Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Anomaly of Galei Tzahal: Israel's Army Radio as a Cultural Vanguard and Force for Pluralism

2012; Routledge; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439685.2012.669886

1465-3451

Oren Soffer,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Abstract Israel’s Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) has been broadcasting for sixty years. Unlike military stations around the world, Galei Tzahal has always transmitted from the centre of the country, with programming aimed at the civilian population. This article examines how Galei Tzahal became a leading force in Israeli broadcasting and news coverage. Among other points, the article explores how military broadcasts, which are ostensibly foreign to the democratic experience, have become a symbol of pluralism, journalistic freedom, and the social and cultural avant-garde in Israel. Acknowledgements This research was supported by The Open University of Israel's Research Fund (grant no. 46119). The author would like to thank Sivan Degani, Karen Gold and Dr Colette Stoeber for all their help and comments. Notes 1. Derek J. Penslar, Transmitting Jewish culture: radio in Israel, Jewish Social Studies, 10(1) (2003). 2. Tamar Liebes and Zohar Kampf, ‘Hello! this is Jerusalem calling’: the revival of spoken Hebrew on mandatory radio, The Journal of Israeli History, 29(2) (2010), 137–158. 3. David Culbert, Eric Barnouw's war: an interview concerning the armed forces radio services’ education unit, 1944–1945, Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television, 22(4) (2002), 475–490. 4. Jeff A. Webb, VOUS—voice of the United States: the armed forces radio service in Newfoundland, Journal of Radio Studies, 11(1) (2004), 87–99. 5. Culbert, 484–485. 6. Patrick Morley, ‘This is the American Forces Network’: the anglo-American battle of the air waves in World War II (New York, Praeger, 2001), 132. 7. Richard Rudin, British Forces Broadcasting Service, in Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio, vol. 1 (2004); Morley. 8. Rudin, 236. 9. Interview with Avi Benayahu, 31 August 2010. 10. Menahem Mautner, Galei Tzahal (IDF's broadcasting station) or the unification of rock and death, Plilim, 9 (2000), 11–51 (Hebrew). 11. Oz Almog, Sub-Culture of the IDF Radio Station (Yad Tabenkin, Ramat Efal, 1993) (Hebrew). 12. Oz Almog, Farwell to ‘Srulik’: changing values among the Israeli elite (Haifa University Press, Haifa, 2004) (Hebrew), 175–189. 13. See for example: Aliza Lavi, Radio and gender in Israel: women and men in daily news broadcasts and in actual current affairs programmes in ‘Kol Israel’ and the IDF station (PhD Dissertation, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, 2001) (Hebrew). 14. Rafi Mann and Zipi Gon-Gross, Galey-Zahal on the Scene (Minister of Defense Press, 1991) (Hebrew). 15. D. Ben-Gurion, Letter to Gershon Agron et al., 1950, Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archives (hereafter: IDFA), file 230/72-2185 (Hebrew). 16. Yoram Peri, Relations between Israeli society and army in a state of crisis, Megamot, 39(4) (1999), 375–399 (Hebrew); see also IDFA, file 230/72-2185. 17. Captain Z. Boroschek, Activity report, 1–30 September 1951 [communiqué to the culture base commander], IDFA, file 553/54-149 (Hebrew). 18. D. Ben-Gurion, Thirty years of non-stop listening: the founding generation, IDF broadcast: 1950. IDF Station auto-digital archives (Hebrew). 19. Uri Ben-Eliezer, Civil society and military society in Israel: neo-militarism and anti-militarism in the post-hegemonic era, in: M. Al-Haj and U. Ben-Eliezer (eds), In the Name of Security (Haifa, Haifa University Press, 2003) (Hebrew). 20. Chief Education Officer, Gali Tzahal: the Israeli army broadcasts, 15 February 1956, IDFA, file 776/1958-60 (Hebrew). 21. Y. Samuel, Gali Tzhak: Survey, 29 April 1961, IDFA, file 223/67-27 (Hebrew). 22. Zeev Drory, The role of the IDF in establishing Israeli society in settlement, immigrant absorption, and education in 1948–1953 (PhD dissertation, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 1996) (Hebrew). 23. IDF Information and Education Branch, [Communiqué to the head of the manpower division], 16 May 1950, IDFA, file 87/54-768 (Hebrew). 24. Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society (New York, Glencoe, 1958); Wilbur Schramm and Daniel Lerner, Communication and Change in Developing Countries (Honolulu, East-West Communication Institute, 1967). 25. Samuel. 26. B. Frankel, Payment of performance royalties [communiqué from the Prime Minister's Office to the director of broadcasting at Galei Tzahal], 14 December 1951, IDFA, file 87/54-821 (Hebrew). 27. These figures should be taken solely as an indication of Army Radio's broadcasting trends. Some of the programs are difficult to categorize, since reliable data on their content is unavailable. Certain programs can also be catalogued under different categories. 28. Captain Z. Boroschek, Report on circulation of records, 4 September 1951, IDFA, file 553/54-149 (Hebrew). It is interesting to note that the station's ethos, as reflected in shows recapping its first 30 years, placed the emphasis on its popular music, with classical music described as being broadcast only ‘a few hours’. 29. Captain Z. Boroschek, Army radio orchestra [communiqué to the board of of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra], 12 October 1951, IDFA, file 552/54-159 (Hebrew). 30. Z. Zinder, [Communiqué to the head of the IDF Operations Branch], 16 January 1956, IDFA, file 347/61-2676 (Hebrew). 31. Major Ahuvia Malchin, [Communiqué to the director of broadcasting], 15 September 1950, IDFA, file 87/54-767 (Hebrew). 32. First Lieutenant A. Elon, Broadcast schedule [communiqué to Major Ahuvia Malchin], 4 July 1950, IDFA, file 87/54-768 (Hebrew). 33. Captain Z. Boroschek, Activity report—October 1951 [communiqué to the culture base commander], 1 November 1951, IDFA, file 553/54-149 (Hebrew). 34. Lieutenant Colonel A. Bar-On, Assessing the effectiveness of Galei Tzahal [communiqué to the chief of general staff], 31 December 1950, IDFA, file 702/60-149 (Hebrew). 35. Peri, 391. 36. Samuel. 37. Penslar. 38. Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak, Trouble in Utopia: the overburdened polity of Israel (Albany, State University of New York Press, 1989). 39. Drory. 40. Motti Regev and Edwin Seroussi, Popular Music and National Culture in Israel (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 2004), 91–95. 41. Lieutenant Colonel A. Ze’ev, Galei Tzahal: figures regarding the station [communiqué to the head of the manpower division], 29 May 1951, IDFA, file 87/54-819 (Hebrew). 42. Natan Cohen, Influence of the British broadcasting model on the emergence and institutionalization of broadcasting in Israel (Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2003) (Hebrew); Dan Caspi, Due to Technical Difficulties: the fall of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (Mevaseret Zion, Tzivonim, 2005) (Hebrew). 43. Lieutenant Colonel M. Bar-On, The Broadcasting Authority [communiqué to the head of the manpower division], 31 January 1963, IDFA, file 223/67-27 (Hebrew). 44. Ben-Eliezer. 45. Lieutenant Colonel M. Bar-On, Galei Tzahal and the Broadcasting Authority [communiqué to the head of the manpower division], September 1963, IDFA, file 223/67-27 (Hebrew). 46. Z. Rav-Nof, ‘Na’avah Babayit’ as a movie, Davar, 3 December 1963 (Hebrew). 47. Interview with Yitzhak Livni, 7 March 2010. 48. P. Shoemaker and S. Reese Mediating the Message (New York. Longman, 1996). 49. Livni interview. 50. Yagil Levy, The Other Army of Israel (Tel Aviv, Yedioth Ahronoth, 2003) (Hebrew). 51. Motti Regev, Organizational fluency, organizational blocks, cultural relevance: the case of the music industry in Israel, Te’oria ve-Bikoret, 10 (1997), 115–132 (Hebrew), 16. 52. Mautner. 53. Interview with Mordechai Naor, 18 April 2010. 54. Livni interview. 55. Interview with Zvi Shapira, 10 February 2010. 56. Shapira interview. 57. Bar-On, 1963; Rafi Mann and Zipi Gon-Gross, Galey-Zahal on the Scene (Minister of Defense Press, 1991) (Hebrew), 6. 58. Uri Ram, The Globalization of Israel: McWorld in Tel Aviv, Jihad in Jerusalem (Tel Aviv, Resling, 2005) (Hebrew), 29. 59. Yoav Peled and Gershon Shafir, Being An Israeli: the dynamics of multiple citizenship (Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv University Press, 2005) (Hebrew), 272. 60. Emma Murphy. ‘Structural Inhibitions to Economic Liberalization in Israel’, The Middle East Journal 48(1) (1994), 65–88, 68. 61. Myron J. Aronoff, Radical changes in Israel: a review essay, Political Science Quarterly 116(3) (2001), 447–453, 447. 62. Tamar Liebes, American Dreams Hebrew Subtitles (Cresskill, Hampton Press, 2003), 18–19. 63. Naor interview. 64. Gershon Shaked, Shall we find sufficient strength? On behalf of Israeli secularism, in: Dan Urian and Efraim Karsh (eds), In Search of Identity (London, Frank Cass, 1999), 72–85, 76. 65. Motti Regev, 146. 66. See: Dan Caspi and Yehiel Limor, The Mediators: the mass media in Israel 1948–1990 (Tel Aviv, Am Oved, 1992) (Hebrew). 67. Ben-Eliezer, 2003. 68. Shapira interview. 69. HCJ 676/82, Histadrut General Federation of Labor in Israel et al. vs. Chief of General Staff Rafael Eitan et al., PD 37(4) 105. 70. 71st session of the 11th Knesset, 18 March 1985. 71. Interview with Ron Ben-Yisha, 5 July 2010. 72. Colonel R. Ben-Yishai, News and current affairs briefing, February 1984, IDFA, file 1711/1989-70 (Hebrew). 73. IDFA, file 1711/1989-9. 74. Nachman Shai, Opinions of soldiers in the regular army toward Galei Tzahal: report of the behavioral science department [communiqué from Nachman Shai to the chief of the general staff], 18 May 1988, IDFA, file 1864/1990-28 (Hebrew). 75. Compromise proposals, n.d., IDFA, file 1711/1989-70. 76. Yagil Levy, The Other Army of Israel (Tel Aviv, Yedioth Ahronoth, 2003) (Hebrew). 77. Interview with Ephraim Lapid, 29 April 2010. 78. D. Sadeh, Only outside financing will prevent the closure of Galei Tzahal, Yedioth Ahronoth, 9 May 1991 (Hebrew). 79. Ben-Eliezer; Stuart Cohen, The changing relationships between society and the military in Israel: the operational implications, in: M. Al-Haj and U. Ben-Eliezer (eds), In the Name of Security (Haifa, Haifa University Press, 2003) (Hebrew). 80. Z. Lavi, Knesset sub-committee decides: Galei Tzahal to stay in the IDF, Maariv 25 July 1991 (Hebrew). 81. Session 331 of the 12th Knesset, 14 October 1991. 82. Yediot Ahronoth, 7 June 1991. 83. Liebes, 18. 84. Interview with Nachman Shai, 6 July 2010. 85. Interview with Moshe Shlonski, May 26, 2010. 86. Galei Tzahal Law: IDF Radio Broadcasts (Sponsor Messages and Public Service Announcements) (Temporary Order), 2005. 87. Nachman Shai, Galei Tzahal: listener survey [communiqué to the IDF chief education officer], 5 March 1989, IDFA, file 1864/1990-16 (Hebrew). 88. Yagil Levy, From ‘People's Army’ to ‘Army of the Peripheries’ (Jerusalem, Carmel Publications, 2007) (Hebrew). 89. Hillel Nossek and Yehiel Limor, The military and media in the 21st century: towards a new model of relations, in Udi Lebel (ed.), Security and Communication (Beersheva, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, 2005) (Hebrew). 90. Lapid interview. 91. Benayahu interview.