Benjamin Netanyah

Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid of the Blue and White party give a joint a statement in Tel Aviv on February 21, 2019. (Photo by Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

To unseat Netanyahu, his challengers risk becoming just like him

As party lists are finalized in the lead-up to Israeli elections, the big bangs offer little substantive changes. And the challengers of the center look uncannily like the current leadership. A visual expression of the Israeli election campaign would look a lot like a Jackson Pollock painting. All of the parties running were required to…

By Dahlia Scheindlin February 22, 2019

Right-wing Israeli activists march in support of Elior Azaria, the Israeli soldier who shot a Palestinian attacker, in Jerusalem, November 22, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

How the settlers took over Israel

Over the past 13 years the settler Right succeeded in establishing itself as a hegemonic force in Israeli politics, education, judiciary, culture, and society. If the Left has any chance of pushing back, instead of moderating itself it must radicalize. By Rami Kaplan A sense of doom has overcome the left-wing camp in Israel these days.…

By +972 Magazine November 2, 2018

Israeli soldiers take position near a burning tyre during clashes with Palestinian protesters at a demonstration marking Land Day at Qalandiya checkpoint, March 30, 2012. (Uri Lenz/Flash90)

Israel, the occupation is at the core of who you are

If Jewish leaders and activists are going to speak up against Israel’s recent anti-democratic trends, they cannot remain silent on what has been corrupting its democracy for decades. By Nadav Bigelman It is not news to many Israelis that their government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is pushing all those who do not align with his spirit of…

By +972 Magazine August 25, 2018

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks out at the Negev desert in Sde Boker, November 18, 2015. (Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO)

There is no ‘day after’ Netanyahu

Short of allowing Palestinians to establish an independent state, there is nothing Netanyahu won’t do to ensure his political survival. Liberal Israeli columnist and Channel 10’s top political commentator Raviv Drucker published a piece in Haaretz Sunday, in which he waxes optimistic about the “day after Netanyahu” and who could possibly take over and bring…

By Edo Konrad January 11, 2016

File photo of masked Israeli soldiers in Hebron. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israelis only understand force — and it makes them angrier, polls show

New polls find that a majority of Jewish Israelis support the ‘voluntary transfer’ of West Bank Palestinians, a majority want to strip East Jerusalem Palestinians of Israeli residency. It’s true that most peace efforts followed war and violence — but not because the Israeli public wants them. Even in times of crisis, a brave leader can…

By Dahlia Scheindlin October 29, 2015

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (Photo by Trango/CC)

Netanyahu is talking to Hamas. It’s about time

Without Hamas, there will be no interim agreement and no long-term solution. The notion of the ‘moderates’ reaching an agreement between themselves while the ‘fundamentalists’ are ignored or even dealt with forcefully is a dangerous illusion. For the past week Israel has been negotiating with Hamas in Cairo. While the Palestinian delegation to the talks includes…

By Noam Sheizaf August 16, 2014

A tunnel in Gaza (Marius Arnesen, Flickr)

From Iran to the tunnels: Do we really have to live this way?

Those who spot an existential threat at every turn, turn their backs on diplomacy and mock peace efforts are now astonished to find that the enemy has sought out their own weapons of attack. The tunnels are a self-fulfilling prophecy; the time has come to look for another way. By Nir Baram It is heartrending…

By +972 Magazine August 2, 2014

Right-wing demonstrators protest in front of a demonstration against the Israeli attack on Gaza, in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, July 26, 2014. Right-wing activists protested nearby and attacked left-wing activists during and after the protest. One left-wing activists was hospitalized with a head injury. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

How Europe’s Jews lost their humanity in Gaza

The racism that has swept across Israel is devastating to behold. It is also an abdication of what Jews have prized for centuries: A sense of common humanity. By Gilad Isaacs For centuries Jews knocked on the door of Eurasian civilization. As they stood precariously on the doorstep they understood that crossing the threshold –…

By +972 Magazine August 1, 2014

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. (photo: U.S. Embassy)

Gaza becomes Syria: Middle East geopolitics 2.0

The bickering between countries over who has the right to negotiate over the Palestinians is nothing new. We’ve been here before. By Aziz Abu Sarah and Dr. Marc Gopin There are two main camps involved in negotiating a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel. However, the players are not within the camp that most would…

By Aziz Abu Sarah July 28, 2014

An elderly Palestinian man argues with an Israeli soldier taking part in the search operation for three Israeli teenagers believed to have been kidnapped by Palestinian militants, on June 17, 2014 in the West Bank city of Hebron. Israel stepped up efforts against Hamas in the West Bank Tuesday as the hunt for three Israeli teenagers entered its fifth day. (Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

This is what a military operation in Hebron looks like

In its invasion of the city, the army has not shied away from using live fire, blowing up the doors of homes and shops and maintaining a closure on thousands of people. The goal? Demonstrating its invincible power. By Akram Natsheh Nour al-Kawasma, an eight-year-old resident of Hebron, will never forget how Israeli forces suddenly declared…

By +972 Magazine June 20, 2014