| | | | | As the holiday season continues, Yom Kippur segueing into Sukkot, the painful images of Jews clashing in Tel Aviv over the issue of gender segregation in public prayer continue to reverberate and overlap with the larger battle for democracy in Israel. Lisa Kaufman issues a rallying cry to Israel's Reform, Conservative and other liberal Jewish movements to make public the fight against state-sponsored discrimination and Orthodox hegemony – to champion religious freedom for all Jews in the Jewish state. Yofi Tirosh corrects the record that there is in fact no state permission for gender segregation in public spaces in general, and cautions that attempts to do so are discriminatory towards women, placing them in inferior conditions and violating their rights. Naomi Katz-Lulav writes of the danger in Netanyahu's attempt to change how judges are selected and why it may go to the heart of why he mobilized for regime coup in the first place. Etan Nechin argues that back in the U.S., the Jewish activist left, with honorable exceptions, is wrong to be disdainful and dismissive of Israel's mass pro-democracy protests. Chatter of an impending peace deal with Saudi Arabia seems to grow daily, and Chuck Freilich details how it would be a complete political and economic game changer for Israel and the region, and why Netanyahu's extremist coalition is its biggest obstacle. For years, Sweden was well known for its icy criticism of Israel, but as the country shifts rightward, so does it support for Israel. Anders Persson and Maria Owiredu tell us why. | |
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