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.

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

3 days ago5 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

Not prisoners or detainees, but "Palestinian hostages"

What do you call it when police or military forces enter your place of residence – city, village, home – and take you with them into the unknown, without you having done anything, without you or your family knowing why, and in fact, as it turns out later, without any reason at all? So if you're Jewish, it's called "kidnapping," and if you're Palestinian, it's called "arrest." Ruti Lavi writes about yet another particularly painful manifestation of the occupation and apartheid

Ruti Lavi

Nov 13, 20255 min read

The Military Advocate General as a Parable

"I think I don't really understand what's the big story there," I wrote in my friends' group on Friday, after it was reported that the Military Advocate General had resigned. "They're angry that she released a video of prison guards abusing inmates? Is that what all the fuss is about?" "Yes," E replied to me. "The abuse itself doesn't interest them – it's not considered, it's not an event. What interests them is that it was brought out into the open”. So, I now understood, th

Ayala Shalev

Nov 6, 20258 min read

The Higher Ground

For the sake of full disclosure, I'll say that Hamza and I worked together for three years. We know each other well, and there's a solid foundation of mutual respect between us. I know that Israeli Jews who read this text of his might wince here and there. And yet, I think it's important to bring in the Palestinian voice that sees reality from a perspective different from the one the Israeli public looks through. Most of us live here without really knowing this viewpoint at a

Hamze Awawde

Oct 30, 20255 min read

What Now?

So here we are, with a ceasefire agreement that some are even calling "peace," and Trump, our new bestie, is even saying it's forever; the living hostages have finally returned home, and the fallen are arriving slowly too, to be buried in loving hands and broken hearts. Seemingly, the end of days. And yet, the feeling of distress doesn't cease; the feeling, beyond the immense relief over the hostages' return, continues to be a mix of horror and defensiveness – at least for th

Tom Zandman

Oct 22, 20256 min read

Has Everything Really Changed?

Amid the overall complexity of life here, and especially in the past two years, everyone longs for change. Which really means that no one is satisfied. But saying “change” isn’t enough. Simply because it only says what we don’t want – that is, what exists now – and doesn’t say what we do want. What kind of change are we hoping for? What do we actually want this place to become?The return of all the living hostages this week brought a collective sigh of relief, of course. Yet

Danny Rosin

Oct 15, 20255 min read

The Day After the Day After

Adi Ronen-Argov (★), Ayala Shalev (☆) – A conversation after hearing about the Hostages’ Release. What’s going on here? ☆ Hey Adi, what a...

Ayala Shalev

Oct 8, 20257 min read

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