It's not that the Israeli opposition doesn't have or can't offer a security doctrine - it's that its leaders don't bother creating and advancing one; "as a result, the only vision remaining is the one laid out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: 'to live by the sword'."
The Disengagement wasn't a "pro-peace" move per se, but it was born out of the pro-peace push that started in the early 90s. Psychologically speaking, this is Netanyahu's government trying to put an end to that era's hope for a political settlement.
www.haaretz.com/west-bank/20...
NY Times report frames this in two distinctly different ways: both "a remarkable concession from Hamas" and also "well short of the full disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza — a core demand by Israel and [Trump]". www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/w...
Give me love
Give me love
Give me peace on earth
Jeff Lynne's rendering, live, of George Harrison's 1973 classic
#ShabbatShalom
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_gO...
Or maybe Netanyahu actually thought it was easier to receive a US diktat than being forced to bring the issue to his government, since no decision would be good - say no, and anger Trump; or say yes, and displease Israeli public opinion, which has been largely anti-ceasefire.
Wow. This is a humiliation to Netanyahu; it'll be interesting to see how he responds. Israel has always been guided by the mantra (if not the reality) that Israel won't be dictated to, even by its main ally. www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
The ceasefire with Hezbollah is actually an electoral vulnerability for Bibi & bros, partly explaining Katz's bravado. The latest poll has Israelis opposing the ceasefire 51%-29%, though that's moderate compared to last week's 77% opposed (vs. 12% support). www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Bad move by the NY Islanders professional hockey team. And Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky posed for a photo with the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association president holding a copy of the NY Post whose headline was "Jailed For Doing His Job." www.newsday.com/sports/hocke...
It's "better to jaw-jaw than to war-war," Winston Churchill once observed. But finding a way forward won't be easy: Israel's gov't seems to believe only in military force and Hezbollah remains a hostile armed militia resisting UN disarmament resolutions. www.cnbc.com/2026/04/16/t...
One would imagine the bulk of AIPAC- and DMFI-aligned Jewish American Democrats would be in the Conservative movement. And yet, even in that group, the advantage vs. disadvantage of an AIPAC endorsement is a wash. @jstreetdotorg.bsky.social / @gbaostrategies.com poll jstreet.org/wp-content/u...
Bennett and Gantz aren't "chivalrous knights" who are going to fundamentally change things. They might help to end the current extreme madness and *maybe* create an opening for something better further along.
A joint run make sense. Bennett is rightwing, but not authoritarian. Gantz, once the great liberal hope, has shown himself to be right-of-center; he could've been part of the pre-Kahanist Likud. Neither deserves centrist, let alone left-of-center, votes.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Certainly - I just didn't want to date myself!
Also relevant: S/PRST/2000/21 - 18 June 2000 Statement by the President of the Security Council
docs.un.org/en/S/PRST/20...
UN Security Council on Lebanon/Israel.
UNSC 1310 undocs.org/S/RES/1310(2...
UNSC 1559 undocs.org/S/RES/1559(2...
UNSC 1680 undocs.org/S/RES/1680(2...
UNSC 1701 undocs.org/S/RES/1701(2...
Netanyahu has done massive damage to Israel in US public opinion, first with Democrats, then independents, and now with Republicans (especially younger Republicans), too. A useful rundown of the latest data.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBuK...
"For Mr. Trump ... there is also the risk that any agreement that emerges may resemble the 2015 nuclear accord," the JCPOA. Indeed, any deal will involve compromise. We are lightyears away from Trump's demand for "total surrender". www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/u...
We should never become desensitized to this man's behavior and character. news.sky.com/story/donald...
Apologies if the previous reply sounded optimistic. And even if it were Eisenkot, not Bennett. It will likely take much more external pressure than just J Street.
Certainly not under Netanyahu, who, it was once reported, told associates after a massive Peace Now-led rally (when 'peace' was still a thing): "How many of those people were going to vote for me anyway."
Question is how much such developments might impact a Bennett, Lapid, Eisenkot, etc.
"From Subsidy to Accountability – The Next Phase of the U.S.-Israel Security Relationship" jstreetdotorg.substack.com/p/time-to-en...
The important framing offered by @jeremybenami.bsky.social is that US-Israel ties should be “normalized” - that Israel, now a developed country, should be judged on the merits/demerits of its words and deeds, and be treated no better/no worse than any other country.
www.haaretz.com/us-news/2026...
"Concedes defeat" is just as important as the result itself: But it is also only a function of the overwhelming nature of that result. That must be replicated in the US. www.nbcnews.com/world/hungar...
The "have no cards" line has been used repeatedly by Trump, not just with regard to Iran. It's not as effective as he seems to think it is. And it also indicates that he still doesn't grasp that int'l relations are more complicated, less quantifiable, than bu$iness deals.
It's entirely possible to automatically register voters as well via "integration with federal data sources". Why isn't it being done? Because one party wants to restrict, rather than expand, the franchise.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
By a 2-to-1 ratio, Israel's mainstream media outlets give more exposure to Netanyahu bloc politicians than to Opposition politicians, Israeli media watchdog "The Seventh Eye" reveals. There's also further evidence of the exclusion of women and Arab citizens. www.the7eye.org.il/581564
"... a growing number of Americans, including Jews, are turning away from support for Israel...[W]ho is going to harness that political sentiment and what they plan to do with it is becoming more important." @arnorosenfeld.bsky.social outlines the journalistic logic. forward.com/news/antisem...
Not endorsing El-Sayed, but "Jewish state" is indeed an ambiguous term, way too subject to interpretation to be employed routinely without precision. You don't have to be antizionist to want it gone, I wrote in "Say Goodbye to 'the Jewish State'" in 2019. www.progressiveisrael.org/say-goodbye-...
Post ceasefire, Yossi Klein slams Israel's TV analysts, who knew what Trump/Netanyahu were saying was "pure BS. [But] not one came out against the war and said, 'wait, maybe we were wrong?' They all accepted, like sheep, the official, fallacious version." www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/202...
