Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man

Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man was the editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine until 2019. He continues to be a contributor of both reporting and analysis.

Follow him on Twitter: @MikeOmerMan

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Recent Articles

Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, August 29, 2019. (Edo Konrad)

A farewell from +972 Magazine’s editor-in-chief

A reflection and goodbye from Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, +972 Magazine’s outgoing editor-in-chief. When I began working at +972 Magazine nearly seven years ago, I was the organization’s first full-time employee. It was the eve of the 2013 Israeli elections, and looking back all these years later, things felt very different. True, Netanyahu had already been…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 29, 2019

See the original video here: https://twitter.com/cogatonline/status/1165677757319254017

When an American in the IDF meets a Palestinian American in Hebron

An American serving in the Israeli army in Hebron says that in her job granting and denying Palestinians permission to work and travel, it’s a ‘conversation starter’ to meet Palestinians who back home would have full rights like her. The video below was published Sunday by COGAT, the unit of the Israeli Defense Ministry charged…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 25, 2019

Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 4, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

A sliver of hope

Even when our leaders engage in the type of demonization that educates our children to believe the other side isn’t even worthy of speaking to, they still see the value in talking — even while they kill each other. Some thoughts about Gaza. By the time you read this there’s a pretty good chance a…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man May 5, 2019

Illustrative photo of Israeli children preparing for the first day of kindergarten in Jerusalem. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Jerusalem orders kindergartens not to let ‘minorities’ visit

The municipality’s security department sends instructions to kindergartens in the city ordering that foreigners and ‘minorities,’ a euphemism for Arabs, not be allowed onto their grounds. Anti-racism group demands the city retract the orders. Public kindergartens in Jerusalem were ordered by the city’s Emergency and Security Division not to allow “foreigners” and “minorities” into educational…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 18, 2019

The Israeli separation wall surrounds the East Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev, April 9, 2011. (Activestills.org)

Annexation is more than just a declaration

By drawing a line at formal annexation, the international community is hobbling its ability to respond to Israeli changes on the ground. Benjamin Netanyahu declared on the eve of Israel’s April 9 elections that if reelected he would begin annexing the West Bank. Only, if we’re being precise, he didn’t. Israeli leaders have almost never…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 15, 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during an election campaign tour in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on April 8, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The best outcome of these elections is if things don’t get worse

These elections have turned into a referendum on the annexation of the West Bank — but that’s not something for Israel to decide. Five thoughts on Israel’s upcoming elections. 1. In many ways Tuesday’s general elections in Israel seem fixed if you’re among the ranks of people hoping to see Benjamin Netanyahu end his decade-long reign…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 8, 2019

Illustrative photo of Israeli troops rush through an opening in the separation wall surrounding the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, West Bank, March 28, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/FLASH90)

Annexation is happening whether Netanyahu is reelected or not

Netanyahu’s declaration that he will annex parts of the West Bank is alarming, but it only names a process that was long ago put into action, and which is now part of the mainstream Israeli discourse. Four years ago, on the eve of Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu promised in a television interview that there would…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 6, 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a government handout photo, taken near Israel's southern order with Egypt, March 7, 2019. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO/Handout)

These elections are a choice between resignation and despair

Four years ago, the prospect of another Netanyahu government meant perpetuating the status quo. This time, the opposition is offering the status quo — and Netanyahu something far worse. The short distance between resignation and despair is the difference between knowing that things aren’t going to get any better and the fear that they could…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man March 19, 2019

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, at the organization's offices in Brooklyn, NY, January 23, 2019 (Kevin Hagen for +972 Magazine)

JVP just declared itself anti-Zionist and it’s already shifting the conversation

‘We often play the role of being able to say things that the rest of the movement cannot,’ Jewish Voice for Peace director Rebecca Vilkomerson says in a wide-ranging interview about the group’s decision to come out as opposed to Zionism, how to fight the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, and recent attacks on Black-Palestine…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man January 30, 2019

Illustrative photo of a crop-duster spraying agricultural lands with chemical agents. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

Israel spraying herbicides inside Gaza violates int’l law, rights groups say

In an urgent letter to Israeli military officials, three human rights groups demand that Israel immediately stop spraying the dangerous chemicals into Gaza. The Israeli army is continuing to spray dangerous herbicides on agricultural fields inside the Gaza Strip, three years since +972 Magazine first reported on the practice. This week, three Palestinian and Israeli human rights…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man January 9, 2019