NEJS 160 – Legal Controversies in Israeli History
Spring 2019
Instructor: Alexander Kaye (NEJS)
Course Description
This course will explore key issues in the politics, culture and society of the State of Israel through its central legal debates. In Israel, like in America, law has a controversial role in society. Crucial areas of life, including family life, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the nature and definition of Jewish identity, sexual practices, and the use of the public sphere are debated and decided through law. The role of the courts and the nature of Israel’s constitution are highly contested. This means that focusing on law is a good way to understand Israel. It also means that focusing on Israel is a good way to learn about law. Through this course, students will acquire a deep understanding of the complex society of Israel and will also gain expertise in analyzing and critiquing legal texts and the place of law in modern life.
Course Information:
Learning Goals
This course is intended to fulfill requirements in Oral Communication. In this course, students will:
- Understand the relationship between law, politics and society in Israel;
- Learn to identify and explain the signficance of key moments in Israel’s legal history;
- Develop skills to analyze the role of law in other societies;
- Develop skills to study judicial and legislative material.
Required Texts
All course reading will be provided by the instructor, or may be found online or at the library.
Grading Policy
Course requirements include:
• Attendance, Preparation and Active Participation (20%)
• Reading Responses and Assignments (45%)
• Final (35%)
All readings and assignments must be completed before the session for which they were assigned. A passing grade is required ineach one of the above categories in order to pass the course.
Most assignments during the semester will be in the form of reading responses. (See below for further details.)
Technology policy
Cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices are not permitted in class.
The evidence increasingly suggests that most students produce better work and receive higher grades when taking notes by hand rather than usinga laptop, and that sitting near students using laptops and other electronic devices has a negative effect on your grades even if you are not usingsuch devices yourself. For these reasons, I strongly encourage everyone to leave laptops packed away and to take notes by hand. If youfeel you absolutely need to use your laptop in class, please see the instructor. Obviously, the exception to this will be if the instructor explicitly asks you to use your computers for research in the classroom.
Email is the best way that I have to communicate with you outside of class. Even if email is not your usual mode of communication, pleasemake sure that you check it every day in case the instructor needs to get in touch with you. Similarly, please make check Latte frequently sothat you are aware of announcements about the course.
“Quotation, Thought, Question” Reading Responses (“QTQ”
To encourage your preparation and participation, you are required to submit written reading responses several times during the semester. Theyshould aim to focus your thinking and to help set the agenda for our classroom discussions.
With that in mind, your reading responses should take the format of a “quotation, reflection, and question.” In other words, your responses shouldinclude the following elements:
1. A quotation of no more than a few sentences, taken from one of our assigned readings, which you found to be of particularsignificance or interest. Be sure to cite the quotation properly, including the name of the source from which it was taken and the pagenumber.
2. A personal reflection on the reading. This should typically be about 100 words in length. There is no maximum length. You might reflect onsomething you found surprising, shocking, enriching, elightening, or anything else in the reading. You might also reflect on how the reading connects with the rest of the course, something in your personal experience, or any other kind of connection. But whatever you write, it mustengage directly and specifically with one or more aspects of the reading. General musings without a strong connection with the reading will not be satisfactory.
3. A question that you have about this week’s readings. Your question may address the quotation you selected or the substance of your personal reflection, but it does not have to do so.
The due date for each QTQ will be indicated on the course website so you should check there frequently. Late responses will not be accepted without proper documentation. Responses will be graded on a simple pass/fail basis. The instructor will not generally return comments on QTQs but doing this exercise diligently will have enormous benefits for you in terms of what you learn in this course and how you engage with itsmaterial.
Credit Hours
Success in this 4 credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week inpreparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for , etc.)
Disabilities
Brandeis seeks to welcome and include all students. If you are a student who needs accommodations as outlined in an accommodations letter,please talk with me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as you can. I want to support you.
In order to provide test accommodations, I need the letter more than 48 hours in advance. I want to provide your accommodations, but cannot do so retroactively. If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting accommodations, please contact Student AccessibilitySupport (SAS) at 781.736.3470 or access@brandeis.edu.
Academic Integrity
You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policiesand procedures related to academic integrity. Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failinggrades and/or suspension from the university. Citation and research assistance can be found at LTS – Library guides.
Class Conduct
Study in the humanities entails grappling with big ideas about human thought, belief, behavior, and practice. Therefore, any course in history is bound to be the site of different opinions. Collegial debate is welcome, but aggressive behavior has no place in our classroom. Please exercise respect for your colleagues.
Lectures and Readings
In addition to the assigned readings, the following resources might be useful:
Alexander Kaye “An Introduction to English-Language Literature on Israeli Legal History,” Versa Blog: Opinions of the Supreme Court ofIsrael, September 2015.
Alexander Kaye “An Introduction to English-Language Literature on Israeli Legal History, Part 2: Jewish Law in Israel,” Versa Blog: Opinionsof the Supreme Court of Israel, October 2015.
The Israeli Judicial Authority (includes English translations of Israeli opinions) Versa – Translated opinions andcommentary of Israeli Supreme Court cases The official website of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament)
English translations of the Basic Laws of Israel
Israel Democracy Institute (Includes position papers and translated primary documents)
Suzi Navot Constitutional Law of Israel (Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands : Frederick, MD: Kluwer Law International ; Sold and distributedin North, Central, and South America by Aspen Publishers, 2007).
Unit 1. Introduction to Israeli Law
1. Mon 13 Jan. Introduction and Overview of the Course
2. Wed 15 Jan. What is law?
Riaz Tejani, “Chapter 2. Where Law Meets Society,” in Law and Society Today (Univ of California Press, 2019), 17–35.
3. Wed 22 Jan. A Brief History of Israel
David Engel Zionism (Routledge, 2013). selections.
4. Mon 27 Jan. Israeli Law: Historical Legacies
Assaf Likhovski, “Between Mandate and State: On the Periodization of Israeli Legal History,” Journal of Israeli History 19, no. 2 (1998): 39–68.
5. Wed 29 Jan. Judaism, Halakhah and Israeli Law
Assaf Likhovski, “The Invention of ’Hebrew Law’ in Mandatory Palestine,” The American Journal of Comparative Law 46, no. 2 (1998): 339–73.
Daniel Sinclair, “Jewish Law in the State of Israel,” in An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law, ed. Piattelli Hecht Passamaneck (Oxford, 1996).
6. Mon 03 Feb. Jewish Law in Israel contd.
Daphne Barak-Erez, “Law and Religion under the Status Quo Model: Between Past Compromises and Constant Change,” Cardozo L. Rev. 30 (2008): 2495.
Unit 2. Legal activism and the Rule of Law
7. Wed 05 Feb. Formalism and Values in Israeli Law
Menachem Mautner, “Law and Culture in Israel: The 1950s and the 1980s,” in The History of Law in a Multi-Cultural Society: Israel 1917-1967, ed. Ron Harris et al. (Ashgate, 2002), 175–216.
8. Mon 10 Feb Does Israel have a Constitution?
Kedar, Nir. “5. A Hebrew Constitution for the Jewish State: How the Cultural Dispute Prevented the Promulgation of a Written Constitution.” In Law and Identity in Israel: A Century of Debate, translated by Haim Watzman, 74–82. Cambridge Studies in Law and Judaism. Cambridge: University Press, 2019. [Link to ebook]
9. Wed 12 Feb Aharon Barak’s “Judicial Revolution”
Barak, Aharon. “A Judge on Judging: The Role of a Supreme Court in a Democracy.” Harvard Law Review
116, no. 1 (2003 2002): 16–162. Read Section I and Section (pp.19-25) II.B. (pp. 36-46). [Link]
Case: “United Mizrahi Bank v. Migdal Cooperative Village (1995)” [Link] (No need to read this case at home. We will refer to it in class.)
Unit 3. The Holocaust in Israeli Law and Society
10. Mon 24 Feb. The Holocaust in Israeli Culture
Roni Stauber, The Holocaust in Israeli Public Debate in the 1950s: Ideology and Memory (London ; Portland, Or: Vallentine Mitchell, 2007), 1–16 and 97-118.
11. Wed 26 Feb. Special Class: Book Event for The Invention of Jewish Theocracy at 5.30pm in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall
Details to follow
12. Mon 02 Mar. The Holocaust in Israeli Courts
Hanna Yablonka and Moshe Tlamim, “The Development of Holocaust Consciousness in Israel: The Nuremberg, Kapos, Kastner, andEichmann Trials,” Israel Studies 8, no. 3 (2003): 1–24.
Pnina Lahav, Judgement in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 121–64.
13. Wed 04 Mar. 14. Mon 09 Mar. The Eichmann Trial
Case: Attorney General vs Adolf Eichmann (1961) [Link]
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin, 1994).
Unit 4. Gender
15. Wed 11 Mar. Film: Mekudeshet (2004)
16. Mon 16 Mar. Equality and Discrimination
Eva Etzioni-Halevi and Ann Illy, “Women in Legislatures: Israel in a Comparative Perspective,” in Women in Israel, ed. Yael Atzmon and Dafna N. Izraeli, Studies of Israeli Society 6 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993), 237–52.
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Women in Israel: A State of Their Own (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 24–42.
17. Wed 18 Mar. Sexuality and Marriage
Aeyal Gross “Challenges to Compulsory Heterosexuality: Recognition and Non-Recognition of Same Sex Couples in Israeli Law,” in Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, European and International Law, ed. Robert Wintemute and Mads Andenas(Rochester, NY: Hart Publishing, 2001), 391–414.
18. Mon 23 Mar. Women and Fertility
Nitza Berkowitz, “Motherhood as a National Mission: The Construction of Womenhood in the Legal Discourse in Israel,” Women’s Studies International Forum 20 (1997): 605-619.
Unit 5. Palestinians, Citizenship and Occupation
19. Wed 25 Mar. Film: The Law in These Parts (2013)
20. Mon 30 Mar. Law and Israeli Arabs from 1948
Geremy Forman and Alexandre (Sandy) Kedar, “From Arab Land to ’Israel Lands’: The Legal Dispossession of the Palestinians Displacedby Israel in the Wake of 1948,” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 22, no. 6 (2004): 809–30.
Ilan Peleg and Dov Waxman, Israel’s Palestinians: The Conflict Within (Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011) Selections.
21. Wed 01 Apr. Law in the Occupied Territories
David Kretzmer, The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories
(SUNY Press, 2002) Selections.
Alan Baker, “Israel’s Rights in the West Bank Under International Law,” Tablet Magazine, November 18, 2019.
Unit 6. National Identity, Judaism and Democracy
22. Mon 06 Apr. The Law of Return and “Who is a Jew?”
Orit Rozin, A Home for All Jews: Citizenship, Rights, and National Identity in the New Israeli State
(Brandeis University Press, 2016).
Michael Stanislawski, “A Jewish Monk? A Legal and Ideological Analysis of the Origins of the ‘Who Is a Jew’ Controversy,” in Textand Context: Essays in Modern Jewish History and Historiography in Honor of Ismar Schorsch, ed. Eli Lederhendler and Jack Wertheimer (New York: JTS, 2005) .
Baruch Litvin, Sidney Benjamin Hoenig, and Jeanne Litvin, Jewish Identity: Who Is a Jew? : Modern Responses and Opinions on the Registration of Children of Mixed Marriages : David Ben-Gurion’s Query to Leaders of World Jewry and Their Responses (KTAV Publishing House, Incorporated, 2013) selections.
23. Mon 20 Apr. The Nation State Law
Simon Rabinovitch, ed., Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2018)selections.
“The Future Vision of Palesitinan Arabs in Israel,” 2006.
Gavison Ruth, (2003) “Democracy and Judaism – Between Conceptual Analysis and Public Discourse” in David, Joseph E. (ed.) The State of Israel: Between Judaism and Democracy, The Israel Democracy Institute. Pp. 360-370.
Unit 7. Legislating Religion
24. Wed 22 Apr. Law and Religion in Israel
Daphne Barak-Erez, Outlawed Pigs: Law, Religion, and Culture in Israel (Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007) selections.
Anat Scolnicov, “Religious Law, Religious Courts and Human Rights Within Israeli Constitutional Structure Constitutional Developments,” International Journal of Constitutional Law 4, no. 4 (2006): 732–40.
Unit 8. Concluding Conversations
25. Mon 27 Apr In Motion Conference on Israeli and Palestinian Art
Attendance will be expected at one session at least, between Sunday evening and Monday. Details to follow. https://www.brandeis.edu/israel-center/in-motion-conference/index.html
26. Wed 29 Apr and 27.