Bereaved parents in Israel: from silence to a significant participation in the public discourse. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rosenthal, Ruvik
• Is Part Of: Israel affairs. Volume 26:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 80
• Page End: 97
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Bereavement -- parenthood -- Israeli wars -- public sphere -- civil society -- sacrifice -- voice -- silence -- protest; Israel -- History -- 1933- -- Periodicals; 956.94054
• DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2020.1697481
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-7121

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article explores the changing voice of bereaved parents in Israel from 1948 to the present. Until the early 1980s, bereaved parents did not express their grief or protest publicly. Their bereavement was a strictly private matter. In 1982, shortly after the outbreak of the First Lebanon War, their grief and protest burst into the public sphere. From then on, their voice gained momentum and legitimacy and in time directly impacted the political decision-makers. The article defines four phases in the changing content, tone and style of parental bereavement – hidden, political, privatized, and moral – by analyzing and comparing six representative texts.