The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how the Israeli right-wing party Likud and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu enforced their political ideas and discourse with focus on security from 2009 until today. Furthermore, it investigates if this has created a new Israeli identity as well as if it has affected the Palestinians possibilities of self-determination. The theory that is used is securitization, developed by Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde, or the so called Copenhagen School. Through describing, explaining and analyzing the research questions, the thesis shows that Likud since 2009 has a clear focus on the security issue. At the same time, a lot speaks for that the ideological question of national identity has moved towards a Jewish Israeli collective identity. This has in combination with other factors led to continued settlements and talks about annexation in the West Bank, i.e. Judea and Samaria, and in east Jerusalem. Through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's discourse and the thoughts of many Israelis alike, the control of these areas are important for both security and ideological reasons. The results create an opportunity for discussion on the consequences for the Palestinian self-determination and possibilities for peace. When looking at the two state solution with the borders of 1967, the current situation is clearly a step back. This study further concludes that other obstacles to peace connected to the issue of identity are as important to discuss to understand the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This thesis examines the process of securitization in the relationship between Israel and Iran during Benjamin Netanyahu's second term as Israeli Prime Minister, specifically the period between taking office in 2009 and the conclusion of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. The aim of the paper is to analyse the process by which Netanyahu has made Iran such a major security threat that the whole world should be concerned about it. The thesis examines the international dimension of this issue, that is, Netanyahu's speeches that were targeted at an international audience, in some cases especially at an American one, since the United States has been Israel's closest ally since the creation of the State of Israel. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part, which focuses mainly on the theory of securitization, on which the entire work is based, and an empirical part, i.e. the actual analysis of the speeches transcribed into textual form. The greatest emphasis in this analysis is placed on the linguistic devices used, the choice of words and the setting of facts, events or actions in the context chosen by Netanyahu. The analysis of these speeches is intended to reveal the way in which Netanyahu wanted to make Iran a literal existential threat not only to Israel, but ultimately to the whole world,...

The thesis "Nuclear Iran Oversecuritized? The Politics of Benjamin Netanyahu's Speeches" is concerned with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speeches held in front of the UN, American Congress, Jewish lobby in the US AIPAC and foreign audience by several special occasions. It is based on the assumption that language is not only a neutral communication tool, but also a political tool serving the aim of achieving political goals. The aim of the thesis is to identify the linguistic tools of categorization, legitimization and securitization which Netanyahu used in order to persuade the international audience about the imminence and existential character of the threat posed by Iranian nuclear programme, and finally to achieve its elimination or at least tough punishment for Iranian non-compliance. Moreover, the thesis provides the reader with the overall context, namely the effect of Netanyahu's speeches, the nature of Iranian nuclear programme and its consequences for the situation in the Middle East.

No description available.

No description available.

The terrorist label became recently so widely used. It strongly influenced the language of media, politicians and society. The security discourse is seemingly dominated by the counter-terrorism policy. Both the national and international legal systems introduced laws to avert the terrorist actions. Ironically, no universal definition of terrorism has been found yet so the use of the terrorist label depends mainly on own interpretation. The thesis aims to critically analyse the terrorist label and to determine if it prevents the conflict between so called terrorists and the rest of the society from peaceful resolution. The first chapter introduces theoretical and methodological framework of the research. It is followed by the analysis of the EU's designation of Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization in the second chapter. A special attention is paid to the Israeli diplomatic pressure on the EU to blacklist Hezbollah which was selected as an appropriate example of the terrorist labelling.