Communism

A convention of the Israeli Communist Party (Rakah), Tel Aviv, December 15, 1976. (National Library of Israel/Dan Hadani Archive/The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection)

A century after its founding, the Israeli Communist Party is at a crossroads

For 100 years, Maki has been the leading force for Jewish-Palestinian equality in Israeli politics, yet it has failed to unite Arab and Jewish workers into a viable movement. Was it doomed from the start?

By Joel Beinin July 28, 2023

Mustafa Hammad, Farkha's mayor, on the farm by his house, January 10, 2023. (Ahmad Al-Bazz)

The Palestinian ecovillage putting grassroots democracy into action

In the West Bank community of Farkha, a young communist leadership is championing feminism, sustainability, and care for elders.

By Fatima AbdulKarim January 10, 2023

Israeli Communist Party MK Moshe Sneh addresses a crowd at an election campaign event in Ramat Gan, October 30, 1959. (Fritz Cohen/GPO)

Nationalism beyond Zionism: Lessons from Jewish Communists in Palestine

A new book presents a political and cultural history of Jewish Communism in Palestine-Israel, and a model for a non-ethnocentric national identity.

By Shaul Magid February 20, 2022

Latest

Secretaries Kerry, Moniz Jot Down Notes Before P5+1 Strategic Session About Ongoing Iranian Nuclear Negotiations in Switzerland, March 30, 2015. (State Dept. photo)

The Iranian nuclear threat and other phantoms

The ‘framework agreement’ announced Thursday night in Lausanne is a lot better than no agreement. But an approach to Iran involving no sanctions and no hysteria would have been best of all. NOTE: This post has been changed to reflect the author’s happy surprise that the framework agreement was not the dud he thought it…

By Larry Derfner April 2, 2015

A demonstration commemorating Land Day, Jaffa, March 30, 2014. (Photo: Keren Manor/ActiveStills.org)

The Jewish-Israeli Left can participate in the Palestinian struggle, but not as a partner

Israeli Leftists want the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in this country to become an integral part of this Israeli society. But they see their fellow Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank belonging to a different country. A Palestinian man and a Jewish woman are both participants at a Jaffa protest rally. The Palestinian…

By Rami Younis June 23, 2014

Palestinians in Bethlehem checkpoint trying to attend the Ramadan Friday prayers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, August 10, 2012 (Activestills)

Call it colonialism, call it occupation – just don’t call it ‘apartheid’

‘Apartheid’ is rapidly becoming the new political term of condemnation and delegitimization in international politics. But is it truly the best description of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians? By Thomas Mitchell Is apartheid an appropriate term to describe Israel’s occupation of the West Bank? In an article published on +972 late last year, Ran Greenstein argued…

By +972 Magazine May 5, 2014

The Israeli Left’s last novel

A new best-selling novel by Nir Baram takes aim at the Israeli ‘peace industry,’ globalization and the sense of betrayal a generation of left wing and progressive operatives is leaving behind. I’ve wanted to write about Nir Baram’s new novel, World Shadow (The book is alternatively titled, “The World is a Rumor” in English), for several…

By Noam Sheizaf October 6, 2013