Israel’s Army of Arabists

Abstract

As was demonstrated in the preceding chapter, the 1967 War and especially the 1973 War had decisive impacts on Jewish-Israeli society generally and specifically on the field of Arabic studies. The wars bolstered connections between those in charge of Arabic in Jewish-Israeli schools and the military establishment. Indeed, the IDF — especially in the aftermath of the 1973 War — due to a widespread feeling of panic and a sense of national mission, had more opportunities to increase its influence on Arabic language studies. This influence reached unprecedented levels in subsequent years. In other words, the wars had two related outcomes: first, they highlighted the importance of having sufficient numbers of Arabic-speaking military personnel working for the Israeli security establishment in order to prevent another Yom Kippur War and serve the Israeli security system; and, second, with regards to the anticipated shortage of manpower due to the imminent retirement of Arab-Jewish Israelis, they created a sense of emergency in the field. These trends strengthened the association between Arabic and security while pushing Military Intelligence even deeper into the realm of education. As a result, as this chapter will demonstrate, there was a marked increase in military-educational programmes and involvement in the Jewish-Israeli school system in the 1970s and the 1980s.

First comes the band, then the machine guns From the military headquarters to the municipality hall Let’s wave hello to the parade

Habiluyim¹