Israeli Militarism Reconsidered: Reframing the Independence Day Parade

This article seeks to challenge conventional arguments about Israel’s ‘cultural militarism’ through a comparative analysis of Independence Day parades of the 1950s. Using media reports, newsreels, and archival documentation, it examines the parades and compares them to other cases from around the wo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Israel studies review 2021-09, Vol.36 (2), p.87-106
Main Author: Sherzer, Adi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Armed Forces
Civil society
Comparative analysis
Crowds
Culture
Hanukkah
Holidays & special occasions
Independence Day
Militarism
Parades
Proximity
Rites, ceremonies and celebrations
Soldiers
Steinman, Eliezer
Zionism
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Description
Summary:This article seeks to challenge conventional arguments about Israel’s ‘cultural militarism’ through a comparative analysis of Independence Day parades of the 1950s. Using media reports, newsreels, and archival documentation, it examines the parades and compares them to other cases from around the world. The discussion focuses on three features of the Israeli parades: the widespread civil criticism of the place of the military in Independence Day celebrations; the role of the crowds and their proximity to the marchers; and the partly militaristic character of the parades themselves. While the article does not deny the obvious militaristic connotations of soldiers marching in the streets, it stresses the unique relationship between the armed forces and society in Israel and argues that militarism alone is not a sufficient analytic framework for analyzing Israeli society.
ISSN:2159-0370
2159-0389
DOI:10.3167/isr.2021.360207