Emotions and perceived risks after the 2006 Israel–Lebanon war

Risk, Emotions, Terrorism, Israel,

To deport or to ‘adopt’? The Israeli dilemma in dealing with children of non-Jewish undocumented migrants

This article analyses the unprecedented decision taken by the Israeli state in 2005 to legalize the status of non-Jewish undocumented migrants’ children. In explaining how the plight of culturally assimilated non-Jewish children succeeded in penetrating the hermetic ethno-religious definition of citizenship in Israel, the article focuses on the subtle yet critical influence of kinship on modern state-making and the affective fashioning of national belonging. By insisting on treating culturally assimilated non-Jewish children as Others, Israel increasingly ran the risk of unveiling the feeble construction of the Jewish nation in terms of kinship as ‘one big family’. The Israeli media increasingly began to question the refusal of the state to recognize children who were evidently ‘Israelis in every way’. Such a development, as some Israeli politicians undoubtedly realized, could have potentially been more detrimental to the mythological foundations of the Jewish state than the ‘adoption’ of a few hundred non-Jewish children

The Divan Orchestra: Mutual Middle-range Transformation

An international couple builds bridges between enemies by involving them in a process of pacification and, at a deeper level, reconciliation. Following Norbert Elias's notion of double-bind, the influence of musicians and aesthetics on international conflict transformation is analysed. Namely, Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim embodied a middle-range couple in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (between top leadership focusing on high-level negotiations and grassroots actors such as local leaders and non-governmental organizations), via new symbols of integration such as the West-Eastern Divan Workshop and Orchestra (young musicians from Israel and Arab countries), the Barenboim–Said foundation or a musical centre in Ramallah. As a couple, they developed initiatives to change perceptions of others by improving intercultural relations between Israelis, Arabs, and Palestinians, showing that music can play a significant role in conflict resolution. Still, they encountered inhibiting factors in the process of reconciliation, despite their shared views about linking music and politics