the loyalists and defenders of Israeli democracy also harbor several underlying assumptions and blind spots about the reasons that Israeli democracy has become so shaky and enfeebled. It’s impossible to reverse the wheel of time or to correct the situation without taking action now (and not “after the victory”) to create an Arab-Jewish partnership in this struggle. The advocates of democracy must find a way to overcome the difficulty they have with the Palestinian flags being hoisted at anti-government protests. The struggle against the autocracy and theocracy that are emerging here before our eyes will not be viable if it is driven only by some melancholy yearning for the old status quo of “startup nation” and “no partner for peace.”
Those who view the “anti-occupation bloc” as hitchhikers who are throwing monkey wrenches into the resistance to the regime coup are missing the gravity of the moment in Israel’s political history. They are overlooking the profound crumbling of the system and values called for in the struggle against racism, which resides not only in messianic Israel but deep in the heart of the secular, liberal center as well. Above all, those who oppose the anti-occupation bloc are missing the spiritual and emotional horizons presented by the present political caesura for a reparation of Israeliness and Jewishness that will continue to develop beyond ethnic, religious, national and territorial boundaries.