Golan, who entered politics five years ago after a career in the army, is one of the most prominent of the many brave Israelis who took matters into their own hands that day to save others. His new image as a hero has given his political career a shot in the arm – and he has decided his new mission is to revive his country’s moribund left.
“The right today in Israel is people who think we can annex millions of Palestinians, and Israel should adopt some sort of policy of revenge, that we can live by our swords and not attempt to reconcile with the Palestinians or any other hostile entity in the region. I think 180 degrees the opposite.”
Israeli politics has changed, Golan said. “I’m not sure whether Israel right now is truly a democratic state any more … It is not a question of left or right any more: these titles are meaningless,” he said.
Did you understand what A1kmm is trying to say? If Israel was a democracy Palestinians in occupied territories would have equal voting rights. This was never the case at any point in Israeli history, ergo Israel was never a democracy.
This premise is invalid. Hamas governed Gaza for the past fifteen years, not Israel. Palestinians held elections until they voted in Hamas, which put an end to that. Israel maintained a blockade, but Egypt also strictly controlled Gaza trade and passage at Rafah. Not being able to ship stuff from your ports sucks, but Hamas made no good faith efforts to really improve the security situation to enable easy trade through Egypt. Having significant external influence over a region doesn’t mean you are their government.
The Israeli imposed closure on Gaza began in 1991, temporarily, becoming permanent in 1993. The barrier began around Gaza around 1972. After the ‘disengagement’ in 2007, this turned into a full blockade; where Israel has had control over the airspace, borders, and sea. Under the guise of ‘dual-use’ Israel has restricted food, allocating a minimum supply leading to over half of Gaza being food insecure; construction materials, medical supplies, and other basic necessities have also been restricted. This has been a deliberate tactic of De-development.