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ABSTRACT
Demography has been broadly considered as a key aspect of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. On the Jewish side, State intervention to encourage Jewish immigration and Jewish births is well known. Much less known are the efforts to discourage inter-faith relations. These ‘problematic relationships’ between Arab men and Jewish women from low socio-economic backgrounds have become a high priority item in public discussions over the last decade. In this article I will explore the main discursive practices used in this heated debate by those opposing these relationships. ‘Moral panic’ as a theoretical framework will help me analyse the ways in which Jewish women and Arab men who engage in such relations are presented. As I will show, attempts to criminalize and vilify Arab men meet with strong opposition. Presenting Jewish women as weak and passive victims seems as a more successful strategy, especially when done by professionals from the psych-professions.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments and suggestions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Lehava is an extreme-right Jewish–Israeli NGO dedicated to preventing Jewish assimilation. The organization was severely criticised (but not banned) when the police arrested and convicted three of its affiliates for setting fire to the Jewish–Arab bilingual school in Jerusalem on 29 November 2014. For more see an article in The Times of Israel by Judah Ari Gross from 14 April 2015.
2. Ahmed as a distinctly Arab name, and Sara as a Jewish name.
3. For more please see the article in Walla by Yehoshua Brayner from 1 August 2010 titled ‘a right wing campaign: your grandchild will be called Ahmed Son of Sara’?
4. As an example see pages 32–33 in the protocol of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs held on 28 December 2011.
5. For more see an article in Ha'aretz by Gideon Levi and Alex Libak (4 May 2013) titled ‘Don't Touch our Girls.’
6. For more about the activities of the different religious right wing organizations involved please see Carmi (Citation2014).
7. The Law of Return is part of Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950. It gives Jews the right of return and the right to live in Israel and to gain citizenship. In 1970, the right of entry and settlement was extended to people of Jewish ancestry and their spouses. In this category of ‘being of Jewish Ancestry’ are included, in addition to those born as Jews (having a Jewish mother or maternal grandmother), also those having a Jewish father or grandfather ‘only’, and converts to Judaism.
8. Please see Mai-Ami (Citation2008).
9. Askenazi Jews are Jews of central or Eastern European origin or ancestry.
10. Such as Dana Modan and Kais Nashef or Yael Ronen and Yousef Sweid.
11. For a more detailed review of the studies on inter-faith relations in Israel, please see Hakak (Citation2015).
12. Kedar served for 25 years in IDF Intelligence Corps where he focused on Islamic groups, the political discourse of Arab countries, the Arabic press and mass media, and the Syrian domestic arena.
13. The conference took place on 22 November 2009 and was organised by the Zionist Women's Forum.
14. The lecture can be viewed on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PB2eTNA9-4&list=FL6AWN8o40lRzMjucTi7cXPg.
15. For example, the Egyptian lawyer Nagla El-Imam suggested in an interview broadcast on 31 October 2008 on Al Arabiya TV that Palestinian men should sexually harass Jewish Israeli women as a form of resistance to Israeli occupation, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDqWGtykYNE. For a study about rape in the Israeli army, see Nitzan (Citation2009).
16. Yad L'achim was founded in 1950 by a group of Haredi activists from a variety of subgroups within the Haredi community. It initially focused on integrating immigrants into religious educational and communal frameworks (see http://www.yadlachimusa.org.il/).
17. The Niqab covers the face. It is worn by many Muslim women across Saudi Arabia, the Indian subcontinent as well as by many women in the West.
18. This was a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Immigration, Absorption and Jewish Diaspora
19. From the Victims of Crime Section, the Ministry for Internal Security.
20. In a later TV interview on Channel 10 London et Kirshenbaum, Dannon was armed with police reports about a few such cases.
21. One of them was MK Anastasia Michaeli from Yisrael Beiteinu who said: ‘I'm ashamed that the police can't provide appropriate data.'
22. In Israel, 14 is the age of consent. Sexual relations under this age are forbidden by law.
23. Criminalizing Arabs is a well-documented strategy in Israeli society and is well documented. For more on this please see (Elbaz Citation2013).
24. See as an example his interview at the Channel 10 program London et Kirshenbaum on 29 December 2011: http://lnk.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=855930.
25. The performance was called ‘The Invasion of the Immigrants’ Snatchers’ after the well-known horror film ‘The Invasion of the Body’ Snatchers’.
26. Which could be translated as ‘Frontal Theatre’.
27. A motion for the agenda is a preliminary a debate concerning the inclusion of an issue raised by an MK on the Knesset agenda. A parliamentary question is asked by an MK of a minister on ministry affairs, to draw the attention of the Government and the public to an issue that, in the presenter's opinion, needs corrective action. Parliamentary questions are presented in writing, and the minister must reply in the Knesset plenum within a period of time set by Knesset bylaws.
28. Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews.
29. Michaeli immigrated from Kulashi in the USSR (today Georgia) in 1971 when he was 14. Many of the girls who develop such relationships come from former USSR countries which were under strong Islamic influence.
30. Lehava (meaning flame) in Hebrew is also the acronym for ‘Prevent Intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews and that's the stated and official aim of this organisation.'
31. Date of that meeting?
32. That was held in the Knesset on 8 February 2011
33. For more on these issues please see the news article by Shay Grinberg and Uri Blau in Ha'aretz from 7 May 2011 titled ‘Cahana Lives Comfortably’.