A “Jewish State…to Be Known as the State of Israel”: Notes on Israeli Legal Historiography

Abstract

In 1953 a musical titledThe Adventures of Nasseradinopened in Tel Aviv. One of its tunes, the “Song of Law,” had music and lyrics so appealing that overnight it became the most popular song in Israel. The subject of the lyric was a tyrant, the Emir of the Kingdom of Buchara. Two brothers were arguing over a pot, and the Emir in his capacity as judge, presided over their trial. His decree: plaintiff and defendant should be executed and the pot thrown into the royal treasury.

`The pillar of fire by night, to shew them light': Israeli broadcasting, the Supreme Court and the Zionist narrative

“…It was not until 1962 -14 years after the founding of the state -that the first Mizrahi Supreme Court justice was appointed and a 'Sephardic seat' was set aside on the court. As Lahav (2001) contends, the first two Mizrahi justices left no enduring impression on Israeli jurisprudence and are remembered best for endorsing opinions written by other justices. Mizrahi portrayal in popular culture has suffered no less stigmatization.…”

Divorced from Citizenship: Palestinian-Christian Women between the Church and the Jewish State

“…The sociolegal and political science literatures have criticized this discourse for failing to identify the predicaments of intra-Jewish "Others" that are ascribed secondary civic status in Israel, such as Jewish women's unequal path to republican citizenship through motherhood (Fogiel-Bijaoui 1997;Yuval-Davis 1997;Berkovitch 1999aBerkovitch , 1999bLahav 2001;Stopler 2011). 2 This article seeks to further complicate the analysis of citizenship in the Israeli polity by unearthing the citizenship hierarchies that also exist within Israel's non-Jewish population.…”