September 28, 2022

Rise of far-right party shows racism deep-rooted in Israel

Opinion: Many of us are taken aback when we come upon blunt racism, but it's likely because we simply prefer it in the form of policy, as it has been for the past 74 years

Gilad Grossman|
Published: 09.28.22, 00:03

The viral parody about far-right MK Itamar Ben Gvir is yet another sin of the media for being part of what legitimizes him and the racism attached to his name.

Unfortunately, the media has once again chosen the easy way to cope, by focusing on the symptoms rather than the disease.

Ben-Gvir, who is continuing the ideology of racist Meir Kahana, was legitimized as a political figure by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his efforts to secure his government's survival.

In the same broadcast that showed a political parody of the racist member of Knesset, Israeli news reported on a story of Jewish youths' violent behavior in Jerusalem.

The report showed racist bullying that set out to inflict fear in the Palestinian residents of the city, with the aim of showing them who's boss. The reporter's tone was, unsurprisingly, filled with shock and horror.

One can ask: where do we stand, that our people are no longer embarrassed by being racist?
We can certainly offer explanations. We can blame the growing nationalism in the world, the influence of social networks, and the extreme religious elements in politics.
However, all these excuses cannot justify the extremist racists, who have already adopted the chant "burn their villages," as a rallying cry to others, to target Palestinians.

Continued @ https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkkiihpzo

August 17, 2022

Peace Now is taking direct action against settler outposts. Can it succeed?

The anti-occupation group is pushing the Zionist left to adopt more disruptive tactics, says interim head Dana Mills. But are there limits to its approach?

By Oren Ziv and Meron Rapoport August 16, 2022

Anyone who has been to an Israeli anti-occupation demonstration recently will have noticed dozens, if not hundreds, of new faces. Many of these newcomers are activists who took part in the 2020 Balfour Street protests, organized for months outside the Jerusalem residence of then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and who, for various reasons, eventually turned to demonstrations that went beyond the slogan of “Anyone but Bibi.”

This process, which has been described as the “Balfourization” of the anti-occupation struggle in Israel, has had an impact on the activities of veteran organizations such as Peace Now, which in recent months resumed direct actions in the occupied West Bank. Interestingly, these demonstrations were characterized by rowdiness — in line with the image that has, rightly or wrongly, been increasingly attached to Peace Now in recent years.

Last February, Peace Now, and other groups took part in a protest march to the Evyatar settler outpost demanding its evacuation. In late May, it was one of the leaders of a demonstration that brought a bulldozer to try to dismantle the illegal Homesh settlement. And last month, its activists were leading members of a protest against attempts by the settler group Nachala to establish a series of new outposts throughout the West Bank.

(snip)

At a protest in Tel Aviv last month marking 55 years of the occupation, Peace Now activists marched with a Palestinian flag. Twenty years ago, members of the same movement tried to prevent people from flying a Palestinian flag at a Rabin Square demonstration.

“There is a broad range of ideologies in Peace Now,” Mills explained. “There are people more on the Zionist left and others more at the center. But they manage to gather around a shared action. I think that the Palestinian flag, because it’s so frightening to the right, is part of the defiance, and of the statement that it is not scary. In the name of a Zionist movement I have no problem with holding a [Palestinian] flag. It doesn’t threaten me and it doesn’t make me an anti-Zionist.”

Continued @ :
https://www.972mag.com/peace-now-balfour-settlements-outposts/

Then you have us .....not part of the Zionist Left , or the Centre.....not Zionists but not anti-Zionist.
Post zionism is growing with each generation .
Meretz will not pass the threshold next elections .
We are looking for a new home .
Where do you think we will go Mosby ?