+972 Magazine - Independent commentary and news from Israel & Palestine

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau and his wife Sara attend the Jewish Moroccan Mimouna celebrations, Or Akiva, April 21, 2014. (Avishag Shaar Yashuv/Flash90)

How Likud’s Ashkenazi elite became the patron saints of the Mizrahim

Benjamin Netanyahu and his Ashkenazi allies are exploiting Mizrahi resentment in order to delegitimize the current protests.

Hundreds of Palestinians protested against LGBT violence in Haifa following the stabbing of an Aran transgender teen in Tel Aviv last week. August 1, 2019. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘A queer cry for freedom’: Meet the LGBTQ Palestinians demanding liberation

Hundreds of queer Palestinians protested last week following a tumultuous year for the community.

By Lilach Ben David

Israeli protesters carry signs saying 'Justice for Iyad' during anti-Netanyahu demonstrations in Jerusalem, July 2020. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

How anti-occupation activists found their place in Israeli protests

Left-wingers tried to insert their messages into mainstream Israeli protests for years, only to be rejected. Now, everything is different.

View of the Palestinian village of Battir, with its ancient terraces and irrigation system, West Bank, February 19, 2017. (Yaakov Lederman/Flash90)

‘I want Battir to go to hell’: Settlers move in on World Heritage site

Palestinians in the West Bank agricultural village of Battir are encountering armed Israeli settlers trying to push them off their land.

By Yuval Abraham

Protest by Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley, Sep. 23, 2014. (Ariel Hayat/Flickr)

ANALYSIS

False charges of antisemitism are the vanguard of cancel culture

The right is voicing alarm over progressive views restricting free speech, but says nothing about how antisemitism is weaponized to quash speech on Israel.

By Mairav Zonszein

Latest

Palestinians protesters clash with Israeli forces during a demonstrations at the Israel-Gaza fence, near Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, July 19, 2019. (Hassan Jedi/Flash90)

Annexation aims to cut Palestinians out of Israel’s demographic equation

Israel's West Bank plans are driven by the logic of the Gaza Disengagement: control Palestinian land while shirking responsibility for its people.

By Yehuda Shaul July 28, 2020

Israelis protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, July 25, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Who are the Israeli protesters at Netanyahu’s doorstep?

The disparate protest groups filling Jerusalem’s streets have been labeled by Israeli authorities as anarchists and even traitors. But who are the demonstrators, and what do they want?

By Robert Swift July 27, 2020

Demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem on July 18, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Why are Palestinian citizens staying out of the anti-Netanyahu protests?

Jewish Israelis are only now waking up to the neglect and racism that have long defined our reality.

By Yaser Abu Areesha July 24, 2020

Demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside Prime Minister official residence in Jerusalem, July 18, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Netanyahu’s authoritarian rule is turning Israelis against the state

The 'anyone but Bibi' slogan has clear limitations, but when Netanyahu and the Israeli regime have become one and the same, a new civil struggle has begun.

By Meron Rapoport July 23, 2020

Palestinians protesters crouch near the Gaza-Israel fence during a Great Return March demonstration, Gaza Strip, May 14, 2018. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills.org)

Israel said it had a firefight during Gaza’s Return March. Where’s the evidence?

An activist looked into an Israeli army claim of a shootout with Hamas militants during Gaza's mass protests. Two years later, the army still can’t confirm if the 'battle' even took place.

By Oren Ziv July 22, 2020

Progressive British Jewish group Na'amod project messages against Israel's plans to annex parts of the West Bank on Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, July 15, 2020. (Courtesy of Na'amod)

British Jews must take the anti-occupation fight to our leaders

If mainstream representatives of British Jewry will not demand consequences for Israel's policies, a new generation of activists will speak for themselves.

By Daniel Lubin and Zac Lewis July 22, 2020

Bedouin families outside their homes in the village of Umm al Hiran, in the Negev desert, southern Israel, August 27, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

‘Total poverty’: Bedouins in Israel struggle to get by under pandemic

The coronavirus crisis has worsened years of government neglect of Bedouins in the Naqab, forcing a once self-sufficient society into deeper destitution.

By Suha Arraf July 21, 2020

Hunderds attend a memorial ceremony for Eritrean asylum seeker Haftom Zarhum in southern Tel Aviv, October 21 2015. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

One lynching tells the story of Israel’s racial pyramid

The acquittal of the two Israelis in the lynching of an Eritrean asylum seeker reveals just how deeply white supremacism is entrenched in Israel's political establishment.

By Orly Noy July 21, 2020

A left-wing activist holds up a Palestinian flag at Tel Aviv Pride, June 28, 2020. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

Why I brought a Palestinian flag to an Israeli Pride rally

I reject the government's exploitation of the LGBTQ+ struggle to further its supremacist goals.

By Shai Gortler and Haokets July 17, 2020

Supermodel Bella Hadid, December 15, 2015. (Doug Inglish/CC BY 3.0)

‘Are we not allowed to be Palestinian on Instagram?’

Seeing Bella Hadid be vocal about Palestine is a delight rooted in a history of erasure and denial.

By Karim Kattan July 16, 2020