Guy Shalev, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

When the pandemic threat became imminent, Israel went to war. Leaders and commentators used a militaristic jargon to address the “war on corona” and the “heroes” on the medical frontlines. But since a fifth of Israel’s healthcare workers are Palestinian citizens, Israeli heroism took on a new face. This research-in-progress includes interviews with Palestinian physicians and political activists, and media analysis. The study considers the experiences and perspectives of Palestinian physicians in moments of health crisis and in light of unprecedented visibility as Palestinians in the Jewish-Israeli public. Particularly, in the context of public campaigns that seized upon this increased visibility to challenge the marginalization of Palestinians by featuring Palestinian doctors saving Israeli lives. This visibility highlighted the limitations of the recognition of the indigenous Palestinian national minority in Israel and the potential and constraints of the medical field as an arena for a politics of recognition.