This article highlights the value of meta-reflection in research by applying the Six Thinking Hats method to our study on Virtual Reality for Holocaust Education in Israel. Using this tool, we critically examined our decisions, methods, and challenges throughout the research process. The Six Hats framework encouraged diverse perspectives - emotional, analytical, creative, and judgemental - enhancing ethical awareness and research quality. Our study, comparing VR and traditional film, serves as an example of reflective practice in action. We argue that structured reflection fosters transparency, self-awareness, and more rigorous research outcomes.
This study examines how BDS activists use TikTok's formats, memetic templates and affordances to construct Israel's digital image. Analysing high-engagement videos from 2021-2022, we identify two strategic deployments: consumer-boycott tutorials and audio-based templates. Our analysis reveals how these clips function as 'No-Israel' counter-memes that leverage TikTok's entertainment features to systematically undermine Israel's symbolic value. Drawing on Jacques Ranci & egrave;re's politics of aesthetics and Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection, we conceptualise how these counter-memes constitute an aesthetic regime in which Israel is figured as a contaminating presence around which BDS digital activism is articulated, performed and circulated. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for Palestinian digital activism and the prospects for more dialogic forms of political engagement on TikTok.
Nationalism can significantly affect how military operations are perceived and conducted. Israel faced military risks since its establishment, while Japan has enjoyed peace for 70 years, but recent geopolitical changes have heightened perceptions of military risk. We therefore conducted a survey to examine how Japanese participants evaluate military policies and personal attributes. The results reveal a positive relationship between nationalism and support for both defensive and offensive military policies, while patriotism was less influential. To examine the robustness of our findings, we used data collected after a 2021 military conflict in Israel that showed a similar connection between nationalism and military actions. The findings suggest that nationalism plays an important role in shaping public attitudes towards military operations, even in countries with differing levels of conflict experience.
Although wars remain a common phenomenon in the Middle East, there is limited knowledge about the consequences of war on Israel's tourism industry. Using qualitative methods and elite interviews, this study constructed two categories to analyse the impact of the Gaza war on conflict-zone tourism in Israel from 2023 to 2024. The results show that the Gaza war, as a politically contentious one, played a significant role in reducing tourism to Israel, but there was still a significant flow of volunteering tourists and solidarity visitors. It also shows that domestic tourism remained relatively stable due to several initiatives to encourage tourism.
This study explores how dialogic discourse strengthens cultural identity and belonging among first-year Arab-Bedouin female pre-service teachers. Conducted at a multicultural college in southern Israel during a Bedouin heritage course, the research extends dialogic pedagogy into Indigenous and minority education. It investigates how dialogic interactions-bridging contemporary Western educational theory with Bedouin oral traditions of storytelling and communal meaning-making-contribute to cultural empowerment. Participants included 24 Arab-Bedouin women (aged 19-22). Data were collected through classroom observations, reflective journals, and instructor field notes, focusing on tasks that involved active listening, questioning, and the co-construction of cultural interpretations. Findings reveal that dialogic discourse created a supportive space for critical engagement, fostering renewed pride and a deeper connection to community heritage. However, the process sometimes challenged traditional norms of hierarchy and respect, requiring careful pedagogical navigation. This study contributes to international multicultural scholarship by demonstrating how dialogic pedagogy serves as a culturally responsive tool. It effectively aligns Indigenous oral practices with academic dialogue, supporting the empowerment and professional identity of minority women aspiring to become early childhood educators.
Philanthropic activity has become central within neoliberal welfare states. Philanthropic organisations serving marginalised Jewish communities in Israel are investigated through semi-structured interviews with twenty-three founders and senior leaders from ultra-Orthodox and immigrant communities. Three organisational types are identified: cultural enclave organisations that preserve group distinctiveness while avoiding cooperation with governmental actors; socially incorporating organisations that seek mainstream integration; and hybrid organisations that balance both approaches. These types systematically differ in their motives for establishment, intentions, aims, beneficiaries, community environment, and governmental interface. Beyond classification, the resulting typology suggests that organisational formation reflects an interaction among identity and belonging logics, multidimensional marginality, and institutional opportunity structures that shape state-third-sector engagement under welfare retrenchment. This research offers a meso-level perspective for understanding how marginalised communities institutionalise philanthropy and, in doing so, negotiate their relationship with state institutions.
Utilising Interactional Community Theory and the concepts of social field and community field, the study aimed to explore the experiences of displacement among parents from rural communities in the Israeli Northern periphery, emphasising the significance of the rural community during the displacement crisis. Based on 34 interviews, the thematic analysis revealed shifts in the traditional meanings of community, reflected in mixed feelings of strengthened quasi-familial ties on one hand and weakened connections on the other. Additionally, ideological views and a geographical dispersion were evident in the varying connections to the community, which sometimes remained unstable due to distance.
This study examines an overlooked aspect of legislative behaviour in Israel: the ethical conduct of Knesset members and the parliament's responses to it. Drawing on 224 sanctioning decisions issued by the Ethics Committee between 1984 and 2024, it introduces an initial model distinguishing external factors - critical events, affective polarisation, and populist rhetoric - from internal factors, including outlier legislators, chairperson seniority, gender, and nationality. Findings show that outliers and political crises drive severe sanctions, whereas committees chaired by senior MKs and including women or Arab members impose more moderate measures. The study offers a framework for understanding ethics oversight beyond Israel.
Violence against women, particularly killings committed in the name of so-called 'family honour,' is often analysed within the broader framework of Arab society in Israel, while limited attention has been given to the internal dynamics of specific communities. Druze society, despite its distinctive religious, social, and communal structures, has rarely been examined separately in this context. This study addresses this gap by analysing attitudes toward femicide among Druze individuals aged 70 and above in Israel, a group traditionally regarded as an important source of authority in shaping communal norms and moral discourse. The research employs a mixed-methods design combining a quantitative descriptive survey with a supportive qualitative component. The sample included 102 participants aged 70+, recruited through community networks and snowball sampling. Participants completed a structured questionnaire including closed-ended items and two open-ended questions. Quantitative findings indicate no statistically significant differences in attitudes toward femicide based on gender, level of religiosity, or place of residence. Qualitative responses, however, reveal a strong rejection of femicide, framed as incompatible with Druze communal values. Participants emphasised religious principles, legal norms, and the sanctity of life, while describing traditional responses to social deviation as involving non-violent social sanctions rather than physical violence.
This article examines 'Hostile Humanitarianism': the strategic use of humanitarian and legal discourse within adversarial political campaigns. While related dynamics appear in existing scholarship, this study consolidates them in the maritime domain and situates Maritime Lawfare within broader hybrid legitimacy contestation. Analysing the 2025 Global Sumud and Global Resilience flotillas to Gaza, it shows how humanitarian voyages operated as coordinated transnational campaigns generating legal scrutiny, reputational pressure, and diplomatic costs through sustained moral and legal framing. It identifies three interlocking axes - civil-societal, religious-ideological, and international-diplomatic - and outlines Counter-Lawfare Diplomacy as a strategic response for democratic states.
This study investigates the roles and valuation of teaching advancement units (TAUs) in Israeli academic institutions during the 2023 Israel Hamas war. TAUs, traditionally focused on enhancing teaching quality, adapted to emergency functions such as transitioning to online teaching, creating tailored curricula, and supporting faculty resilience. Using a mixed methods approach, the research surveyed staff members from diverse institutions to assess activities and valuation before and during the war. Findings highlight the utilisation of COVID-19-era resources to address the crisis, revealing disparities in preparedness among institutions. The study underscores the importance of organisational resilience and double-loop learning for effective crisis response.
This article problematises four interlinked concepts: diaspora identity, diaspora mobilisation, the idea of a "homeland", and the role of transformative events. We explore how diasporas identify with and respond to significant events in their homeland, assessing whether specific identities align with particular strategies of mobilisation. The study contributes novel data on two underexplored groups - Swedish Jews and Israelis residing in Sweden - and how each group responded to the judicial reforms and, more forcefully, to Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The study builds on written material (news articles, op-eds) and in-depth interviews with diaspora group members, diplomats, and politicians.
Both Sri Lanka and Israel entered the Westphalian epoch in 1948, but the relationship between the two states remained fragile from the beginning. The father of the nation and the first premier of Ceylon, D. S. Senanayake, was among the first world leaders to recognise the independent State of Israel, but the subsequent political upheavals that took place in Sri Lanka weakened the budding stage of Israeli-Sri Lanka relations. In particular, Sirimavo Bandaranaike's relations with the Arab world and promoting the non-aligned movement deteriorated Israeli-Sri Lankan relations. Anti-colonial and anti-capitalist slogans were gleefully welcomed in the non-aligned platform with a special emphasis on the national liberation movements in which the Palestinian cause was highlighted. This paper examines the many ups and downs that shaped Sri Lanka-Israel relations while assessing how Sri Lanka's internal politics and security dilemmas hampered Israel-Sri Lanka relations. This paper also evaluates the security partnership between the two states.
This longitudinal study examines the attitudes held by third generation Holocaust survivors in Israel towards the Holocaust, focusing on the impact of the Iron Swords war between Israel and Hamas, which began on 7 October 2023. Returning to participants who completed a survey during a period of normalcy in August 2022, we inquired about their connection to the Holocaust and their perspective on the events of October 7. The current questions were also included in the previous study. The 670 participants were categorised into three groups using the Subjective Holocaust Influence Level (SHIL), a subjective measure based on individuals' self perception of the Holocaust's impact on themselves. The data offers an opportunity to assess changes in the transmitted trauma of third generation descendants following a recent traumatic event. Comparing the more recent responses to those from the prewar survey reveals that some participants changed their SHIL, in ways that are related to shifts in their emotions or how they perceive the historical meaning of their lives after the events of October 7. Most participants showed an increased willingness to preserve the memory of the Holocaust following these events. The findings are discussed in light of theoretical frameworks on transgenerational trauma and memory, highlighting their broader sociocultural implications.
This study presents the practical challenges involved in the implementation of personal identification in the IDF: both in the context of the mental injuries that may be inflicted on soldiers who identify and on the members of the military Rabbinate, vis-& agrave;-vis the faster and more accurate alternative of fingerprints, and in the context of the systemic importance of empowering the role and status of the unit rabbi, as a relevant factor in the fighting units of the IDF. These challenges require a case-by-case examination of each identification in the light of the benefits and costs that may accrue from it.
