The securitisation of the other through language planning: the Israeli case

This study examines how language planning is deployed to address security concerns. Specifically, in a Foucauldian sense, it problematises the conditions, approaches and contexts of the language planning mechanisms Israel has used to communicate with Arab speakers in Gaza, the West Bank and neighbouring Arab nations, aiming to maintain security rather than to facilitate communication. The analysis focuses on two primary dimensions: conflict management and conflict prevention. Regarding conflict prevention, this study problematises the Mista'arvim (Arabic: المستعربون الإسرائيليون , English: those who become like Arabs, Hebrew: מסתערבים), which can either refer to specialised counter-terrorism units within the security apparatus or Israeli public figures and military personnel who actively engage on social media to defend Israel's interests and promote its political agenda. Regarding conflict management, this study scrutinises Israel's airborne leaflet tactics carried out by Malat (in Hebrew המרכז למבצעי תודעה ), which is a unit in the Israeli Defense Forces Operations Directorate that specialises in psychological warfare. In particular, the context in which Malat's psychological tactics operate and the objectives it serves are scrutinised. This study concludes with a call for a policy shift towards desecuritisation in Israel's language planning mechanisms used to communicate with Arab speakers.