Challenge Online Magazine

Why has Hamas decided to go all out in defense of Al-Aqsa all of a sudden, while in Israel everyone was positive it did not want an escalation?
Hint: It had nothing to do with Netanyahu.

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Roni Ben-Efrat, Challenge Magazine chief editor, writes:

Between rocket attacks from Gaza, I must take pause to fathom the present crisis, when the State of Israel appears to be coming apart at the seams. All my adult life, together with my colleagues, I have warned of this moment. I saw reckless leaders and indifferent or scared citizens on both sides allowing injustice and cruelty to go unhindered. Injustice in Israel/Palestine began with the conquest by Zionism - well before 1967. But the 54-year-long Israeli Occupation, the reluctance to admit its crimes, and the attempt to hoodwink the Palestinians at Oslo in 1993, have made Israel's intentions clear. The spark this time was a renewed attempt by Israel to evict Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
In their shortsightedness, Israeli leaders thought that as long as the Palestinian issue was not a "strategic threat" to Israel’s existence, they could continue dominating the lives of 5 million rightless Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, restrict their freedom of movement, and doom them to poverty.
In their shortsightedness, Israeli leaders believed that they could develop a hi-tech nation while ignoring the future of the Arab citizens inside Israel’s borders, who make up a fifth of its population. This is the stuff on which hate is nourished, providing a stage for religious and nationalist fanaticism.
In his shortsightedness, Benjamin Netanyahu in particular nourished a strong racist base, encompassing religious Jews of all types, settlers and outright fascists, as if the reckoning could be postponed forever.
In its shortsightedness, the Zionist Left neglected and continues to neglect its duty to oppose the Occupation, opting instead for various arrangements with the Right.
In its shortsightedness, Israel’s government has ignored the takeover of Arab cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods in Israel by armed mafias, never imagining that violence would spread to Jewish streets. "Let them kill each other," was their attitude.
In its shortsightedness, aiming to crush any secular liberal Palestinian voice, Israel built up Hamas in the 1980’s, thinking it would stick to religion and charity. But Hamas, with its dream of an Islamic state, has since become the only military and political factor that can irritate Israel. Since 2008 we have lived through four rounds of war, which turned out to be blood for nothing.
I wish I could put all the blame on Israel. Unfortunately, neither Hamas nor Israel hesitates to use civilians in their wars. For its part, the Palestinian Authority has willingly slipped into irrelevance.
When I watched with dread the attack of a brainwashed rightwing mob on the American Capitol, I did not imagine that a few months later I would be watching Arab and Jewish mobs in Israeli cities, assaulting peaceful citizens because of their ethnic identity.
Such is the situation. We don't have the luxury to stop struggling for reason and justice. We struggle not because we are sure we will win, but because we have no choice. This cannot be a Zero Sum Game! A source of hope comes from Washington, where a serious attempt is underway to mend the fabric of American society. We too have years of injustice to mend.

No more “Bibi or Tibi.” It’s “Bibi or Gidi!”

A new socioeconomic platform must be adopted, one built on an equal distribution of wealth, investment in human welfare rather than tycoons, and the equality of all human beings between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. If we embrace the humane conception and abandon nationalist isolation, the road to a diverse society, in which the Palestinians become equal citizens, will give democracy its full meaning.

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After you, Stav Shaffir!
The effort to establish a Democratic Party in Israel depends not only on open primaries, but on a very broad consensus between Jewish and Arab leaders, who will be willing to abandon the Zionist or Arab nationalistic ideologies and unite to build a broad democracy, bringing hope to both Israelis and Palestinians.
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