The Construction of an Unlikely Enemy: The Netanyahu Government against Transnational Civil Society
(2012) “Les figures de l’ennemi”,colloque organisé par le REPI, ULB — Location: Bruxelles (8.June.2012)
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- Abstract
- Since its inception, Israel has framed itself as an isolated state surrounded by hostile Arab countries and therefore exposed to a permanent existential threat. Though the context is now arguably very different, Israel still frames itself as fighting an existential threat posed by both old enemies and new ones. The latest and perhaps most unlikely new enemy is the “transnational civil society” that is increasingly mobilizing in favor of a rights-based settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This has put TCS on a colliding course with the successive Israeli governments because the latter have constantly placed Israel’s security – as they understand it – above any other consideration, including international norms and laws. The involvement of the civil society in the Arab-Israeli conflict can be traced back to the 1970s but it has gained great momentum after the Second intifada. Israeli authorities have met this new challenge by constructing this activism as a security threat and the civil society as an enemy of some sort, and by launching a multifaceted war against it. One of the most visible episodes is the storming by Israeli commandos of the famous aid Flotilla bound to Gaza in May 2010 and that ended with the death of nine civilian activists. The presentation focuses on this construction of “pro-peace” transnational civil society as an enemy posing a threat to the security of both the country and its identity as a democratic and Jewish state, focusing on the Netanyahu government policies.
- Affiliations
ULB REPI
Citations
Aoun, E. (2012). The Construction of an Unlikely Enemy: The Netanyahu Government against Transnational Civil Society. “Les figures de l’ennemi”,colloque organisé par le REPI, ULB, Bruxelles. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/190406