Obituary
Ehud Sprinzak (1940-2002)
Ehud Sprinzak, a leading Israeli scholar in the fields of right-wing extremism, political
violence and terrorism, passed away on November 8th, 2002 at Tel Hashomer Hospital
near Tel-Aviv, aged 62, after a short illness. Sprinzak, grandson of Yosef Sprinzak, the
first Speaker of Israel's Knesset, leaves a wife, four children, two grandchildren and a
mother.
Sprinzak was a unique figure in the Israeli academic community. On the one hand, he
was a brilliant scholar whose work in the fields of extremism and violence gained him a
world wide reputation. On the other, he always shared his wide knowledge and analytical
skills with policy makers and the Israeli public through the media. Sprinzak was never
afraid to express his critical position about some segments of the Israeli extreme right. In
spite of this, I was always surprised by the way he was perceived by some of the most
militant leaders in that political camp. Almost unanimously, they referred to him as an
honest, brilliant scholar, and his professional integrity was never in doubt.
Having previously served as a professor of political science at Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Sprinzak established the Lauder School of Government, Policy & Diplomacy
at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya three years ago. In his term as Dean of the
School, Sprinzak promoted his vision of excellent academic training with strong
involvement in the community. He worked actively to encourage and train a new young
leadership for Israeli society through innovative programming.
Sprinzak's book, The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right, which was published by
Oxford University Press and won Israel's 1992 Michael Landau Prize for best political
science book on Israel and the Middle-East, was the most comprehensive volume ever
written on the extreme right scene in Israel. His most recent book, Brother Against
Brother: Extremism and Violence in Israel from Altalena to the Rabin
Assassination,
published in 1999, was an outstanding and detailed description of the history of political
violence in Israel, and an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon. Yet, it should be
mentioned that in 1987 Sprinzak published another excellent book, which analyzed the
"illegal culture" in Israel, and during the 1970s and 1980s he wrote several brilliant
theoretical articles on Israeli politics and the state of political science. These excellent
works, all published in Hebrew, had a profound effect on academic debate in Israel.
Over the last few years Sprinzak focused his research on the dynamics of insurgent
terrorism and the development of early-warning indicators of terrorism. His works in the
field were published in prestigious journals such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign
Policy, and
Terrorism and Political Violence, where he also served as a member of the editorial
board. However, he also devoted much of his time to studying the cleavage between Jews
and Arabs in Israel, a topic which he addressed both as a scholar and as a concerned
Israeli citizen.
As a student of extremism and violence, I first met Ehud almost ten years ago, when I
came to his office in Jerusalem and asked his advice with regard to my research and
academic direction. His warm and welcoming approach were so encouraging that once
every couple of months I found myself taking the bus to Jerusalem just to meet him for a
few minutes, listen to his ideas about my research, and receive some encouragement
during difficult times. We will all miss him very much.