Smadar Ben-Natan
Biography
Smadar Ben-Natan is an assistant professor in the Department of Global Studies, specializing in human rights, international law, armed conflict, criminal justice, incarceration, colonialism, and Israel/Palestine. Her research and teaching examine law, politics, and inequality on the local and global levels, focusing on penal regimes in the context of colonialism and conflict, primarily in Israel/Palestine. Before transitioning to academia, she was a longtime Israeli and international human rights and criminal defense lawyer.
Her recent scholarship appeared in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Theoretical Criminology, Punishment & Society, Law & Social Inquiry, and the Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies. In 2020-2022 she was a Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar. Currently, she is working on a book manuscript titled Citizen-Enemies: Military Courts and the Construction of Citizenship in Israel/Palestine, and on a second book titled: The Carceral State in Conflict: Between Reconciliation and Radicalization.
Publications
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES
Smadar Ben-Natan, Dana Boulus, Shirley Le Penne, The One Carceral State: Mass Incarceration and Carceral Citizenship in Palestine/Israel, International Journal of Middle East Studies (2025)
The Boundaries of the Carceral State: Accounting for the Role of Military Incarceration, 28(1) Theoretical Criminology, 5-27 (2024)
The Dual Penal Empire: Emergency Powers and Military Courts in Palestine/Israel and Beyond, 23(5) Punishment & Society, 741-763 (2021)
Self-Proclaimed Human Rights Heroes: The Professional Project of Israeli Military Judges, 46(3) Law & Social Inquiry, 755-787 (2021)
Revise Your Syllabi: Israeli Supreme Court Upholds Authorization for Torture and Ill-Treatment, 10 Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 41-57 (2019)
Constitutional Mindset: The Interrelations between Constitutional Law and International Law in the Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights, 50 Israel Law Review 139–176 (2017)
The Application of Israeli Law in the Military Courts in the Occupied Territories, 43 Theory and Criticism 45–74 (2014) (Hebrew)
LAW REVIEW ARTICLES
Imperial Injustice: On the Imperial Features of the Guantánamo Military Commissions, 24(1) Washington University Global Studies Law Review, 1-38 (2024)
Smadar Ben-Natan, Ilan Saban, Hadar Madnick, Kela Sappir, Tomer Barazani, Too Great of a Burden to Bear: Appointing Special Advocates to Challenge Secret Evidence, , 17 Hukim Journal on Legislation, Hebrew University (2022) (Hebrew)
BOOK CHAPTERS
The Shadow of the Death Penalty in Israel: Constructing Enemies, Citizens, and Victims, In: Austin Sarat and Ben Fleury-Steiner, eds., Elgar Companion on Capital Punishment and Society (2024)
Citizen-Enemies: Palestinian Citizens and Military Courts in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories 1967-2000, in: Amal Jamal ed., The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Israeli-Palestinian Relations, Tel-Aviv University Press, (2020) (Hebrew)
Controversy and Consensus, Pornography and Hate Speech: The Legal Challenge to the Playboy Channel, In: Hertzog and Shadmi, eds., Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking in Women: Israel’s Blood Money, Routledge (2019)
The Israeli Supreme Court and the Occupied Territories: The Last Diamond in the King's Crown, In: Ishai Menuchin, ed., 50 Concepts, Testimonies and Representations of Occupation, November Books (2017) (Hebrew)
Freedom of Speech, Racism and Pornography: A Comment on the Playboy Channel Decision, In: Hertzog and Shadmi, eds., Blood Money: Prostitution, Sex Trafficking and Pornography in Israel, Pardes (2013) (Hebrew)
Are There Prisoners in This War? In: Baker and Matar, eds., Threat: Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israel, Pluto Press (2011)
Since He is a Patriot, In Hacker and Ziv, eds., Does Law Matter? Tel-Aviv University Law Faculty Press (2010) (Hebrew)
BOOK REVIEWS
Problematizing Law, Childhood and Rights in Israel/Palestine, By Hedi Viterbo, 56 Law & Society Review 649-650 (2022)
Above and Beyond Denial: Incarcerated Children in Israel/Palestine, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding (CUP, 2019), 23 (3) Journal of Genocide Research 478-485 (2021)