Trumpistas Stumping for White Privilege? In Israel They’re Called Leftists
Who thinks the country has slipped out of the hands of its rightful owners and political correctness has run amok? The American right – and the Israeli left.
Gershom Gorenberg
Gershom Gorenberg is the author of The Unmaking of Israel and The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. Follow him on Twitter: @GershomG
Leftist Israeli MKs Want a Two-state Referendum. They Should Learn From U.K.’s Mistake
The Zionist Union's fantasy of a vote on the two-state solution is a foolish bid to win an election without showing leadership.
Gunslinger Trump: 'Saving America' by Going Back to the Wild West
Trump has cast himself as the rugged loner, the self-made outlaw, even though he's more a city rich boy and con-man. Welcome to 2016's American political theater.
It's Kosher, but It Stinks: How the Jewish State Has Failed Judaism – Again
The Supreme Court has just given state rabbis carte blanche to keep gorging on their monopoly over Israel’s kosher certification industry, at everyone’s expense.
Want to Fight Religious Extremism? Don’t Push Secularism
Marginalizing religion, asserting you can't be part of mainstream society without being secular, pushes both alienated Muslims in Europe and Jews in Israel towards isolation and extremism.
Faulty Education at Israeli ultra-Orthodox Schools Is Tantamount to Child Abuse
Denying children the ability to make a living or think independently is abuse, and the government is culpable.
Israel’s Opposition Leader Herzog Is Guilty: Of a Complete Absence of Leadership
It’s time for an Israeli leader of the opposition who actually understands that people voted for Labor to get rid of Netanyahu and all he stands for – not to mimic his policies nor crawl into bed with his coalition.
On U.S. Military Aid to Israel, Obama Should Tell Netanyahu: Take It or Leave It
Netanyahu's public bickering over U.S. defense assistance is embarrassing, and its timing is disastrous.
Israel’s Militant Rabbinical Establishment Wants to unJew You
Supporters of Israel’s state rabbinate claim it protects the unity of the Jewish people. In fact, the rabbinate is engaged in a fanatic, unstinting quest to divide Jew from Jew.
Secular Zionists: The Settlements Are Your Fault, Too
It might be comforting for secular Zionists to pin all the blame on religious, messianic theocrats for the failure to divide the land into two states, a view recently voiced by Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken. But that's evading responsibility, both for the past and the present.
Israel’s Evasion of Moral Responsibility
Former Israeli Interior Minister Arye Dery was jailed for taking bribes and is now returning to the exact same government ministry where he committed his felony. It’s kosher – but it stinks.
We Can’t End the Desecration of Judaism Without Ending the Occupation
Mainstream Israelis far from the West Bank hilltops watching the "hate wedding" clip celebrating of the Dewabsheh family’s murder shouldn’t be sitting comfortably. Secular Israel and its representatives funded and produced that video.
Israel’s Poisonous Racism: Neither Religious nor Secular Can Claim Immunity
Israeli social media has erupted over a housing company's anti-Mizrahi ad presenting a fair-haired Ashkenazi family as model clients: the clip expressed everyday racism just that bit too explicitly.
Israel Is in a State of Refugee Denial
Is there any meaning at all to 'Jewish' in 'Jewish state' when Israel refuses sanctuary?
No Room for Dissent in Israel's Schools
Right-wing ideas permeate Israeli schools, and an educator who disagrees risks a witch-hunt.
No, Netanyahu Wasn't the First to Notice the Geiger Counter Clicking in Iran
For Rabin, Iran was a reason to solve Israel's other problems. For Netanyahu, it's been an excuse to ignore them.
The Atticus Finch Principle of Israeli History
Has Israeli history up to now been the story of colonialism or democracy? The next chapter determines its meaning.
West Has Not Learned Lesson of Holocaust Refugees
It would be nice to say Israel has learned its lesson, but it is part of the problem. It's time for developed countries to read the writing on the wall at Yad Vashem and grant refuge.
Why Israel Should Not Let Its Citizens Vote Overseas
The proposals for overseas voting are part of a package to keep the prime minister in power by any means necessary.
Israel Knew All Along That Settlements, Home Demolitions Were Illegal
New evidence shows government's adviser on international law said in 1968 that demolishing terror suspects' homes violates Geneva Convention.
You Can Take the Jews Out of Exile, but You Can't Take the Exile Out of the Israeli Right
For all that it sees itself as strutting in pride and glory, the Israeli right does not understand what it means to be here – physically, culturally or morally.
Netanyahu's Campaign Finale Dealt a Body Blow to Israeli Democracy
The Israeli prime minister sees the Green Line as the border between where Arabs can't vote and where they shouldn't.
The Pencil and the Hijab: Freedom of Expression Includes the Right Not to Be Secular
The strategy of terror is aimed at escalating conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims. Defending the right to be Muslim in a Western society is a necessary response.
Experimenting With Our Lives: The Perils of Electoral Engineering
Raising the electoral threshold is another ill-considered change in election rules. Fiddling with the machinery of democracy rarely has the intended effect.
To Oust Netanyahu, Stop Moaning and Start Convincing Israelis to Vote
The left must get organized if it wants to overthrow Netanyahu. Otherwise, it risks repeating the mistake of Shimon Peres' 1996 campaign.
Four Myths About the Israeli Elections
Don't believe the polls or what reporters say - in Israel, elections don't work like in other countries.
How to Love the Real Jerusalem
The left’s contempt for the complexities of Jerusalem - stubbornly religious, ethnically jumbled, unEuropean - shows why they have failed to connect to more Israelis in opposing the occupation.
The Israeli Right Wing’s Newest Assault on Israel’s Jewish and Democratic Character
In the eyes of Israel’s right, led by Ayelet Shaked, the Supreme Court is an arena of wild-eyed radicals. But the judges are Israel’s last defense against the supremacy of territorial control over human rights.
On African Refugees, Netanyahu Evades Facts, History and Responsibility
The Holocaust taught Jews the right to safe haven overrides that of nations to seal their borders. Has Netanyahu forgotten this cardinal obligation from the period of Jewish history he references quite so often?
Settlements, Lies and Land Grabs
Israel’s government lied to the U.S. 47 years ago when it set up Gush Etzion’s first settlement. Will the U.S. response to a massive new land takeover remain as ineffectual as back then?