this is personal

noam sheizaf (by Eran Mendel)

A farewell of sorts

Earlier this month, at the conclusion of a long-planned transition, I ended my role as executive director (and prior to that – editor-in-chief) of +972 Magazine and Local Call. I am succeeded by Sawsan Khalife’, a journalist and activist from Haifa. I began working in journalism in 1998, right before the Internet came and changed everything. My first…

By Noam Sheizaf September 17, 2015

Israeli singer Arik Einstein, 1939-2013. (Government Press Office)

Arik Einstein: The iconization of a non-icon

Israeli singer and actor Arik Einstein died last night at 74. More than any other in the previous two decades, the moment of his death resembled that of Rabin’s – the face of the TV anchorman, the reactions of my friends (this time on social media), the people gathering in front of Tel Aviv City…

By Noam Sheizaf November 27, 2013

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

Oslo years, a view from the ground

I was sent to the Occupied Palestinian Territories on the day the Accords were signed, and got to spend the Oslo years in uniform. Twenty years ago I was in the final section of “advanced training” in my infantry unit, five months into my mandatory service in the IDF. We were about to go to…

By Noam Sheizaf September 13, 2013

Latest

Meet Up in San Francisco

I have a small meet up with readers in the Bay Area, hosted by the New Israel Fund‘s new generation. If you want to come, RSVP here. .

By Noam Sheizaf February 27, 2013

Tattered flag in Jaffa (Photo: Mairav Zonszein)

In the ghetto of self-righteousness and self-pity

From attacks on our site to talking points for rabbis: thoughts for the Jewish New Year. So it’s that time of year again, when Gerald Steinberg writes an article about us. Steinberg, the head of a right-wing organization called NGO Monitor, has been using +972 (along with a few of other organizations) as tools in…

By Noam Sheizaf September 25, 2012

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House on September 13, 1993. (Vince Musi/The White House)

An agreement on indefinite occupation: Oslo celebrates 19 years

Regardless of the intentions of the people signing it, there is no denying what the Oslo Accords and the Paris Protocol have become: providers of the legal framework and international legitimacy for the oppression of millions. Today, 19 years ago, hours before the Oslo agreement was signed in Washington, I set foot for the first…

By Noam Sheizaf September 13, 2012

NoamSheizaf, NoamS

My (inadequate) justification for circumcision: A reply to Larry Derfner

This morning we went to the beach. Three couples with four kids, all of them boys, all under the age of two. The conversation drifted to circumcision: one couple spared it from their kid, the other two – including us – didn’t. Following a German verdict against circumcision, Larry Derfner writes: I am somewhat ashamed…

By Noam Sheizaf June 29, 2012

No end in sight: Occupation marks 45th anniversary

Today, June 5, Israel marks a double anniversary: 45 years since the Six-Day War and 30 years since the first Lebanon War. The name of the latter is misleading – the war took place in Lebanon, but it was yet another attempt to solve our “Palestinian problem” by force. Israel conquered most of its neighbor…

By Noam Sheizaf June 5, 2012

Toulouse murder, and on being Jewish vs. being Israeli

Thoughts following the terror attack in France. I lived in France in 2003, and I still remember grafitti on the Metro walls linking Israel, the Jews and the conflict in one big anti-Semitic mess. There is no denying that relations worldwide between Jews and Muslims are affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (they are also influenced…

By Noam Sheizaf March 22, 2012

+972 team at 1st year toast. standing (left to right): Mairav Zonszein, Dahlia Scheindlin, Joseph Dana, Roi Maor, Aziz abu-Sarah, Dimi Reider, Shir Harel, Noa Yachot, Yuval Ben-Ami & 972's friend Issa Edward Bourseh. kneeling: Noam Sheizaf, Ami Kaufman, Yossi Gurvitz (photo: Shalom Boguslavsky)

+972 Magazine celebrates its first birthday!

It’s been a bit more than a year since we started working on +972 Magazine, and the site was officially launched last summer. To mark this event, we gathered for a toast in the presence of friends and colleagues on the rooftop of the space belonging to the HaYarkon 70 collective in Tel Aviv (overlooking the US…

By +972 Magazine June 7, 2011