The Tank Driver who Ran with Poodles: US Visions of Israeli Soldiers and the Cold War Liberal Consensus, 1958–79

Introduction: Gender, Imperialism and Global Exchanges

“…The militarism of the Israeli settler colonial state succeeded in fulfilling the desire of Zionist founders to remove old, European notions of the effeminate Jew and 'endow the image of the Hebrew with masculine beauty'. 53 Yet especially in the aftermath of their victory in the 1967 war, depictions of this masculine beauty included a softer side. Israeli soldiers were seen as being able to enjoy the gentler aspects of civil society without diminishing their martial prowess.…”