Ron Skolnik @ronskolnik.bsky.social

I find the “Zionism/Anti-Zionism” debate to be not only aimless drudgery, but a framing that primarily serves the most extreme viewpoints on either side of the Israel-Palestine question. My latest rant is out. progressiveisrael.org/insights-zioni…

Now underway: a giant anti-war protest at Tel Aviv’s HaBima Square. While mainstream liberal Israeli demonstrations have *also* opposed the war for over a year, this is the first Israeli center-left (Zionist left) rally where the anti-war message is the *primary* message.

Until the @EU_Commission proves otherwise, Netanyahu is understandably going to assume that the threats it's issuing are entirely empty. timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry…

Pay attention to this public call for refusal by Israeli Prof. @faniaoz, who has defined herself as a "liberal left humanist Zionist". Something seems to be happening.

-@omdimbeyachad codirector on a difficult intvw on UK radio: "I explained that Netanyahu & Ben-Gvir don't have majority [support] ... But when I was asked how it is that there aren't more Israelis in the streets, in light of babies dying in Gaza, I didn't know what to say."

Former Israeli FM says today's Knesset vote on annexing the WB reflects "what's happening violently on the ground, when we're looking elsewhere". She rejects its "only declarative" nature: "Words normalize actions" and the push to oust the AG also began as a non-binding motion.

By 71 to 13. Former Meretz chair @zehavagalon remarked: "It's not surprising that [Netanyahu's government] is now seeking to turn Israeli rule officially into apartheid." thejc.com/news/israel/kn…

The message from Israel's Education Minister is clear: If you criticize Israel's government, you're anti-Israel. Next stop: accusations of traitorhood. haaretz.com/israel-news/20…

"Genocide is not the Holocaust [but] the Holocaust was a genocide ... The Holocaust had its own unique aspect ... but in order to identify a genocide, you don't have to say 'this looks like the Holocaust'." @bartov_omer speaks with @DrShushan on Substack. substack.com/inbox/post/168…

From mid-February. A month later, Israel's gov violated the ceasefire that Trump had forced it to accept. Very possibly to avoid the pressure to reach a long-term, bad for hasbara, deal in which the OTs would be united under a pro 2SS Palestinian Authority.timesofisrael.com/hamas-said-to-…

Yes, this is late, and yes the phrasing is still cautious, but hopefully this indicates that cracks of humanity are appearing: The IMA "has refrained thus far from issuing public criticism of the security establishment." haaretz.com/israel-news/20…

Member (observer status) of Netanyahu's inner Security Cabinet joyously touts ethnic cleansing plan ("voluntary", of course). "It's us or them", she writes, "them" being not Hamas, but all Palestinians in Gaza (with the West Bank presumably being the next step).

When is it too much? Gershon Baskin July 21, 2025 When I first came to Israel for my Bar Mitzva in 1969 at my request to my parents, I remember telling my mother, while sitting on the veranda of my cousin’s apartment in Givatayim gazing out towards Tel Aviv, shortly before…

#BREAKING 25 countries, EU condemn Israel's 'inhumane killing' of civilians in Gaza, call for immediate end to war in besieged enclave

BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard is trying to distract from the Epstein mess by releasing a statement saying that Obama's admin was involved in a “TREASONOUS CONSPIRACY" because an Intel report below was uncovered. The problem is that Obama never said anything other than this, and it was…

The effort to oust MK @AyOdeh has thankfully failed! Small victories. 73 voted in favor - far short of the 90 votes needed. 15 opposed. The other MKs avoided the vote. Not particularly courageous, but the same effect in practice.

Thoughts on the effort to oust Ayman Odeh: Yair Lapid, who backs the ouster, might be necessary to stanch the hemorrhaging in Israel, removing the Bibi bloc from power, but he's shown that he won't be part of any real societal cure.