That's About Us

Ayala Shalev's Hangout

While in the Daily File we present the terrible outcomes of the Israeli policy towards the Palestinian world, this blog will look at what stands behind this policy and will suggest thoughts about a different outlook on things, ideas for a different kind of conduct, highlight possibilities that the Israeli government ignores, opinions on why things happen as they happen, and so on.

Here you will be able to connect the dots and form a bigger picture – so we wouldn’t be able to say we didn’t know.

How is This Night Different?

We ask this question every year at this time, but this year, the answer is that chaos has breached the Order (the Seder). This night is no different from any of the nights of the past month, the past year, or the past two and a half years: we are all frightened, despondent, aching with the memory of those no longer seated at the table, and straining to hear the sirens and the booms that will inevitably rattle the wine glasses we hold. The holiday is nearly upon us – "the seas

Ayala Shalev

1 day ago6 min read

Unity, Planning, Non-violence

We are nearing the end of the third week of the current round of violence. It increasingly appears that this round, like its predecessors, will fail to bring security to anyone, despite the claims of our national leaders, who made the same promises in previous rounds. No one knows when "Absolute Victory 2.0" will arrive, or when the campaign for "Absolute Victory 3.0" will begin. What is clear is that these leaders simply want war, and over 80% of the public supports this mad

Assaf Katz

Mar 207 min read

A Few Remarks on the War

Naturally, in times of war, everyone is preoccupied with the war. There are those who rejoice in it – how terrible; those who view it as a necessity, something that must be done because there is no other choice; the minority that is horrified by it; and those who truly believe that we only want to liberate the Iranian people from an oppressive regime. In war, everyone is consumed by the war. This text by Amir Fakhoury also deals with the war, but it does so from the unique pe

Ameer Fakhoury

Mar 136 min read

On the Illusion of Power and the Disregard for Essence

All eyes are glued to the screens. The ritual is familiar, almost choreographed. An announcement of Khamenei’s "elimination", a strike on an Iranian target that sounds significant, or a military spokesperson reminding us yet again of the long arm of the IDF. Immediately, the generals unfold their maps, the pundits boast of our invincible strength, and the public, for the most part, celebrates. Even Pnina Rosenblum has already released a song. The entire discourse is emotional

Ayala Shalev

Mar 65 min read

The Performance must End

Do you know that feeling when you look at the world and somehow one plus one just doesn’t add up to two? When the mouths of the people in front of you are moving, but no sound seems to come out? When everyone is rushing around in every direction, yet to you it all feels like it’s happening in slow motion? It’s as if your eyes see and your ears hear, but your mind refuses to believe. For me, this has become a daily experience in recent years, ever since this nightmarish govern

Hamze Awawde

Feb 275 min read

The Death Penalty as a Policy Failure Wrapped in Revenge

It is hard to put into words the feeling that rises in me each time the regime’s push for the death penalty comes up for another round. Perhaps the most accurate description is: “my entire being recoils.” But the truth is that this recoil has become almost routine in the face of the current governmental monstrosity, reflected in its treatment of anyone who does not resemble its leaders. Sawsan Masarwa begins, at the very least, to give words to this terrible feeling. Do we tr

Sawsan Masarwa

Feb 204 min read

Elections as an Arab Civic Responsibility

Time and again, I encounter public discourse about “the Arab vote” as if it were a deviation from the rules, some anomaly that requires explanation. It is astonishing to me how quickly people erase and ignore the most basic principle: a citizen is a citizen. A vote is a vote. Democracy is not the granting of rights only to those who think like you and align with your opinions. Democracy is a structure that grants every citizen the same power. From my perspective as a Jewish c

Loui Haj

Feb 135 min read

When the State Neglects

If, in the face of the wave of protests we have all been witnessing over the past two weeks in the Arab society in Israel, you shrug your shoulders and say, “That’s Arabs for you, they’re violent,” it might be time to check your racism index. These protests come after years of neglect and abandonment, while crime claims the lives of men, women, and children almost every single day. When the State Neglects Ayala Shalev We have all grown accustomed to the framing of crime and v

Ayala Shalev

Jan 306 min read

An Invitation into a Shared Space

It so happened that earlier this week I spoke with a friend who told me she had to be in Jerusalem after a long time away. As she was walking through the “united” city, she felt a deep sense of alienation. “It didn’t feel like an invitation into a shared space,” she said. That phrase – “an invitation into a shared space” – s tayed with me throughout the day, and has continued to accompany me throughout the week. As you can see, here it is. An Invitation into a Shared Space Ay

Ayala Shalev

Jan 165 min read

Not Comparing. Remembering.

This pair of words, “Don’t compare”, has become a common phrase, used with a mix of humor and bitterness whenever, well, the comparison is screaming to the heavens. The prohibition is absolute. Completely forbidden. No questions asked. No why, no how, no under what circumstances, and not even a moment’s reflection on why it is so forbidden. And indeed, Amir Pansky, one of the most dedicated activists on the ground, does not compare. He only remembers the stories of his father

Amir Pansky

Jan 94 min read

Where Is the Palestinian Gandhi?

I often hear people asking, “Why aren’t there Palestinian peace leaders?”Never mind that, once again, we look at “them” as if we have leaders who spend all day sincerely trying to make peace; or that there is no real symmetry in the balance of power; or that Israel has a long record of sidelining, imprisoning, or eliminating Palestinian leaders and activists who try to struggle through nonviolent means. When I hear these arguments and try to respond to them, I realize that it

Yariv Mohar

Jan 25 min read

Champion of Gaslighting and Champion of Nothing (Seriously)

The way the Netanyahu regime sabotages language itself is always on my mind. I assume this has been written about here once or twice already, because honestly, they are so good at it. And when I say “so good," I mean their relentless efforts to label every act of violent settler aggression as “self-defence," every instance of abandonment and failure as “governance," every act of budgetary theft benefiting the sectors they represent as “strengthening heritage," and people like

Tom Zandman

Dec 26, 20258 min read

Innocent Jewish Criminals

In the increasingly darkening reality we live in, it's hard to make distinctions between various injustices. And yet, one of the places where the erosion of the rule of law has been worn down to the bone is in the almost total separation between Jews and Arabs when it comes to the law's treatment and its enforcement. Remember civics lessons? Remember how we all learned and knew how to recite that "everyone is equal before the law"? This principle – the principle of equality b

Ayala Shalev

Dec 19, 20255 min read

My handiwork is drowning, and you recite song

My heart breaks for Gaza. I see the images and videos coming from there, and I hear my own heart cracking. After the total destruction Israel has wrought there, with most of the population now living in tents, the flood that has arrived now – when everything is submerged and there's nowhere to flee, when the scant food available gets soaked and ruined, when the cold strikes 24/7 against the drenched people – the misery is indescribable. And here, in the place that bears prima

Ori Goldberg

Dec 12, 20254 min read

Everything is Connected

When we look at Jewish Israeli society, we all recognize and can recite the "divide and rule" policy the regime has been employing for years. And without a doubt, it has been successful. Netanyahu and his partners have managed to fracture Israeli society into tribes, ethnic groups, geographic areas, and political opinions in such a way that people are almost willing to kill each other over differing views. Similarly, the same people, the same prime minister, are conditioning

Dani Danieli

Dec 5, 20256 min read

Breaking Ranks

From the YouTube link to the film: This special feature documentary goes inside one of the most closed institutions in the world: the Israel Defense Forces during the war in Gaza. Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War presents first-hand accounts from IDF soldiers who served in Gaza after October 7th 2023. Speaking openly – many for the first time – they describe what they recall seeing on the ground: the bombardment, the civilian impact, the pressure, the confusion, and momen

Ayala Shalev

Nov 20, 20255 min read

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