What should I write about here today?

The “situation,” as we call it here, keeps getting worse, and many questions that need to be asked are left behind—as usual in our country when the cannons roar, and as you know, they’ve been roaring for a long, long time.

This post is here to ask exactly those questions, and everyone is welcome to add more. I, for my part, promise to collect and organize them and do my best to get them to journalists with a request that they be asked.

Ayala Shalev, Editor, That’s About Us

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What should I write about here today?

The more I thought about it in recent days (and I’ve thought about it quite a bit), I realized I don’t know. Thoughts about “what’s right” skip and trample over each other, and as these long, difficult days go by, I feel I have less and less understanding and knowledge, and more and more wonderings and questions.

One of the outcomes of the processes happening in Israel, as part of the replacement of its leading set of values, is the forbiddance to express an opinion different from that of the regime. Criticism is forbidden, wondering aloud is forbidden, asking questions is forbidden. Anyone who dares is immediately condemned by the government’s poison machine and all its supporters as a “traitor.” The understanding that asking questions and holding a discussion are not only a fundamental Jewish practice but also one of the healthy signs of democracy has disappeared, together with the values of humanism, human dignity and freedom, and concern for individual rights (at least for Jews).

In Israel of 2025, after over 20 years of rule by Benjamin Netanyahu and his increasingly extreme right-wing coalitions, which have become nationalist and messianic, questions are not welcomed. Neither the frightened citizens, most of whom are caught up in economic and social survival struggles, nor the weak, threatened media, large parts of which have long since become mouthpieces for the government and the army. The regime encourages this surrender. It suits it. Without questions and with nonstop intimidation campaigns, it’s easier to keep ruling.

At some point, I realized that the voice I want to bring today is a voice of questions. Just questions. The answers will surely be varied, but simply raising questions and doubts, and the commitment to keep asking, create different thoughts than those the regime gives us. Questions constantly require us to examine positions, test boundaries, and check in with ourselves. Asking questions is important—especially when the regime makes it hard to do.

So today, I’m asking here. I’m asking questions I don’t hear in the news panels, questions that touch all of us, everyone in this space whose lives have become playthings in the hands of the regime—because questions are, first and foremost, an invitation to speak, to listen, to ponder. And these are a must in any society that wishes to be free.

Here they are:

‣ For a whole year, millions in Israel took to the streets to protest the Prime Minister and his partners, who sought to carry out a regime coup. Week after week, and even more so after 7/10, millions shouted in the streets that Bibi can’t be trusted, that he only cares about his own interests and escaping his trials and other troubles. So where does the total trust in him come from now that he’s leading another war? What changed that now allows so many people to believe someone they didn’t trust a word from just a moment ago?

‣ And a follow-up: How can anyone trust the regime coup ministers, those fueling extremism and messianism throughout society and the army, when they say the war is truly necessary? Do you trust that they have our best interests – the citizens – in mind?

‣ Why is it acceptable that they, their families, their friends, their makeup artists and stylists sit in protected shelters, while large parts of the public are not protected at all? Soldiers on bases aren’t protected, entire communities lack shelters, people with disabilities aren’t protected. Why?

‣ Today, when there are already claims that Iran wasn’t really close to the bomb, shouldn’t we carefully ask if we’re inside a deliberate plan of initiated aggression to keep us in an endless war? Especially with the Prime Minister’s promise of “eternal life by the sword” echoing in the background, and given his personal gains—his trial stopped, the betrayal affair of Qatargate dropped, and the endless delay of elections that an endless war makes possible?

‣ Under the Iranian smokescreen, the attacks in Gaza continue. Almost two years straight. Not a stone left standing, hundreds of thousands dead and wounded, deliberate starvation. Why? Is the ongoing Gaza war still necessary, or is there also a deliberate plan for genocide— of women, children, and the elderly — in order to take their land for ourselves, as the senior partners in the current coalition openly and shamelessly call for?

‣ And let’s say the wars in Gaza and Iran are truly necessary to remove existential threats to Israel — who is supposed to fight these wars? Why are exemptions given, and who benefits from them?

‣ Following that—everyone knows reservists grind through endless days in service, leaving behind jobs, businesses, longing kids, and overwhelmed wives. Shouldn’t the state pay each reservist their full monthly salary? Why isn’t that happening? Is it fair that Knesset members raise their own salaries after recess?

‣ If Israeli leadership claims to act in Iran to “save the world,” how come the world isn’t really joining in?

‣ Security isn’t just war and bombings. Security is also knowing the contract between you, the citizen, and your state is being kept. That contract includes personal, employment, and food security. It means the state’s commitment to the well-being of its citizens, in the broadest sense. Is that contract really being honored here?

‣ And what about the hostages in Gaza? Citizens of Israel? Beyond the lip service every leader gives about “commitment to our hostages,” is anything actually being done to get those poor souls out—when it’s clear that even if they survive, their future isn’t exactly bright?

‣ When they say “we’ll do everything to free them,” are they really willing to consider stopping the violence and leaving devastated Gaza, which would definitely bring the hostages home? If not, why do they claim they’re willing to “do everything,” and why do so many of us repeat that lie?

‣ Are they willing to sit down and make agreements and alliances with moderate countries in the region to truly change the region and silence the voices calling for bloodshed? If not, doesn’t that put them in the same group as those who believe violence is a solution?

‣ Will historical distance show this was about revenge or political agendas, and only then will more Israelis face deep moral questions? Is it too soon for Israeli society to really confront these questions seriously and deeply?

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These are my questions — at least some of them.

Now, let’s do this: if you have questions that aren’t being asked, or you wish were being asked, write them down here in the comments. I promise to do my best to collect them and send them to journalists and studios, and who knows—maybe there’ll be one righteous person in this Sodom who’ll have the courage to raise them and demand answers.

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