political narratives, to notable developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over a period of 30 years. Conceptually engaging with the literature on identity, ontological (in)security, and narratives, we explore how narratives have been utilised in Germany to mitigate situations which cause normative dissonance, thereby challenging the stability of Germany’s autobiographical narrative, such as Israeli military campaigns or tensions between Israel and Palestine. In the first systematic narrative analysis on this topic, we look at 267 German parliamentary speeches between 1993 and 2023. The article shows how German politicians and political parties developed specific coping strategies to uphold solidarity with Israel, while overall ensuring a stable and coherent narrative of Germany’s national identity. We conceptualise Germany's narrative engagement as the articulation of a delicate ‘balancing act’. Specifically, politicians navigate competing perceived responsibilities and commitments through prioritisation and narrative adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospital staff frequently encounter high-stress situations, emergencies, and disasters, which profoundly impact their well-being and resilience. The aim of the study was to examine associations between perceived threats, well-being, individual resilience, and resilience at work among staff of a general hospital, following the unexpected Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, and during the Israel-Gaza conflict. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a central Israeli public hospital, a level-two trauma center, surveying 434 staff members. Validated questionnaires were used to assess perceived threats, well-being, individual and work resilience, alongside demographic and professional characteristics. Data was collected via Qualtrics and paper questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, T-tests, ANOVA, Chi-square, and linear regression models were used to analyze relationships, differences, and key factors associated with well-being, personal resilience, and work resilience. Results: Key findings revealed that higher resilience at work and well-being are linked to greater individual resilience, while higher threat perception negatively affected well-being. Israeli-born individuals and those identifying as Jewish showed higher resilience. Men reported higher well-being than women, and physicians demonstrated higher well-being compared to nurses. Resilience at work was higher among administrative staff compared to nurses, with employment in the emergency department showing a significant negative relationship with resilience at work. Conclusions: The study revealed significant predictors of well-being, individual resilience, and workplace resilience among hospital staff in conflict situations. The immediate threat of war was perceived as most significant, highlighting the dynamic nature of threat perceptions. Prolonged emergencies can severely impact well-being, necessitating timely support. The findings emphasize the importance of integrated programs that enhance individual well-being and foster resilience in both personal and professional domains. Significant gender differences and the positive role of religiosity in resilience underscore the need for targeted interventions and systemic organizational changes to better support healthcare workers during crises. These insights highlight the importance of a comprehensive approach for cultivating a robust and resilient medical staff capable of effectively managing future crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an ongoing source of violence in the Middle East, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of people. As of late violence has escalated, with this year being one of the deadliest years in the conflict in decades. Therefore, now more than ever finding ways to bridge divides is essential to reduce the human suffering associated with the conflict. In this study we evaluated the impact of an important element of communication: accent. We demonstrate that the accent through which trust-building initiatives are communicated can inadvertently sway public opinion regarding their benefits. Jewish-Israelis listened to the same trust-building proposal communicated by a Palestinian delegate with varying degrees of Palestinian Arabic-accented Hebrew. When the same proposal came from a Palestinian delegate with a heavier accent, Jewish-Israelis thought this proposal was significantly worse for Israel than when it was offered by a Palestinian delegate who spoke Hebrew with no detectable, non-native accent. This effect was explained by differences in how the Palestinian delegate was judged depending on his accent. When the delegate spoke with heavier, Arabic-accented Hebrew, he was judged more harshly than when he spoke Hebrew with no such accent, which in turn reduced how favorably Jewish-Israelis evaluated the proposed measures. Our findings show that the way in which trust-building measures are communicated can shape how they are received and thus has direct implications for diplomatic efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hamas’s 7 October 2023 massacres shook Israelis to the core, profoundly impacting all walks of life and prompting individuals to share content related to the challenging situation on social media platforms. A netnographic examination of the creative images shared by Israelis on Facebook in the three months attending the massacres, which blend visual elements with ironic expressions and often include appeals to the international community, reveals seven distinct yet interconnected themes: dichotomies (contrasts between good and evil), releasing abductees as a game, new cultural heroes, defiance against the international community, and anti-ignorance campaign ‘coming soon’ cautioning the West against similar atrocities to the 7 October massacres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Objective Method Results Conclusions This study explores the experience of Israeli therapists who both worked with clients in emergency interventions during the third week following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and were themselves exposed, to one extent or another, to the terrifying events.Open‐ended questionnaires were completed by 201 therapists during the third week following October 7. Using thematic analysis, therapists' reports of the themes their clients raised in therapeutic sessions were compared with their reports of the hardships they themselves experienced as individuals and professionals during the same period. Drawing on the concept of shared traumatic reality, the study considers how close the themes are, and how challenging it is to cope concurrently with a traumatic reality that is experienced both directly and indirectly.Seven main categories emerged from the responses to questions about both their clients and themselves: (1) uncertainty and worries about the near and more distant future; (2) overwhelming emotions; (3) physical sensations; (4) shattered meaning and loss of trust; (5) lack of routine; (6) self‐preservation; and (7) shared trauma.The findings shed light on early reactions to a shared traumatic reality in the period closely following the trauma itself, indicating that professionals find it hard to differentiate between the personal, professional, and national levels when exposed to a large‐scale traumatic event they share with their clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to investigate the ideological manipulation of language within news media headlines regarding the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. This study employs Van Dijk's socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis to conduct a comparative qualitative analysis of 100 Arabic and 100 English news headlines, exploring linguistic features at both microstructure and macrostructure levels. The analysis delves into identity construction for the victim and perpetrator, revealing the discursive linguistic manifestations of underlying ideologies in two distinct linguistic and cultural contexts. The microstructure analysis reveals the preference of Arabic headlines for active voice structure, rhetorical devices of numeration, emphatic language, and metaphors. On the other hand, English headlines preferred the passive voice structure and the rhetorical device of litotes. The macrostructure analysis unravels the cognitive interplay between news media outlets and their target audience, demonstrating how selective headlines significantly impact public opinion. It shapes their comprehension and interpretation, particularly within the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ultimately, this research highlights the dynamic interplay between language, ideology, and power in news media, offering key recommendations for understanding their comparative impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, which was carried out under the leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on October 7, 2023, represented a shock whose effects did not stop at the borders of the Palestinian issue and the extended conflict it entails between Israel and the Palestinians over land, history and sanctities, but rather went beyond it to confuse regional calculations and evaluate international assessments of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on both levels official and popular, especially in countries that do not support Palestinian rights. The Al-Aqsa flood operation in the Gaza Strip represented a strategic, not a hypothetical turning point, It's considered aqualitative operation, unprecedented in its timing, size, and geographical depth. Most ceasefire attempts in the Gaza Strip failed, as a number of perceptions emerged about the future of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war. In the face of this new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which resulted in results of which the humanitarian catastrophe was the most prominent feature,The operation forced the Israeli mind to reconsider the literature of political optimism about the future of Israel, which was promoted by the Zionist right, and caused a shock in the Israeli security system. It led to the loss of the Israeli deterrence theory. This round also brought the issue back into the spotlight of international attention, and the process gave consideration to the military option as a major option in the process of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But the repercussions of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation will carry with them for the coming years multiple paths and implications that must be paid attention to, and thinking about preparing strategic plans to deal with them. Hence the importance of the research to identify the importance of these features and study them, as this research presents the repercussions of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on both sides, which It reflects the course of events and then shows us the transformations in political paths, specifically the positions of the active Palestinian, Israeli, Arab and international forces and their future impact on the Palestinian people and the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arab-Israeli conflict is considered one of the longest and most difficult conflicts that the Middle East is still going through. After the October 6, 1973 war, which was a turning point in the Arab-Israeli conflict, countries and regular armies withdrew from the military conflict, and the resistance factions and various organizations took over the management of the conflict, opening the door to It is wide open to intermittent or fleeting wars raging on Palestinian land, between the Palestinians and the Israeli army. The images of these wars took different shapes. Because we are facing two different parties, a resistance and a regular army. Consequently, the mechanisms of confrontation differed from time to time, and were also longer or shorter from time to time. This study raises the question about the mechanisms that Israel used in managing the conflicts that took place in the Palestinian territories, and how did the resistance confront it? Are there different mechanisms that Israel violated according to the nature of each conflict and the differences in its elements? Or are there multiple mechanisms that differed depending on the conflict? What mechanism can Israel take if the resistance launches a war similar to the AlAqsa Flood? The study is divided into four sections: The first section: The Israeli approach to the conflict before the Al-Aqsa flood The second section: The Israeli approach to the conflict during the Al-Aqsa flood The third section: anticipating Israel’s management of the conflict Fourth section: The repercussions of the Al-Aqsa flood [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency situations around the world have always presented a complicated and ostensibly paradoxical mix of crisis and continuity. This essay builds on the author's research into the cultural and literary history of the Emergency in India (1975 – 77) and on a reading of Paul Lynch's 2023 novel Prophet Song to address the ongoing and horrific crisis of 2023–24 in Palestine and Israel. Turning to genre as a way to look at emergencies and the ways in which we comprehend them, the article argues that once identified and declared, an emergency brings about an array of generically determined actions and reactions that seem inevitable and necessary. The crisis becomes disconnected from its historical origins, attendant only to the immanent logic of its genre. The logic of inevitability does not then allow a recognition of those strands of reality that are not embedded in the genres through which the world is already understood. Paying attention to the genres in which the current emergency is narrated, the article argues that the deadly violence in the Middle East is not, in fact, just a singular moment of crisis, nor is it just "more of the same," or an inevitable result of a two-sided "conflict." Shifting genres, one can recognize that the deadly violence today, and the occupation of which it is part, has a history and a politics that are human-made and can thus be unmade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A long-surviving tradition in Nigeria's foreign policy has to do with observing neutrality in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This neutrality, however, was tested between 1973 and 1992 when Nigeria had a sustained break in diplomatic ties with Israel. At no point did successive Nigerian governments use religion to justify either the sustained severance or eventual restoration of ties. However, religion is a non-material factor in international relations that can play out in multidimensional ways without being seen as a catalyst for an action or inaction. It is against this background that within the analytical purview of Rosenau's linkage politics theory and the bottom up theoretical approach to public opinion in foreign policy, the essay investigates the extent to which religion determined Nigeria's severed relations with Israel and its eventual restoration of ties with the Jewish nation. The essay is historical and employs the use of primary sources including materials sourced from Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There were also personal communications with veteran diplomats, including two of the foreign affair ministers who served during the period. The essay concludes that while religion was neither the justification for the severance of relations with Israel nor the restoration of ties with the Jewish nation, religion played a role in the manner successive governments dealt with the matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how Israel related to the threat that Hamas posed to the peace process, both during the talks that led to the signing of the Declaration of Principles (December 1992–September 1993) and then until the signing of the Oslo 2 agreement (September 1995). The Israeli negotiators and leaders were locked into the idea that the PLO would "deal with Hamas" because of its clear interest to do so. During the talks, however, there was no detailed discussion of the matter. Instead, the negotiators focused—and with full justification—on the important achievement of an accord with the PLO and its agreement to refrain from terrorism. This, reinforced by the assumption that the PLO would suppress Hamas, paved the way for the signing of the Declaration of Principles without any concrete attention to Hamas. Thus Hamas terrorism proved to be a major obstacle to the fulfillment of the Oslo Accords. Hamas bomb attacks killed many Israelis and undermined Israelis' faith in the process. In parallel, the IDF activity to thwart Hamas, which involved major operations on the ground, as well as the accords' failure to produce an economic upturn for the Palestinians, diminished their support for the agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book asks what distinctive contributions political philosophers might make when reflecting on obvious moral failures in public policy. I defend a particular kind of contribution: I argue that political philosophers can and should craft 'strategic' arguments for public policy reforms, showing how morally urgent reforms can be grounded, for the sake of discussion, even in problematic premises associated with their opponents. The book's opening chapter provides a general defense of this approach, situating it within a broader conception of political philosophy's social responsibilities. Subsequent chapters then apply strategic theorizing to a set of diverse policy issues. These range from the abortion debate and financial regulation in the United States, through controversies surrounding the participation of Arab parties in Israel's political process, to global issues, such as commercial ties with oil-rich dictatorships, and the bearing of such ties on global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article critically examines the arguments of Raef Zreik regarding the 2023 war in Gaza. It first analyzes the use of the concept of narrative in defending political causes and actions. It shows that due to their subjective nature two opposing narratives can be equally valid as long as they satisfy conditions of internal coherence and fidelity to the facts. It then shows that Zreik's argument of 'fragmentation' is double edged and cannot be used for laying full responsibility on Israel. It then proceeds to criticize the claim that Zionism is a colonialist enterprise and shows that Zionism does not consist of all the basic characteristics of colonialism. Finally, it analyzes the common argument of self-defense as the only justification of starting a war and shows the limitation of such an argument in a theory of war, mainly because in most wars both sides have the right to defend themselves, including the allegedly unjust party. All that remains after showing the weakness of most arguments for this or that side to the conflict is the conclusion that compromise is the only way out of the deadlock, having the virtue of being pragmatic rather principled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most states in the Western world maintain a no-concession policy towards terrorist groups, pirates, criminal organizations, and rogue entities, on the basis of which they refuse ransom payments, political concessions, and in many cases even direct engagement. The United States and the United Kingdom are the strictest in this regard, with many European states demonstrating a wavering stance. Even so, the United States has on several occasions since the late 1970s deviated from its strict no-concessions policy. This article suggests that since the late 2000s, the United States foresaw that dialogue and engagement with some (but not all) terrorist groups and rogue entities was inevitable to serve its foreign policy pursuits, while avoiding being seen as bending its hardline against such groups. As a result, it requested Qatar, which aspired to a regional mediator role, to allow both the Taliban and Hamas to set up representative offices on its territory and thus to open channels of communication with the United States and its allies. This is despite the fact that the United States and the U.N. Security Council had sanctioned both groups. This led to a U.S.-Taliban agreement in 2020 that allowed for an orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces and a subsequent rapport between the two states. It also allowed Qatar to successfully mediate four ceasefires between Hamas and Israel from 2014 until 2023. The paper suggests that this represents a paradigmatic shift from the strict no-concessions policy, suggesting that powerful states have an interest in structured (i.e., not ad hoc) mediated engagement with terror groups and rogue states, at least for short-term targets. It is hoped that such a process may be adapted for longer-term, lasting, peace agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]