Right-Wing Shift in Israel: The Influence of the Settlements

• Thesis title in Czech: Posun k pravici v Izraeli: vliv osad
• Thesis title in English: Right-Wing Shift in Israel: The Influence of the Settlements
• Key words: Izraelské osady, Gush Emunim, náboženský sionismus, Likud, krajní pravice
• English key words: Israeli settlements, Gush Emunim, religious Zionism, Likud, far-right
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2023/2024
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Russian and East European Studies (23-KRVS)
• Supervisor: Dr. Irena Kalhousová
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 03.06.2024
• Date of assignment: 03.06.2024
• Date of electronic submission: 26.07.2025
• Opponents: Hana Kubátová, M.A., Ph.D.

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Preliminary scope of work

Tato práce analyzuje roli, kterou náboženský sionismus a osadnické hnutí sehrály při formování pravicového směřování izraelské politiky v průběhu posledních několika desetiletí. Nastiňuje historické a ideologické kořeny náboženského sionismu a připisuje jeho rozvoj počátečním vůdcům, jako byli rabíni Kalischer, Alkalai a Kook, a jeho následnou proměnu v aktivistické skupiny, jako bylo Gush Emunim po Šestidenní válce. S využitím metodologie explanační případové studie a primárních i sekundárních zdrojů tato studie zkoumá, jak byly ideologické zisky přeměněny na účinná politická opatření, konkrétně na rozšiřování osad na Západním břehu Jordánu. Práce tvrdí, že tyto osady, sloužící nábožensko-nacionalistickým účelům, měly pro izraelské pravicové hnutí symbolický i praktický význam, zejména po jomkipurské válce a politických změnách, které následovaly po nástupu Likudu k moci v roce 1977. Naznačuje, že prosazení náboženského sionismu do jazyka národní politiky, spolu s mobilizovanou masovou podporou a úsilím o vytváření koalic, hluboce ovlivnilo izraelskou kulturu, vnímání územních otázek a šířeji také regionální politiku Blízkého východu. Tento výzkum poskytuje pronikavou analýzu toho, jak mezinárodní i vnitrostátní směřování politiky v Izraeli i mimo něj bylo formováno náboženskou ideologií a osadnickou politikou.

Preliminary scope of work in English

This thesis analyses the roles that Religious Zionism and the settlement movement have played in shaping the rightward direction of Israeli politics throughout the past several decades. It outlines the historical and ideological roots of Religious Zionism, crediting its development to initial leaders such as Rabbis Kalisher, Alkalai, and Kook, and its transformation soon thereafter to activist groups like Gush Emunim after the Six-Day War. Using an explanatory case study methodology and both primary and secondary sources, this study examines how gains in ideology were converted to effective policy actions, and specifically to an expansion of settlements throughout the West Bank. The thesis argues that these settlements, for religious-nationalist purposes, served both symbolically and instrumentally for the Israeli right-wing movement, especially following the Yom Kippur War and the political maneuvering that followed the rise of Likud in 1977. It suggests that the infusion of Religious Zionism throughout the language of national politics, together with mobilized mass support and efforts toward coalition formation, deeply shaped Israeli culture, perceptions of territorial concerns, and Middle Eastern regional politics more widely. This research provides an incisive examination of how both international and local policy directions within and outside of Israel have been shaped by religious ideology and settlement policy.