Zionism, Israel, and the Middle East

This chapter looks at Yonatan Mendel's work Language out of Place: Orientalism, Intelligence and Arabic in Israel, which shows how methods introduced by Hebrew University professors back in the 1920s and 1930s continue to shape the teaching of Arabic in Israeli schools and universities. Mendel exposes and critiques the symbiotic relationship between Arabic studies and the security establishment. It also talks about the opportunity for future service in military intelligence as a prime factor motivating young Israelis to study Arabic. The chapter highlights the the intelligence corps of the Israeli army that has a major role in determining how Arabic is taught and contributes to the militarization of Israeli society and high school students' education. For the vast majority of Israeli Jews, the army-school symbiosis is natural and necessary, considering Israel's conflict with most of its neighboring countries.