Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca L. Stein, Digital Militarism: Israel’s Occupation in the Social Media Age

[Jefferson23]

Full title: New Texts Out Now: Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca L. Stein, Digital Militarism: Israel’s Occupation in the Social Media Age

April 29, 2015

Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca L. Stein, Digital Militarism: Israel’s Occupation in the Social Media Age. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2015.

Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book?

Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca L. Stein (AK & RLS): Our research began in the aftermath of 2008-2009 Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, a bloody military campaign that marked the Israeli military’s first efforts to employ social media as PR tools. As Jadaliyya readers may recall, the military began experimenting with YouTube during this time, chiefly videos of their aerial bombardment of Gaza shot from the vantage of the weapon, employed to justify and sanitize the ongoing assault. The military deemed this a substantial media success, lauding these efforts as some of the first official military engagements with social media in any geopolitical context, while social media pundits mocked the military’s ineptitude on popular networking platforms. This was a foundational moment in what we would henceforth call “digital militarism,” the beginnings of Israeli military experimentation with social media as a PR tool. These efforts would expand and develop considerably during subsequent years; soon, social media would occupy the center of the military’s PR and self-branding projects.

Our book was still in its initial stages during the Arab revolts of 2011. Like other observers at the time, we were dissatisfied with “Facebook Revolution” as an explanatory narrative for these popular uprisings. Our project was enlivened by this moment; we realized that the Israeli case could be employed to counter this anemic narrative by illustrating the myriad ways that social media could function as everyday tools of militarism and authoritarian rule, a phenomenon we were watching unfold and expand in the context of Israel’s occupation.

J: What particular topics, issues, and literatures does the book address?

AK & RLS: We focus on a concept we term “digital militarism.” The phrase refers to the ways that social media tools, technologies, and practices can be employed in the service of militant projects—both by state and everyday civilian users. Digital militarism is a broad and flexible concept, with wide global applicability, but we consider the ways it has unfolded in the context of Israel’s occupation. We are particularly interested in the ordinary forms of digital militarism that we see unfolding in the hands of everyday Israeli users, the ways that militant nationalism takes shape through conventional modes of social media engagement. For example, our concluding chapter focuses on a phenomenon that we term “selfie militarism.” Here, we look at the ways that routine selfie conventions were used by Jewish Israelis to mount calls for bloody revenge against Palestinians in the lead-up to the 2014 Gaza incursion. At work is the interplay between two seemingly incongruous forms: the selfie and violent calls for retaliation. This interplay is increasingly common in Israel today. This is the subject of our book.

in full: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21510/new-texts-out-now_adi-kuntsman-and-rebecca-l.-stei

[bemildred]

1. +1.

Interesting subject. I find their jargon annoying though.

[Jefferson23]

2. You mean the digital militarism language?

I though it was a thoughtful look at how they arm themselves every way they can think of.

[Mosby]

3. I thought this was interesting

[12] This book does not address the use of digital media by Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Israel, or the Palestinian Diaspora, although our work is informed by scholarship on these matters.

Uh huh.

[Jefferson23]

5. Are they obligated to? No, they're not. If you believe the Palestinians have utilized the same

I imagine you can find work that does not establish Israel's role on the subject and is exclusive
to Palestinian media...I know I can.

[oberliner]

4. They being Jewish Israelis?

Is that who the "they" is in your sentence (as referenced in the OP)?

[bemildred]

7. "They" is the authors in the OP. nt

[bemildred]

6. Among other things.

I think they are blurring language in order to make rhetorical points, a pet peeve of mine when the government does it, or other posters too numerous to mention here and elsewhere. I became sensitized to the issue when I worked in defense, where it is habitual.

Nevertheless the subject is an interesting one and it does deserve attention, and I give them some credit for making an effort.

[Jefferson23]

8. ah..ok, fair enough. n/t