This week’s Souciant pieceis up. In it, I look at what was perhaps the high point for me of this year’s J Street conference, the words of new Meretz chairwoman, Zehava Gal-
On. Meretz has been reduced to a tiny party in the Knesset, but a voice as powerful and clear as Gal-On’s really does have the potential to start shifting Israeli discourse away from its current, fascist direction.
I really hope you are right about Gal-On, Mitchell. Talk of “social justice” and “freedom” sounds like a foreign language in the context of hyper-militarized Israel. But I am happy to hear it, nonetheless.
And that is the binary that governs Israel: militarism/justice, with militarism always in the superior position, scoffing at silly talk of justice.
I hope Peter Beinart’s book is translated into Hebrew. Like Gal-On, he too is dusting off Justice and reminding us of just how un-Jewish Israel has become.
(PS I too am already missing Adrienne Rich.)