Disability in the Mirror of Zionist Ideology: A Comparative Perspective on the Israeli Disability Books

Abstract

The interrelationship between the disability category, military service, Zionism, and political thought in the State of Israel has rarely been studied. This Article offers, for the first time, a comparative perspective on three Israeli disability books and an inquiry into the hierarchy between them in the context of Zionist ideology. The first book is the military profiles book, which examines the medical fitness of candidates for military service and, consequently, affects the roles selected for them. The second is the Ministry of Defense’s disability book that estimates disability because of and/or during military service. The third is the civil disability book, which estimates the disability of work or disabled people in general. Based on the theoretical intersection of critical disability studies, critical military studies, and science and technology studies, the article examines the mutual relations between political thought, social concepts, and the disability category. On the one hand, the article explores the effects of political thought and social concepts on the construction of the disability category. On the other hand, it inquires into the influence of the construction of the disability category on political thought and society. The potential and dangers of these mutual relations are appraised.