Bioethics and Biopolitics in Israel Socio-legal, Political, and Empirical Analysis

Although the 'Israeli case' of bioethics has been well documented, this book offers a novel understanding of Israeli bioethics that is a milestone in the comparative literature of bioethics. Bringing together a range of experts, the book's interdisciplinary structure employs a contemporary, sociopolitical-oriented approach to bioethics issues, with an emphasis on empirical analysis, that will appeal not only to scholars of bioethics, but also to students of law, medicine, humanities, and social sciences around the world. Its focus on the development of bioethics in Israel makes it especially relevant to scholars of Israeli society - both in and out of Israel - as well as medical practitioners and health policymakers in Israel.

Introduction: bioethics in Israel Hagai Boas, Nadav Davidovitch, Yael Hashiloni-Dolev, Dani Filc and Shai J. Lavi; Part I. Bioethics as Biopolitics: 1. Biosecuritization of public health preparedness in Israel and Palestine: from traditional bioethics to public health ethics Nadav Davidovitch and Benjamin Langer; 2. Republican bioethics Dani Flic; 3. From bioethics to biopolitics in recent Israeli legislation about force-feeding hunger-striking inmates Yoav Kenny; 4. A cognitive dissonant health system: can we combat racism without admitting it exists? Hadas Ziv; 5. Nothing about us without us: a disability challenge to bioethics Sagit Mor; Part II. Familialism and Reproduction: 6. The effect of Jewish-Israeli family ideology on policy regarding reproductive technologies Yael Hashiloni-Dolev ; 7. 'Quiet, dependent, nice and loyal: surrogacy agencies discourse of international surrogacy Hedva Eyal and Adi Moreno; 8. Palestinian fertility in Israeli sphere Himmat Zu'bi; 9. Childbirth in Israel: home birth and newborn screening Margherita Brusa and Yechiel Bar Ilan; 10. 'Life after death': the Israeli approach to posthumous reproduction Vardit Ravitsky and Ya'arit Bokek-Cohen; Part III. Is There an Israeli Exception?: 11. Reckless or pioneering? Public health genetics services in Israel Aviad E. Raz ; 12. The end-of-life decision-making process in Israel: bioethics, law and the practice of doctors Roy Gilbar and Nili Karako-Eyal; 13. Organ donation, brain death and the limits of liberal bioethics Hagai Boas and Shai J. Lavi; 14. Towards an Israeli medical ethics Michael Weingarten; 15. Tilting the frame: Israeli suicide as an alternative to suicide in Israel Haim Hazan and Raquel Romberg.

A collection of studies in bioethics and society that appeals both to scholars and students of bioethics and to those interested in understanding the specific embeddedness of biomedical technologies in a given society. Its interdisciplinary structure broadens the potential readership to students in law, medicine, humanities and social sciences.

Hagai Boas has published on brain death, organ transplantations, and bioethics. Since 2012, he has been the program director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University. Beginning in October 2017, he will be the head of the Science and Technology section at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Yael Hashiloni-Dolev is a sociologist of health and illness, and a member of Israel's National Bioethics Council. Her areas of interest include new reproductive technologies, genetics, gender, bioethics, contemporary parenthood, and posthumous reproduction. She has authored two books: A Life (Un)Worthy of Living: Reproductive Genetics in Israel and Germany (2007) and The Fertility Revolution (2013, in Hebrew).
Nadav Davidovitch is an epidemiologist and public health physician. He is a Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Systems Management at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev. His current research deals with health policy, health inequities, health and immigration, environmental health, and public health history and ethics.
Dani Filc is a Full Professor at the Department of Politics and Government, Ben Gurion University. He is the author of Hegemony and Populism in Israel (2006, in Hebrew), Circles of Exclusion: The Politics of Health-Care in Israel (2009) and The Political Right in Israel (2013).
Shai J. Lavi is a Professor of Law at Tel Aviv University, where he is also director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. He is also the Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. His book, The Modern Art of Dying: A History of Euthanasia in the United States (2009), won the 2006 Distinguished Book Award in sociology of law from the American Sociological Association.