yitzhak rabin

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon speeks with Benjamin Netanyahu (L) during a Knesset session. (Flash90)

The biggest myth about Israeli politics

It’s tempting to believe that non-politicians are the antidote to bad politicians, but it’s also wrong. In 2011, the Israeli pop singer Roni Superstar released a song called “Adoni” — literally “my lord,” or colloquially, “sir.” For sarcastic overtones, “His highness” will also do. Here is my free translation: “His Highness will tell me what…

By Dahlia Scheindlin April 24, 2019

Supporters of Labor and Tzipi Livni’s ‘Zionist Camp’ at a rally calling to oust Prime Minister Netanyahu, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, March 7, 2015. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Why the Zionist left died this week

Stuck in a Zionist paradigm, Israel’s mainstream left-wing parties are unable to put forth a vision of equality and inclusion for all in Israel-Palestine. Tuesday’s election results were obvious to anyone paying attention. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and rival Benny Gantz’s Blue and White won the same number of Knesset seats, Gantz has already conceded to…

By Edo Konrad April 10, 2019

Ahmad Tibi. 'The right attacks me because they accuse me of emphasizing Palestinian nationality.' (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Ahmad Tibi has a plan to unseat Netanyahu, but it means leaving his Palestinian partners

Ahmad Tibi’s recent announcement that he would split from the Joint List has rattled Palestinian citizens. In an interview, he speaks about the successes and failures of the list, why his party would be better off alone, and why he may join forces with Israel’s centrist leaders. By Meron Rapoport Four years after it was established, the Joint List, which succeeded in…

By +972 Magazine January 22, 2019

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Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

The Oslo era is finally over, but it only gets worse from here

In theory, the end of Oslo should be a welcome development. In practice, there is little to celebrate. There is something unsettling about the way the 25-year anniversary since the signing of the Oslo Accords is being marked — neither eulogy nor longing, and without anyone having any clue what lies ahead. There is one…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man September 14, 2018

Israelis attend a rally marking 22 years since the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, November 4, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Why I’m not fighting for a ‘better Israel’

Can a national ethos that needs to balance out its democratic ideals with demographic domination ever provide an avenue for implementing a truly progressive agenda? A response to Maya Haber. The commemorations of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination have a strange tendency: once a year the Israeli peace camp gathers, both physically and virtually, to reflect…

By Edo Konrad November 6, 2017

An Israeli soldier attempts to block the view of a photographer as Israeli soldiers search Palestinian men in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 22, 2017. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Israel is not a democracy as long as the occupation exists

An Israel that does not fight to free Palestinians from occupation is an Israel that will excel in occupation. This is the Left’s most urgent and important mission. By Alon Mizrahi As in every year, the run-up to the commemoration of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin last week was full of attempts to describe Jewish existence…

By +972 Magazine November 5, 2017

Yitzhak Rabin at Andrews Air Force Base, September 10, 1986. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Reckoning with the murder of a prime minister

The White House chief of staff, who claimed the American Civil War was born out of an inability to compromise, can teach Israelis a thing or two about just how toxic political amnesia can be. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly went on national television this past week to repeat a lie. Speaking about…

By Edo Konrad November 2, 2017

Candles with a picture of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, at a memorial ceremony to commemorate the18th anniversary of Rabin's assassination, at the president's house in Jerusalem on October 15, 2013. Photo by Miriam Alster/FLASH90

The question Israel still hasn’t answered about Rabin’s murder

There is nothing wrong with inviting those who resisted Rabin’s policies to speak at the rally in his memory. But they need to answer one fundamental question first. By Tomer Persico Every murder is terrible in its own way, but political murder is uniquely terrible. Political murder—for example, the assassination of an elected leader—erodes the…

By +972 Magazine November 1, 2017

Dr. Ruchama Marton in her home in Tel Aviv. (Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org)

War crimes and open wounds: The physician who took on Israeli segregation

On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Ruchama Marton, the founder of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, talks about the atrocities she witnessed as a soldier, the enduring power of feminism, and why only outside help has a chance of ending Israel’s military rule over the Palestinians. By Alon Mizrahi Ruchama Marton belongs to what you might…

By +972 Magazine September 12, 2017

A settler stands and prays on top of her home roof during the demolition and evacuation of 10 structures in the Ma'ale Rehavam outpost, West Bank, May 14, 2014. (Nati Shohat/Flash 90)

There is no right-wing one-state solution

Seven years after publishing a feature on Israeli settlers who support equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, it’s time to revisit the idea. There is nothing the Israel Right loves more than adopting the criticism of its rivals on the Left in order to justify its rule. Strangely, this criticism has turned into a main…

By Noam Sheizaf September 11, 2017

A mass grave in Bosnia. (ICTY)

Forget Trump: Israel’s sordid history of supporting dictatorships

Netanyahu’s silence in the face of the White House’s anti-Semitism should surprise no one. From Argentina to Rwanda, Israel has a sordid history of providing weapons and support to murderous dictatorships. By Eitay Mack (translated by Ofer Neiman) The Netanyahu government was silent in January when the Trump Administration omitted any reference to Jewish victims from…

By +972 Magazine August 27, 2017

Palestinians participate in a rally marking the 69th anniversary of the Nakba, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2017. (Flash90)

Israel is still unable to deal with the catastrophe of 1948

The fact that Israel is unable to swallow or get rid of the territories it occupied in 1967, makes it far more difficult for the state to recognize the catastrophe that befell the Palestinians during the 1948 War. By Oren Barak Why does the State of Israel, which just celebrated 69 years of independence, struggle to deal with…

By +972 Magazine May 16, 2017

Thousands of left-wing activists call for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the increase in violent Palestinian attacks, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, October 25, 2015. (photo: Gili Yaari/Flash90)

The guide for leftists who want to stop preaching to the choir

For years the Israeli Left has excluded the vast majority of the country from its ranks. Here are eight steps on how to broaden the tent. By Noam Shuster-Eliassi Over the past several years, various writers and NGOs have finally come to the conclusion that the Israeli peace camp is on its death bed, and…

By +972 Magazine January 7, 2017