Abstract

I discuss the generalizations used in Israeli Television Channel 2 news in the coverage of Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) in order to characterize linguistic patterns and rhetorical functions of these generalizations. Although Haredim are divided into varied streams, non-Haredim often see them as a single entity. This approach interacts with the mainstream news discourse. I focus on the marking of the radical anti-Zionist Haredi faction called Ha’eda HaHaredit, which features in more than 60% of the news items on Haredim. I demonstrate that the linguistic markers used to denote members of Ha’eda HaHaredit rarely mention their belonging to the faction. Rather, most of these markers perform maximal or partial generalization of the entire Haredi sector, and present the Haredi community as a single homogenous entity. Consequently, positions and actions of members of Ha’eda HaHaredit are associated with the whole Haredi community, depicting it as extreme and violent.

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