A war of words

"Heavily influenced by Max Weber's definition of the state, political scientists and criminologists alike have focused their attention on the legitimation of struggles of non-state actors who resort to violence. A War of Words attempts to redress that balance by examining a series of controversies concerning the State of Israel's use of force and its failure to prevent the violence of others. It examines the public discourse about Palestinian and Jewish terrorism, the war in Lebanon, the alleged connection between the verbal violence of government leaders and the physical violence of their supporters, the electoral success of Meir Kahane, and the use of history to justify the state use of force. The concluding section considers why these controversies play such a central role in Israeli politics and offers a number of suggestions as to the function they fulfil in other Western societies."--Jacket.