Vegan nationalism?: the Israeli animal rights movement in times of counter-terrorism

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the movement advocating animal rights and welfare (animal rights movement), in parallel with the practice of ethical veganism, has become increasingly significant in Israel. Along with this trend, several studies examine and analyze the colonial aspects of the Israeli animal rights movement and its relevance to the Palestinian issue from the perspective of Critical Animal Studies. Critically examining preceding studies on veganism and colonialism, through analysis of the political discourses of leading activists and public figures within the newly popular Israeli vegan trend, as well as interviews with a sample of Israeli vegans, this article will demonstrate how veganism in Israel is associated with a narrative of Israeli national superiority. Such discourses may well be called ‘vegan nationalism'. Vegan nationalism is a discursive and regulatory framework in which veganism is considered proof of the moral superiority of a nation in a settler colonialist context, implicitly stressing the barbarism and backwardness of the ‘terrorists’. At the same time, as an article written by the Israel Defense Force indicates, in this framework, vegans present a welcome, appealing image that resonates even though it differs from the image of the stronger, more robust and powerful carnist traditionally favored by Zionists.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical animal studies
• veganism
• Israel
• Palestine
• animal rights
• nationalism
• Zionism
• feminism-queer studies

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Correction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2022.2035576

Notes

1 Erica Weiss. ‘“There Are No Chickens in Suicide Vests”: The Decoupling of Human Rights and Animal Rights in Israel’, Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute 22, no. 3 (2016): 688.

2 Ibid., 703.

3 Esther Alloun. ‘“That’s the Beauty of It, It’s Very Simple!” and Settler Colonialism in Palestine-Israel’, Settler Colonial Studies 8, no. 4 (2018): 569.

4 Judith Butler. Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (New York: Verso, 2009), 105.

5 Jasbir Puar, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007).

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Aeyal Gross, ‘The Politics of LGBT Rights in Israel and Beyond: Nationality, Normativity and Queer Politics’, The Columbia Human Rights Review 46 (2015): 105.

10 Robert McRuer, ‘Disability Nationalism in Crip Times’, Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 4, no. 2 (2010): 163-178.

11 Dinesh Wadiwel, The War against Animals (Leiden and Boston: Brill Rodopi, 2015), 273.

12 Nik Taylor and Richard Twine, eds., The Rise of Critical Animal Studies: From the Margins to the Centre (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), 4.

13 Haaretz, 10,000 March in Largest-ever Animal Rights Parade in Israel, 2015, https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-10-000-march-in-largest-ever-animal-rights-parade-in-israel-1.5405357 (accessed December 21, 2021).

14 Weiss, ‘“That’s the Beauty of It, It’s Very Simple!”’, 703.

15 269Life, Interview with Santiago Gomez, an activist who has been part of the 269 initiative from the beginning, 2013, https://www.facebook.com/notes/269life/interview-with-santiago-gomez-an-activist-who-has-been-part-of-the-269-initiativ/466153653479345/ (accessed January 12, 2021).

16 The Vegan Review, Tal Gilboa: ‘We can shout and scream but all we achieve is offending people’ 2020, https://theveganreview.com/tal-gilboa-we-can-shout-and-scream-but-all-we-achieve-is-offending-people/ (accessed January 13, 2021).

17 Plant Based News, ‘It’s A Misconception That All Vegans Are Leftists’?Says?Vegan Activist Tal Gilboa, 2019, https://plantbasednews.org/culture/vegan-activist-tal-gilboa-its-a-misconception-that-all-vegans-are-leftists/ (accessed January 13, 2021).

18 This video originally posted on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Alfront/videos/vb.447541528699077/881769522200639/?type=2&theater (accessed July 23, 2019), can no longer be accessed, having possibly been deleted. However, a modified, fairly toned downed, version of this video which, nevertheless, solicits vegan votes for the Israel Beitenu party, can be found on Twitter, Eli Avidar, Twitter post, April 8, 2019, https://twitter.com/avidareli/status/1115144458746642433?s=20, (accessed January 13, 2021).

19 Carol Adams and Lori Gruen, eds., Ecofeminism: Feminist Intersections with Other Animals & The Earth (New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2014), 32.

20 Weiss, ‘“That's the Beauty of It, It's Very Simple!”’.

21 YouTube, Gary Yourofsky - The Most Important Speech You Will Ever Hear, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5hGQDLprA8 (accessed January 13, 2021).

22 YouTube, Human Branding: Animal Activism in Iowa, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IHRP9Fiwoo&has_verified=1 (accessed January 13, 2021).

23 Esther Alloun ‘Veganwashing Israel’s Dirty Laundry? Animal Politics and Nationalism in Palestine-Israel’, Journal of Intercultural Studies 41, no. 1 (2019): 4.

24 Ibid., 4–5.

25 Israel Defense Forces, Twitter post, November 1, 2015, https://twitter.com/IDF/status/660838006690078720, (accessed January 13, 2021).

26 Israel Defense Forces, Twitter post, November 1, 2018, https://twitter.com/IDF/status/264016373469020160, (accessed January 13, 2021).

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28 Haaretz, Vegans for (And Against) the Occupation 2013, https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-vegan-while-occupying-1.5290150 (accessed January 13, 2021).

29 Jasbir Puar, ‘Rethinking Homonationalism’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 45 no. 2 (2013): 337.

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31 The Salt, As More Israelis Go Vegan, Their Military Adjusts Its Menu, 2015, https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/10/459212839/why-so-many-israeli-soldiers-are-going-vegan (accessed January 13, 2021).

32 Haaretz, Israeli Defense Chief: Anyone Who Flies Drones Over IDF Soldiers Puts Himself at Risk, 2014, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-lieberman-anyone-who-flies-drones-over-idf-soldiers-endangers-himself-1.5978152 (accessed January 13, 2021).

33 Haaretz, How Likud’s Youngest MK Went From the Peace Camp to the Right 2015, https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-from-peace-activist-to-likud-s-youngest-mk-1.5403286 (accessed January 13, 2021).

34 Alloun, ‘Veganwashing Israel’s Dirty Laundry?’.

35 Israel Defense Forces, Twitter post, August 14, 2018, https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1029448371646423041?s=20 (accessed January 13, 2021).

36 Tal Gilboa, Twitter post, May 19, 2021. https://twitter.com/talgilboa/status/1395078817895657479?s=20 (accessed December 21, 2021).

37 The Times of Israel, Animal rights activists hold silent protest in Tel Aviv, 2016, https://www.timesofisrael.com/animal-rights-activists-hold-silent-protest-in-tel-aviv/ (accessed January 13, 2021).

38 Yair Netanyahu, Twitter post, April 15, 2019, https://twitter.com/YairNetanyahu/status/1117720736683241473?s=20 (accessed January 13, 2021).

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40 David Friedman, Twitter post, November 12, 2019, https://twitter.com/USAmbIsrael/status/1194285106069942272?s=20 (accessed January 13, 2021).

41 Independent, Israeli politician calls Palestinian residents ‘animals’ following deadly Jerusalem terror attack, 2016, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jerusalem-mayor-palestinians-animals-terror-attack-two-killed-meir-turgeman-a7355116.html (accessed January 13, 2021).

42 Haaretz, What Does Israel’s New Justice Minister Really Think About Arabs?, 2015, https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-what-does-ayelet-shaked-really-think-about-arabs-1.5360885 (accessed January 13, 2021).

43 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Statement by PM Netanyahu following Jerusalem synagogue attack, 2014, https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2014/Pages/Statement-by-PM-Netanyahu-following-Jerusalem-synagogue-attack-18-Nov-2014.aspx (accessed January 13, 2021).

44 Adams and Gruen, Ecofeminism, 32.

45 Taylor and Twine, The Rise of Critical Animal Studies, 84.

46 Ibid., 79.

47 Alloun, ‘Veganwashing Israel’s Dirty Laundry?’.

48 YouTube, How did Tel Aviv become the vegan capital of the world?, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4kljDaXhK4 (accessed January 13, 2021).

49 Carnism is a term coined by psychologist Melanie Joy. According to international organization Beyond Carnism, it is the invisible belief system, or ideology, that conditions people to eat certain animals. Carnism is a set of concepts which rationalizes meat-eating and enables human beings to eat other animals. See also: Melanie Joy, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism, (San Francisco: Conari Press, 2010).

50 mitgaisim, ma magia li? Tsaha”l yadiduti lativonim: bgadim, manot krav ve-aruchot, 2017, https://www.mitgaisim.idf.il/כתבות/ראשי/זכויות-וחובות/טבעונים-כל-המידע-שאתם-חייבים-לדעת/#/ (accessed January 13, 2021).

51 Adams and Gruen, Ecofeminism, 32.

52 Daniel Boyarin, Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 3.

53 Ibid., 277.

54 Todd Presner, Muscular Judaism: The Jewish Body and the Politics of Regeneration (New York: Routledge, 2007), 12.

55 Ibid., 14

56 Puar, The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, 102.

57 Tsaha”l, bein dilema le-maamats nose pri – eich niret ha-shigra shel ha-kraviim ha-tivonim be-tsaha”l, 2018, https://www.idf.il/אתרים/אגף-הטכנולוגיה-והלוגיסטיקה/לוחמים-טבעונים/ (accessed January 13, 2021).

58 Weiss, ‘“There Are No Chickens in Suicide Vests”’ and Alloun, ‘The Politics of ‘Actually Existing Intersectionality’’.

59 The Times of Israel, Marine Le Pen: Ban halal and all ritual slaughter, 2017, https://www.timesofisrael.com/marine-le-pen-ban-halal-and-all-ritual-slaughter/ (accessed January 13, 2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hiroshi Yasui

Hiroshi Yasui is a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Arts and Science at the University of Tokyo. His research interests include queer theory, Animal Studies and Middle East Studies. He has also published articles, in Japanese, in the Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies and the Journal of Women's Studies Association of Japan.