Keywords
Israel
mnemonic policy
memory laws
mnemonic constitutionalism
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Abstract
The governance over collective memory and narratives about the past is an element of the memory policy of the majority of states in the world. This policy is carried out by means of various instruments, including those belonging to the catalogue of legal measures and often manifesting themselves in the form of mnemonic constitutionalism. In the case of Israel, the memory policy has a special character, however. It is focused on the crime of the Holocaust, established not only as a universal symbol of ultimate evil and genocide, but also as a cornerstone of the emergence of the Israeli statehood. The reference to the Holocaust in Israel is also a determinant of the attitude of the state – and the law – to Palestinian collective historical memory and attempts to regulate it. In the view of the lasting conflict, it also seems necessary to consider this aspect of mnemonic policy. The aim of the scholarly reflection in the present article is to analyse the measures, and in particular the legal measures, by which Israel has built and continues to shape its identity, as well as the most controversial methods of creating this identity, including legal ones. This article attempts to present the role of the Holocaust in the Israeli mnemonic policy and constitutionalism, with particular focus placed on the context of the permanent crisis in the Palestinian-Israeli relations, or more broadly, Arab-Israeli relations. The analysis carried out leads to the conclusion that, although Israel’s motives in pursuing a particular policy of remembrance remain largely understandable and legitimate, their implementation sometimes causes not only violations of certain standards of human rights protection, but are also used to the detriment of an already fragile, if not currently broken, peace process.
Funding
Tekst powstał w ramach międzynarodowego projektu grantowego „The Challenge of Populist Memory Politics for Europe: Towards Effective Responses to Militant Legislation on the Past”, finansowanego przez Volkswagen Stiftung.
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