Israel’s current cocktail of virus and protests continues to shake the country. Pro-Netanyahu protesters are now clashing with anti-Netanyahu protesters, with violence the result. (That said, in last night’s protest, police took significant steps to prevent violence.) Right-wing protesters in another part of Jerusalem attacked Arabs and journalists.
The anti-Netanyahu protests don’t have a leader, or even a single unifying rallying call for people to gather around. Protesters are motivated by a mix of things; frustration at the economy, or anger at Netanyahu’s bribery trial, or at the government’s perceived mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article (https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-anti-netanyahu-protests-n…/) is a good entree into the protest movement, and great homework for Sunday night’s Lockdown Learning.
Our guest this week is Dr Eilon Schwartz, who specialises in social cohesion. He’ll be speaking about the protests, and COVID-19 and Israeli society more generally. Here’s a two-minute video pulled from a talk he gave at Brandeis University a couple of years ago about building a politics of the common good in Israeli society.
Join us right here on our Facebook page on Sunday evening at 8pm (6pm Perth, 1pm Israel).
See you then!