Israel’s Death Hierarchy: Casualty Aversion in a Militarized Democracy

Description

Whose life is worth more? That is the question that states inevitably face during wartime. Which troops are thrown to the first lines of battle and which ones remain relatively intact? How can various categories of civilian populations be protected? And when front and rear are porous, whose life should receive priority, those of soldiers or those of civilians? In Israel’s Death Hierarchy, Yagil Levy uses Israel as a compelling case study to explore the global dynamics and security implications of casualty sensitivity. Israel, Levy argues, originally chose to risk soldiers mobilized from privileged classes, more than civilians and other soldiers. However, with the mounting of casualty sensitivity, the state gradually restructured what Levy calls its “death hierarchy” to favor privileged soldiers over soldiers drawn from lower classes and civilians, and later to place enemy civilians at the bottom of the hierarchy by the use of heavy firepower. The state thus shifted risk from soldiers to civilians. As the Gaza offensive of 2009 demonstrates, this new death hierarchy has opened Israel to global criticism. Yagil Levy is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication at the Open University of Israel. His recent books include Israel's Materialist Militarism, Israel since 1980, and Who Governs the Military? Between Control of the Military and Control of Militarism. The right to protect and the right to protection -- Unbalancing and balancing the rights -- Bereavement-motivated collective actors -- Bereavement-motivated collective actors: a comparison -- The death hierarchy -- Casualty sensitivity breeds high lethality -- Casualty sensitivity and political-military relations