Zahava Gal-On
@zehavagalon · Israeli opposition & former officials
Zahava Gal-On is an Israeli politician.
"A Place for All" decided to withdraw its candidacy from the election, and although they took exactly the right and responsible step, although they kept their promise, they are still being subjected to torrents of criticism. I really do not understand this criticism at all. A Place for All is a brave experiment. Certainly in Israeli politics, and for that very reason it is also not a perfect experiment. In this country it is very difficult to build a party from scratch, and even more difficult to build from scratch a party based on Jewish-Arab partnership that strives for equality and peace. That is what A Place for All tried to do. I wish we had more attempts like these. For this country to truly be able to exist over the long term, this is exactly the kind of politics and politicians we need. I understand the pressure everyone is under. I think it is understandable. We have all seen what another Netanyahu government means, and no one wants to give these lunatics another turn. But that is clearly true of A Place for All as well. This pressure, one way or another, cannot erase the incredible activity they carried out here in recent years in the framework of "Standing Together", their committed network of activists, and their values-based and principled statements about the war in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and the complete abandonment of Arab society to criminal organizations on the one hand and racist attacks, from the street and from the Knesset, on the other. They created something truly amazing here, truly moving, and it is also clear to me that it does not end with this round. It has only just begun to gain momentum. So it is also important to me to say thank you to Rula Daoud and Alon Lee Green, to Uri Weltmann and Sally Abed. For the organizing and for continuing the activity to encourage voting, and above all for the willingness to give up this time, but even more — for the courage to try. @placeforusall @AlonLeeGreen @DaoodRula @uriweltmann @sally_abed
Translated from HebrewAs Netanyahu said? Israel's prime minister must know how to lead on the global stage. And where Netanyahu is leading us, we have all already seen
Translated from HebrewI want to take a moment not to talk about Netanyahu, not about 7.10, not about all the insane things being exposed here every minute. Not because they aren't important—they are critical—but because countries are a much bigger story than their prime ministers. I want to talk, briefly, about the police spokesperson, Deputy Superintendent Arie Doron, whose name has recently made the headlines. Not because he is important in himself. He isn't. But because he belongs to a very particular type of person, without whom we would not see people like Netanyahu, Smotrich, or Ben-Gvir in key positions. It is important to understand people like Deputy Superintendent Doron, because they are exactly the human type that Netanyahu's current government term has brought us. There are people like him in every society. Small opportunists who cling to power. In functioning societies, they find themselves by the wayside, managing a marginal branch of a small company. In crumbling societies, they receive ranks and titles. And that is why it is also important to understand them. Because understanding them means understanding us—how low we have sunk. @ZmanIsrael
Translated from HebrewThe liar knew full well and continued to deny his responsibility for the abandonment and the failure and entrench himself in a coalition of 64 Knesset members, whose foremost concern was not Israel's welfare. @Haaretz
Translated from HebrewIsrael’s security and peace depend on ending the occupation, and therefore the British step, which distinguishes between the occupied territories, the settlements and settler terrorism in the West Bank and sovereign and legitimate Israel, is important. The settlement movement corrupts and rots Israel from within, and places it in existential danger. If we care about security, democracy and Israel’s future, we must not defend those who are working to destroy the possibility of advancing a two-state solution .
Translated from HebrewAt the current pace of revelations, we are just one step away from discovering that Sinwar financed Netanyahu and not the other way around.
Translated from HebrewNow it is clear why Netanyahu did not function throughout the first hours of the massacre. Because he knew. He knew and chose to prevent that knowledge from reaching the security forces. And then he sits there, for years, babbling that no one woke him up, letting his mouthpieces spread conspiracy theories, and trying to shift the blame onto other people. He actually knew that a massacre was being planned and stayed silent. It is beyond description. @Haaretz
Translated from HebrewLead on the world stage? You can't even be interviewed on a ridiculous podcast without the interviewers later agreeing that it's a "good point" to call you "the Hitler of our time." Leaders are distancing themselves from you like from a leper, and accordingly—from Israel. You know what? Before we talk about leading on the world stage, let's start with being able to land in Europe and move on from there. How about that?
Translated from HebrewPrime Minister Netanyahu may look like a Churchill from AliExpress in the winter of his life who “was not woken at night,” as revealed in Ilan Lukatch’s important investigative report on Netanyahu’s feeble performance during the four lost hours from the moment he woke up until he reached the Kirya on October 7. But let it be clear that the fantastical response course he chose was carefully designed to delegitimize his rivals and prevent the establishment of a state commission of inquiry. His fantastical claim that, had he been woken, he would have ordered the entire IDF to mobilize and would have saved the situation is unsurprising, because Netanyahu is, as is well known, a famous fantasist. Remember that at the funeral of Rehavam Ze’evi he said that he had received advice from him when Ze’evi was a minister in his government—but Gandhi was never a minister under Netanyahu. He also fabricated a meeting during the Yom Kippur War between himself, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon—“three prime ministers in one armored personnel carrier.” But that too never happened. All these tall tales, like the claim that the reason he was not woken was deliberate and intentional, have a purpose: they are intended to create legitimacy for him among Netanyahu’s supporters and strip his rivals of legitimacy in order to prevent the establishment of a state commission of inquiry. @IlanLukatch
Translated from HebrewIt is no coincidence that the starling went to the crow. In Tally Gotliv’s case, the starling did not change its rotten and unrestrained nature; it merely changed its flock.
Translated from HebrewThe man who explained to us that every baby in Gaza is an enemy and that "it is good that there be many dead babies in Gaza" announced that he will demand the position of defense minister from Netanyahu. Now it is clear where he is headed. Good luck to us.
Translated from HebrewIn the debate about including Arab parties in the coalition at Avri and Sherki, I said we need to stop listening to the racist eye-rollers who want only a “Zionist coalition” here, a sanitized name for a coalition without representatives of the Arab public @yaircherki @Avrigi
Translated from HebrewGottlieb will sign a minimum contract and may be transferred in another trade to Feiglin before the transfer window closes; in Likud, they are interested in recruiting an AI bot from the Russian league to fill Gottlieb’s slot
Translated from HebrewYoav, after years of an inciting and racist campaign claiming that the Arab vote is illegitimate, the important and courageous move you made has a moral significance that goes far beyond politics.
Translated from HebrewIt is impossible to dismiss Sara Netanyahu's remarks as the “madness” of a psychopathic woman. That is the easy explanation, and it misses the main point: the problem is not only the person saying these things and echoing conspiracy theories against Yair Golan, but the role she plays within a system. Sara Netanyahu is not acting in a vacuum when she joins a discourse that repeatedly singles out opponents and strengthens the incitement against Yair Golan, because she sees him as a threat to the family and to Netanyahu's rule. This is precisely where we need to talk about the phenomenon called stochastic terrorism, which is not necessarily a direct order to harm political opponents, but rather an accumulation of messages that prepares the ground for a lone terrorist to take the next step. Ms. Netanyahu knows very well that the level of threats against Golan is on the rise, and therefore, when addressing her remarks, we must understand the system it serves and the incitement discourse she fuels, as well as what consequences this discourse could create. Calling her “crazy” and “psychopathic” is to ignore the system and the danger of murder.
Translated from HebrewMK Tzvi Sukkot was photographed trying to smash a monument in the village of Madma in Samaria, accompanied by soldiers who were guarding him. The army condemned the incident and claimed that Sukkot had only requested military escort for a "monument tour." A few days earlier, Mansour Abbas caused an uproar when he said the words "Palestinian state," prompting Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot to clarify that "a Palestinian state will not arise in the government we form," and Netanyahu to announce that a Palestinian state will not arise as long as he is prime minister. Decades of occupation have created for us a new rhinoceros Hebrew whose purpose is not to describe reality, but to conceal it. For so long we have tried not to know what we are doing in it that we are more jealous of the language than of reality. We call settlers who enter their village to beat Palestinians "friction." It sounds professional and neutral, and we call organized groups of settlers who enter an armed Palestinian village a "trip." The settlers set the lexicon, but it is also the official lexicon used by the army, the one that enables all these friction-filled trips, and also the one that "condemns" them and "warns" of their consequences. Two verbs that have undergone inflation at the hands of the IDF spokesperson, because they allow the army to be described as a sideline commentator rather than the number-one force enabling these terror expeditions, arming and protecting them. Orwell argued that English "becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the sloppiness of our language makes it easier for us to think foolish thoughts." In the language of occupation, the sloppiness is deliberate. It enables us not to think about what is unbearable to think about. For example: how we sacrificed hostages to death, rape and torture in the name of "total victory," at the end of which Hamas again sends incendiary kites toward the south. Or how it is that we send soldiers to perform hundreds of reserve-duty days a year and still constantly warn that the area is about to "ignite"? A beautiful word, ignite. Amazing how things here always happen by themselves. We are no longer occupied with reality itself. No, we have long been in the fantasy world of the rhinoceros language. Read the full article at @ZmanIsrael :
Translated from HebrewDecades of occupation have created for us a new rhinocerotic Hebrew whose purpose is not to describe reality, but to hide it. For so long we have tried not to know what we are doing in it that we are more zealous about language than we are about reality. We call settlers who enter to beat Palestinians in their village "friction". It sounds professional and neutral, and we call organized groups of settlers who enter a Palestinian village armed "a trip". We are no longer occupied with reality itself; we have long been in the fantasy world of the rhinocerotic language.
Translated from HebrewJust before the elections, the government is trying to drive a “nail into the coffin of the Palestinian state,” as Bezalel Smotrich called this plan. After 20 years of stagnation, the Netanyahu government is threatening to connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem and disrupt the territorial continuity between Ramallah and Bethlehem with the aim of finally killing the two-state solution. Jewish terrorism against Palestinians and the construction of 1234 housing units in Ma’ale Adumim are part of the plan to apply sovereignty in the West Bank. This construction will probably not succeed in thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state, but like every other move by the government, it will cost us dearly. A Palestinian state will be established. If not tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. The only question is how much money and blood we will bleed before that happens.
Translated from HebrewThe man who charted Israel’s strategy in recent decades, who was responsible for every one of the institutions whose failure was exposed, and who is willing to sell our lives here for one more second in power, will not succeed in winning back the mandates that fled from him. At long last, people here understand that we cannot afford a prime minister for whom everything he touched collapsed in flames.
Translated from HebrewNot to mention his heroic struggle in Yigal “Jokes” Amir’s civil war
Translated from Hebrew44. I can't let this go. At the IDF Spokesperson's Office, they are surely telling themselves that the problem with this story is optics. It is what is called “evocative.” And that is indeed what should have happened, and it is also exactly what did not happen for the soldiers who were there. They marked people like livestock, and it didn't remind them of anything. Really, of all the injustices of the occupation, this part is mainly symbolic. It only shows how far we have strayed, and how little of ourselves we are already capable of seeing. But here too, beneath the symbolism there is a story. The army arrested two people in this raid, but the man who was photographed was marked with the number 44. Dozens of people were taken from their lives, marked, and some testified that they were beaten, for the sake of two detainees. This is not a mistake in optics or judgment; it is the ABC of what the occupation looks like and how few rights a person has under it. Even if he did nothing. So the army can reassure itself that it made the forces understand “the severity of the act,” but treating human beings like livestock does not begin with drawing a number on their heads. It begins much earlier, when you forget that they are human beings, that they have inherent dignity, that their lives have value. And this story makes clear how completely we have forgotten some of these basic things.
Translated from Hebrew
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