"The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back": The 1996 Blood Affair and the Navon Commission

IF 0.7 Q2 AREA STUDIES

Israel Studies Pub Date : 2023-09-01 DOI:10.2979/is.2023.a903075

Idan Chazan

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Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article analyzes the role and functions of Israeli commissions of inquiry (COI) and specifically, the Navon Commission of 1996 which investigated a newly revealed Israeli policy calling for all Ethiopian-Israeli blood donations to be surreptitiously thrown out for fear of contamination from AIDS. The revelation of the affair led to a 10,000-person protest convened by the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) and an official commission was formed to investigate the scandal (known as the "Blood Affair"), headed by former president of Israel Yitzhak Navon. Engaging with historical and theoretical literature that presents disparate "typologies" of Israeli commissions of inquiry and discusses their functions and socio-political significance, this article probes the reasons both the Ethiopian-Israelis and the state favored the formation of a commission of inquiry to investigate the Blood Affair. The study then asks how and why the Blood Affair narrative in the final report of the Navon Commission differed from the various narratives advanced by Beta Israel. The article contends that the Navon Commission and Beta Israel viewed the Blood Affair from different angles, the former as a public commission and the latter through the experience of Ethiopian-Israelis as immigrants and their process of integration.

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“压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草”:1996年的血腥事件和纳文委员会

摘要:本文分析了以色列调查委员会(COI)的作用和职能，特别是1996年的纳冯委员会(Navon Commission)，该委员会调查了以色列新近公布的一项政策，该政策要求所有埃塞俄比亚-以色列人捐献的血液都要被秘密扔掉，因为担心艾滋病污染。这一事件的曝光引发了由贝塔以色列人(埃塞俄比亚犹太人)召集的一万人的抗议，并成立了一个官方委员会来调查这一丑闻(被称为“血腥事件”)，该委员会由以色列前总统伊扎克·纳文领导。本文结合历史和理论文献，展示了以色列调查委员会的不同“类型学”，并讨论了它们的功能和社会政治意义，探讨了埃塞俄比亚-以色列人和国家支持成立调查委员会来调查血腥事件的原因。然后，该研究询问了纳冯委员会最终报告中关于血腥事件的叙述与贝塔以色列提出的各种叙述是如何以及为什么不同的。文章认为，纳文委员会和贝塔以色列从不同角度看待血腥事件，前者是公共委员会，后者是埃塞俄比亚以色列移民的经历及其融合过程。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Israel Studies AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

0.60

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0.00%

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期刊介绍： Israel Studies presents multidisciplinary scholarship on Israeli history, politics, society, and culture. Each issue includes essays and reports on matters of broad interest reflecting diverse points of view. Temporal boundaries extend to the pre-state period, although emphasis is on the State of Israel. Due recognition is also given to events and phenomena in diaspora communities as they affect the Israeli state. It is sponsored by the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, in affiliation with the Association for Israel Studies.