Terror-‘East’: identity, regional and international order in Benjamin Netanyahu’s United Nations General Assembly Addresses
(2022) SEPAD Annual Conference — Location: University of Lancaster (15.December.2022)
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- Authors
Dieudonné, Jérémy 
- Abstract
- This work undertakes a thematic analysis of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches at the United Nations General Assembly during his second mandate as Israeli Prime Minister. It demonstrates Iran has taken centerstage instead of the Palestinians. Rather than investigating the reasons for this shift, it aims at delving into its consequences in terms of identities, regional and international order. Building on securitization (Balzacq 2010; 2011; 2016), identification (Brubaker & Cooper 2000; Brubaker 2002) and discourse analysis (Milliken 1999; Epstein 2008; Homolar 2022), this paper suggests that consequences are threefold. First, it silences the Palestinian struggle and distances Israel from criticisms about it. Second, it excludes Iran from both the regional and the international orders and deprives it of potential agency. Third, it anchors Israel as a Western state. These new identification lines and this new order are put in motion through the introduction of Iran and “militant Islam” as “evil” and “terrorists” while Israel is flagged as a country fighting for democracy, human rights and Western values. Accordingly, Iran is denied the possibility to be an integral part of the international system and to be considered as an interlocutor as Iran is contrary to what “we” – Israel – are and strive for. Concomitantly, Israel and the West are introduced as one and the same thing inasmuch as Israel is introduced as championing Western values and their defense. As such, although Israel geographically lies within the Orient, it fundamentally belongs to the West. Finally, Israel is no more the country struggling with the Palestinians, building settlements, and bombing Gaza. Israel disentangles itself from it and rises above the “forces of Evil”. Following these three interrelated moves, Israel is presented not just an ally being attacked by Iran or Palestinians anymore; “we”, the West, are being attacked by the forces of barbarism.
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Citations
Dieudonné, J. (2022). Terror-‘East’: identity, regional and international order in Benjamin Netanyahu’s United Nations General Assembly Addresses. SEPAD Annual Conference, University of Lancaster. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/100639