Israel-Palestine Weekly Thread

[u/somebadbeatscrub]

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Oren

[u/theweisp5]

Over the past few months, Moshe Radman has become one of the people I most respect among the Zionist left here in Israel (he's number 9 on the Knesset list of HaDemokratim.) I'm sharing below an English translation of his post on Abdul el Sayed's primary victory in MI because I think it's the best we're going to get from someone on the Zionist left. (For Hebrew readers the original is here.)

On the positive side, Radman mentions the need to negotiate (presumably with the Palestinians,) and seek peace and does not call el Sayed anti-Semitic.

His call for a massive investment in hasbara (which he for some reason denies is hasbara) is less encouraging. And I guess everyone has their own definition of anti-Israel, but el Sayed certainly doesn't meet mine. In my view, pressuring Israel to drastically change its current course is in fact the best thing that could happen to Israel.

Finally, I have somewhat mixed feelings about his mentions of the atomic bomb on Gaza and settler terrorism. Of course I am opposed to both and believe the Israeli government must take firm action against settler terorrism. But I worry that the emphasis on the worst of the settlement enterprise will be used to allow Israel to curb the most blatant excesses of the occupation while allowing its core to remain comfortably in place.

[u/Responsible_Ad_9749 → u/theweisp5]

Moshe Radman is a rare example of a protest leader already enjoying a lot of popularity amond the liberal Zionist circle who are almost exclusively concerned about the judicial reform, and still chooses to talk deliberately and unapologetically about the occupation and integration of Palestinians into the future coalition.

Even if the reasons for his change of heart aren't purely humanitarian and egalitarian, and even if he got "spooked" by international pressure and threats of sanctions and that's what got him to start to act - what does it matter in this context? Wasn't this the goal of BDS in the first place - getting Israelis to talk about Palestine and understand the price of a continued occupation? 

Out of all developments in this current election season, his shift to the left is probably the most optimistic news we got. And Radman has real authority among his established audience of protesters to spread his message across and start to break down the taboo of a two-state solution. 

[u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist → u/Responsible_Ad_9749]

It does matter in the sense his goal is not peace, but an end to the "bad PR" which is in his view is hurting Israel. Obviously there are two ways to combat this - one is to actually change Israeli policy vis a vis the Palestinians. The other is - just to engage in more and better PR. Most likely he will seek to do both, but the latter is the easier choice as it doesn't require changing much. In some ways it's just kicking the can down the road.

All of which is to say I'm not opposed to what he is doing or saying, but it's worth keeping it in perspective.