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10 Months of War

>> Read all messages from Zehava Galon

Are you afraid? So am I. Anxiety has become a constant companion for every Israeli woman and man since October 7. People talk about a “total victory,” but have no idea what next month or tomorrow will look like. Every day seems to bring another piece of disastrous news, and it’s hard to keep track of everything that is going on. Everything is happening fast and all at once, amid an overload of information.

And this means one thing: We must keep our eyes on the ball, because what is happening is no accident. It is the result of government policy, and it is intentional. This is a super difficult time for everyone, I know. But even this is no mistake, no coincidence, nor something that will stop if we turn our eyes away. In fact, many people who would be too happy if we directed our gaze elsewhere. This is the secret of every conjurer, of every magician and every novice con artist: look me in the eye as I rip you off.

That’s why we, at Zulat, have been hard at work like never before. Because this is one of those moments when you can’t afford to miss anything. We filed a petition to the Supreme Court demanding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7. Our executive director, Einat Ovadia, and our excellent team have been closely monitoring legislative proposals and Knesset debates, fighting vigorously to block the government’s attempts to claw its way into some new scheme.

So, where should you direct your gaze at? You can start with the special debate convened during the Knesset’s recess to approve unprecedented regulatory benefits conferred by the government on Channel 14, its subservient mouthpiece. I would like to remind you that the Knesset went into recess at the government’s insistence, despite the desperate plea of the families of the hostages held in Gaza. These people have been going through hell, terrified that every day in captivity means rape, hunger, or the death of their dear ones. How can one sleep with such thoughts running around in their head? Nevertheless, these people were of no interest to the government. Nor were the evacuees in the north and the south important enough for the Knesset members to pursue their work. But when on the agenda are benefits for their obsequious mouthpieces – that, ladies and gentlemen, is what their mandate is all about.

What we have been seeing in the last few days are impudent actions at the height of an unprecedented security tension. They don’t even pretend anymore that the murder of two people in a terror attack in Holon or an Iranian strike interests them. All these are background noises, distractions to make you overlook the massive looting of the public coffers.

This is the story of this government, but it need not be ours. It is not us but them that should be afraid! We stopped the government’s insane plans to overrun democracy once before, and we can do it again. They are not the majority, they are just a mouse pretending to be a lion. This is our country, and we are the majority! It’s time we started acting like one.

I know it is hard and scary, but this only means that now is exactly the time to raise our heads high, get our act together, and hit the road. Now is the time!

Yours,

Zehava Galon

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.