Sovereign Power and Repudiated Violence - The Case of Israel

Studies of violence and the public sphere have focused on debates around wars, terrorist attacks and routine policing. However, no attention has been given to acts of repudiated violence: acts that the state condemns and disowns although they were committed by its own agents on duty. Acts of repudiated violence reverse the perceived roles of victim and perpetrator. In these cases, the death of the “Other” can no longer be explained as an indispensable security necessity, and the public is forced to recognize the existence of unnecessary victims on the enemy’s side. Hence, analysis of the public sphere from the hitherto unexplored perspective of repudiated violence can more profoundly crystalize and expose the limits of dominant social values. A comparative analysis of four historical and contemporary cases of repudiated violence in Israel will track the transformation of the public sphere from prioritizing democratic values to embracing authoritarian ones. Rejecting the dogmas of grand narratives and embracing instead a plurality of marginalized perspectives, this research asks: How do acts of repudiated violence reshape the public sphere? How do moments perceived as exceptional violence reconfigure the relations between the public sphere and the sovereign power?