Abstract
he 2003 election campaign was highlighted by Prime Minis
ter Ariel Sharon's press conference in response to a leak regard
ing an ongoing police investigation. The live broadcast was cut
off by the chairman of the Central Election Committee, Judge
Mishael Cheshin. The judge's argument was that the speech was
unlawful since it contained political propaganda. This brought to
the fore the symbolic relationships between fathers and their off
spring in politics.
This essay analyzes the political interaction between Ariel
Sharon and his sons since his election as head of Likud in 1999
and through his premiership in 2001 and during the 2003 cam
paign. We offer an interpretive analysis based on the biblical text
and on Shoham's mytho-empirical model of the Akedah?the sac
rifice of the sons. According to this model there is a symbiotic re
lationship between the authoritative father and the metaphysical
source of absolute authority. Paternal victimization of sons leads
to the separation inherent in the integration of the maturing child
into the accepted normative framework of society. In our case,
the issue at stake is the sacrifice of the son's future political ca
reer for that of their father's, or perhaps the father and sons sac
rificing one another.
ter Ariel Sharon's press conference in response to a leak regard
ing an ongoing police investigation. The live broadcast was cut
off by the chairman of the Central Election Committee, Judge
Mishael Cheshin. The judge's argument was that the speech was
unlawful since it contained political propaganda. This brought to
the fore the symbolic relationships between fathers and their off
spring in politics.
This essay analyzes the political interaction between Ariel
Sharon and his sons since his election as head of Likud in 1999
and through his premiership in 2001 and during the 2003 cam
paign. We offer an interpretive analysis based on the biblical text
and on Shoham's mytho-empirical model of the Akedah?the sac
rifice of the sons. According to this model there is a symbiotic re
lationship between the authoritative father and the metaphysical
source of absolute authority. Paternal victimization of sons leads
to the separation inherent in the integration of the maturing child
into the accepted normative framework of society. In our case,
the issue at stake is the sacrifice of the son's future political ca
reer for that of their father's, or perhaps the father and sons sac
rificing one another.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 155-176 |
| Journal | Jewish Political Studies Review |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 1/2 |
| State | Published - 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |