RIP Ori Goldberg - Our First Interview

The way I've heard described by some folks is that I've heard some people describe the internal divide within Israel as being this far right vision of the state of Judea versus a secular Israel or the secular state of Israel.

But what people always tell me is that's very separate from the issue of... how do we get along with the Palestinians? Is that a good assessment?

Yeah, I think that's where a lot of popular discourse is.

I think you summed it up pretty well.

But see, here's where war does matter, where the fact that there are Israeli forces on the ground pounding Gaza into rubble does matter.

Because this is no longer hypothetical.

You can no longer maintain the decades-long routine of a military occupation and, you know, make the right gestures and pretend that at some point, if it's feasible, you'll jumpstart a political process.

Because now we've seen what we can do.

We've shown ourselves what we can do.

And the most horrible aspect of it to me, and I'm speaking, you know, completely on a personal level, is that we don't seem to be averse to it.

I don't go for the, that's the whole essence of the Zionist project.

All it is is killing Palestinians.

Israel should be dismantled.

It's not, I don't go for that because I don't agree with it and also because this is my country and I don't have another place to go.

And I want to fight to make this country worth living in and worth defending.

But, again, it's horrible to realize that the great majority of Jewish Israelis, for one reason or another, cannot bring themselves to politically oppose genocide.

And I'm still appalled by that, although I've grown accustomed to the idea.

I can't accept it.

I was not a social media presence before this war.

And for the first four or five months of this war, I tweeted exclusively in Hebrew and got into all sorts of arguments with my fellow Israelis.

I started tweeting in English almost by accident and was amazed to find the interest in voices from Israel that were not zombified.

Not necessarily agreeing with me or not, but voices that talked about experiences.

This is to try and tell what it's like to be an Israeli at this time, which is what I think I'm trying to do, rather than propose and promote a clear political

quote-unquote

solution.

The way I've heard described by some folks is that I've heard some people describe the internal divide within Israel as being this far right vision of the state of Judea versus a secular Israel or the secular state of Israel.

But what people always tell me is that's very separate from the issue of... how do we get along with the Palestinians? Is that a good assessment?

Yeah, I think that's where a lot of popular discourse is.

I think you summed it up pretty well.

But see, here's where war does matter, where the fact that there are Israeli forces on the ground pounding Gaza into rubble does matter.

Because this is no longer hypothetical.

You can no longer maintain the decades-long routine of a military occupation and, you know, make the right gestures and pretend that at some point, if it's feasible, you'll jumpstart a political process.

Because now we've seen what we can do.

We've shown ourselves what we can do.

And the most horrible aspect of it to me, and I'm speaking, you know, completely on a personal level, is that we don't seem to be averse to it.

I don't go for the, that's the whole essence of the Zionist project.

All it is is killing Palestinians.

Israel should be dismantled.

It's not, I don't go for that because I don't agree with it and also because this is my country and I don't have another place to go.

And I want to fight to make this country worth living in and worth defending.

But, again, it's horrible to realize that the great majority of Jewish Israelis, for one reason or another, cannot bring themselves to politically oppose genocide.

And I'm still appalled by that, although I've grown accustomed to the idea.

I can't accept it.

I was not a social media presence before this war.

And for the first four or five months of this war, I tweeted exclusively in Hebrew and got into all sorts of arguments with my fellow Israelis.

I started tweeting in English almost by accident and was amazed to find the interest in voices from Israel that were not zombified.

Not necessarily agreeing with me or not, but voices that talked about experiences.

This is to try and tell what it's like to be an Israeli at this time, which is what I think I'm trying to do, rather than propose and promote a clear political

quote-unquote

solution.