Israeli graphic novels & the second Palestinian Intifada: ‘Jamilti’, Exit Wounds & Mike’s Place

ABSTRACT

The following paper analyzes Rutu Modan’s and Jack Baxter and Joshua Faudem’s graphic texts about the Second Palestinian Intifada and its impact on Israeli society in the early 2000s. Modan’s position as an Israeli and Baxter’s position as an American lead to different approaches to presenting the narrative. Baxter’s place as an outsider leads him to focus his text on the specific details on the bombing itself as he tries to understand how terror affects a group of Israelis. Conversely, as an insider, Modan approaches her texts with a pre-existing awareness of Israeli society and she instead focuses on how Israelis have become habituated to a life under the threat of violence. Considered together, the authors present parallel explorations of how insiders and outsiders can come to understand the myriad ways that terror impacts a society.

KEYWORDS:

• Israel
• Jamilti
• Exit Wounds
• Mike’s Place
• Second Palestinian Intifada

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. While not the focus of this paper, the First Intifada, which took place between 1987–1993, was characterised by far less aggressive violence than the Second Intifada. While still violent, the death totals were significantly fewer than the Second Intifada. Stone throwing and Molotov cocktails were accompanied by civil disobedience by the Palestinian people against the Israeli government. Acts of civil disobedience included a refusal to pay taxes and general strikes. The First Intifada formally ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and United States President Bill Clinton.

2. It is important to acknowledge that both Faudem and illustrator Koren Shadmi are Israeli. Faudem was born in the United States but immigrated to Israel and Shadmi was born and raised in Israel. Despite their identification as Israelis, I maintain that the text is primarily about Baxter’s – a non-Jewish American – encounters with Israeli society since it is Baxter’s story and interviews that frame and guide the text.

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Matt Reingold

Matt Reingold is the co-department head of Jewish History at TanenbaumCHAT, North America’s largest co-educational Jewish secondary school. He received his PhD from York University’s Faculty of Education where he researched integrating the arts in Jewish Education. While studying for his doctorate, he was the recipient of a Wexner Fellowship as a Davidson Scholar. His research about the arts in Jewish education, teaching Israel, and Jewish graphic novels has been published in The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, The Journal of Jewish Education, Religious Education, The Social Studies, Religious Education and The Journal of Holocaust Research. He has papers forthcoming in Monatshefte, Shofar, and ImageText.