News

Election fever - now Israel's turn?

editor — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:10:09 +0000

Just when we thought we were coming to the end of election season, the politicians in Israel seem to be pulling us back in! Although nothing is final, the most recent developments indicate that as American electoral campaigns wind down on November 4th, Israel's great political race will just be getting underway.

Breaking news this morning suggests that Kadima leader, Foreign Minister Tzipp Livni, has struck out in her efforts to form a new government, and that Israelis will be heading to the polls in early 2009. This comes after the ultra-orthodox Mizrahi (Sephardi) Shas party, a member of the current caretaker government, announced that it had made a "final" decision not to join a government led by Livni.

Prime Minster Olmert drops a bombshell. Too bad it’s a dud

editor — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:52:29 +0000

In his Rosh HaShana interview less than two weeks ago, caretaker Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, made statements that were at once remarkable and surreal. Remarkable - because Olmert was more realistic and was more explicit about the price of peace than any Israeli Prime Minister before him. Surreal - because Olmert's remarks were timed to have the least possible practical effect on the Israeli political system.

First, here are a few select quotes from the interview:

Tzipi Livni: The challenge of centrism - September 19, 2008

editor — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:21:42 +0000

The story of the week in Israel was the election of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as the Kadima party's new chairwoman and as would-be Prime Minister. (The "would-be" label gets peeled off only after she succeeds in forming a new coalition government upon Ehud Olmert's still-anticipated resignation - still a big "if".)

But, truth be told, the real story is what awaits us should Ms. Livni become Israel's chief executive. The real story will be: Down what path will Livni choose to lead the State of Israel?

Notwithstanding the favorable comparisons of Livni to her defeated rival, Sha'ul Mofaz, made by some in the peace camp, the new Kadima leader is clearly not a ‘card-carrying member' of Meretz or Peace Now. She is ‘lapsed Likudnik' (if you will), who, like Ehud Olmert before her, has woken up and realized that the dream of Greater Israel in reality is a nightmare of a binational state - if not worse.

News from Meretz USA - June 13, 2008

editor — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:11:18 +0000

Principles, Pragmatism and Politics
By Ron Skolnik, Executive Director

As German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck once wrote, "Politics is the art of the possible" (Die Politik ist die Kunst des Möglichen). That understanding was certainly on the mind of the Meretz party in Israel this week, as it faced the inevitable dilemma that arises whenever idealism faces realism, or when the demands of one sacred principle threaten to undermine the realization of another. In practical terms, Meretz had to decide whether to push for new elections that seem likely to replace a roughly centrist government led by Ehud Olmert with an adamantly hawkish, right-wing one under would-be Prime Minister and frontrunner Binyamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu of Likud.

News from Meretz USA - May 16, 2008

editor — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:40:59 +0000

No time to beat around the Bush

As I write these lines, President Bush is on his way out of Israel, headed for Saudi Arabia, having just concluded one of the more anti-climactic visits to Jerusalem that I can recall.

When this second Presidential visit to Israel within 4 months was announced in early 2008, it was looked upon as a potential milestone event, a key marker in the timeline for peace that began back in Annapolis, MD on November 27.

News from Meretz USA - May 2, 2008

editor — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:37:22 +0000

Israel at 120

Racism. Blatant discrimination against women. The legitimization of ethnic cleansing. Undue influence over public policy wielded by a wealthy oligarchy. A Declaration of Independence that spoke of equality, amid a stark reality of inequality. A democracy at 60.

No, this is not a profile of Israel, as we approach her 60th birthday next week, but a snapshot of the situation in the United States of America circa 1836.

News from Meretz USA - April 17, 2008

editor — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:33:39 +0000

The Passover holiday, also known as the Festival of Freedom, is a time when Jews around the world recount the story of the Israelite people's exodus from Egypt, and their emergence from oppression. But what keeps the Passover tradition vibrant is the fact that the story is told not as a piece of dry, long-ago history, but as a subjective experience that has relevance for today: "In each generation," the Haggadah reminds us, "each person must see him/herself as if he/she had come out from Egypt." This experiential aspect of the story lets us identify and empathize not only with our ancestors, but with all those struggling against bias, discrimination, and injustice.

News from Meretz USA - April 4, 2008

editor — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:42:56 +0000

Report from Israeli-Palestinian Academic Conference

March 31, 2008: With the support of Meretz USA, the Jewish Academic Network for Israeli Palestinian Peace sponsored the First International Academic Conference on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process: Pathways to Peace. The Conference took place on March 28-29 at Central Connecticut State University and was co-sponsored by the American Task Force on Palestine and the Geneva Initiative North America. It featured top-level keynote speakers Herbert Kelman, Naomi Chazan, Stephen P. Cohen, Sami Adwan, Daniel Levy, Gaith al Omari, and Saliba Sarsar, as well as over 36 other presenters.

News from Meretz USA - March 14, 2008

editor — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:01:16 +0000

Breaking the Silence; Ending the Occupation

Last Sunday evening, I attended an eye-opening lecture and slideshow of the "Breaking the Silence" organization, which Meretz USA was proud to co-sponsor at a synagogue in Brooklyn, NY. Our speaker was Dotan Greenvald, a wonderful, soft-spoken 25 year-old from the Haifa Bay area, who had grown up in the HaNo'ar Ha'Oved socialist-Zionist youth movement.

News from Meretz USA - February 29, 2008

editor — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:50:03 +0000

Briefing from MK Abu Vilan: Invasion or Ceasefire?

According to Meretz MK Avshalom (Abu) Vilan, who presented a briefing at Meretz USA's offices Beit Shalom last night (Thursday, February 28th), the two Ehuds - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak - were disinclined as of this past Monday to respond to continuing rocket attacks from Gaza into Sderot by sending the Israeli army into the Gaza Strip. However, recent occurrences could change this opinion.