Meron Rapoport

Meron Rapoport is an editor at Local Call.

Recent Articles

A large billboard in Jerusalem depicts U.S. President-elect Donald Trump urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war, January 13, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Forget Trump — agreeing to a ceasefire was Netanyahu’s own calculation

In Israel, the war in Gaza has become a burden on the government, the military, and society as a whole. Trump only gave Netanyahu an excuse to cut his losses.

By Meron Rapoport January 17, 2025

Graffiti of a police officer revealing a pristine beach behind the separation wall in the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, March 6, 2006. (Melanie Fidler/Flash90)

Widening the cracks in Israel’s war machine

Israelis’ waning trust in Netanyahu and the direction of the war, along with shifts in global public opinion and accountability, offer leverage to exploit.

By Meron Rapoport January 8, 2025

Syrians in Germany celebrate the fall of Assad Regime, December 8, 2024. (Wikimedia Commons)

‘Democracy won’t come to Syria overnight. But now, we have hope’

From exile, Bassam Al-Kuwatli long dreamed of Assad's fall. As head of the Syrian Liberal Party, he now plans to return to push for a democratic future.

By Meron Rapoport December 11, 2024

Moshe Ya'alon attends a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Israeli government, Tel Aviv, April 6, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The real reason a former Israeli army chief called out ethnic cleansing in Gaza

Less concerned by the plight of Palestinians, Moshe Ya’alon fears the impact on the defense establishment of Netanyahu’s anti-democratic revolution.

By Meron Rapoport December 5, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a state ceremony marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on October 7, October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

With or without Sinwar, Netanyahu has no interest in ending the war

The Hamas leader’s death could make the return of Palestinian governance in Gaza more likely. For Israel's government, that scenario must be thwarted.

By Meron Rapoport October 30, 2024

Palestinian residents, joined by Israelis and internationals, hold a weekly protest in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, March 24, 2023. (Heather Sharona Weiss/Activestills)

Conversing as unequals: Jewish-Palestinian partnership at a crossroads

Awni Al-Mashni and I have spent years meeting with Israelis and Palestinians across the land to discuss visions for the future. Do we still have answers?

By Meron Rapoport October 23, 2024

Israeli soldiers operating in Gaza city, July 28, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

A plan to liquidate northern Gaza is gaining steam

As Israeli ministers, generals, and academics bay for a decisive new phase in the war, this is what Operation Starvation and Extermination would look like.

By Meron Rapoport September 17, 2024

Demonstrators outside the Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 2, 2024. (Itai Ron/Flash90)

To sacrifice or free the hostages? Israeli protesters have chosen a side

Fearing for the remaining captives, the mass rallies that erupted across Israel were essentially demanding an end to the war — and Netanyahu knows it.

By Meron Rapoport September 4, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught

Israelis and Palestinians are making a terrible mistake by looking exclusively to Washington to solve their problems, says former negotiator Daniel Levy.

By Meron Rapoport September 2, 2024

Palestinians mourn the death of their relatives in an Israeli airstrike at the Al-Awda School in Abasan, east of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 10, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute

In the past, Israel’s moral debate about its military actions may have been narrow and hypocritical, but at least it existed. Not this time.

By Meron Rapoport August 23, 2024