what a job title

Lettres à un jeune poète (Rainer Maria Rilke, 1929).

Last week, Haaretz analyst @dahliasc explained why so many Israelis still vote for Netanyahu despite the havoc he has wreaked on the country. For all those puzzled by the election results - this is a must read. haaretz.com/israel-news/elec…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "trying to set a trap for Gadi Eisenkot that Gadi Eisenkot should not fall into" by claiming election fraud in Israel's elections, New York Democratic House candidate Brad Lander claims. He says Netanyahu is attempting to "demonize and discount the votes of Palestinian citizens of Israel who, if it's a democracy, their votes count just as much as Jewish voters." "All Eisenkot has to do is work out a coalition with those voters, and Netanyahu can be gone," he adds. "And showing Jewish-Arab collaboration is the path forward for safety and flourishing, both for Israelis and for Palestinians."

🤖L’un des enjeux les plus importants du moment sera discuté, le 30 octobre à 18h30 à Beit Beirut Sodeco: «Les nouveaux empires. le totalitarisme numérique est-il inéluctable ?» Autour de la table, pour cette rencontre organisée par l’Institut français, Asma Mhalla et Karim Bitar

Jonathan Littell : “La police française, sous le gouvernement démocratique et soi-disant centriste qui est le vôtre, a déjà des comportements plus que problématiques, et parfois dignes des régimes dits « illibéraux » ; comment donc se comporterait-elle sous les ordres d’un parti politique héritier du régime collaborationniste de Vichy et des tortionnaires de l’Algérie française ? Comment se comporterait-elle sous les ordres d’un gouvernement raciste prêt à entrer en guerre contre toute une partie de sa population ?" 👉lemonde.fr/idees/article/202… via @dbelaid via @alancelin

🇮🇱 Israel's left and right reportedly differ MORE on domestic Jewish affairs than on Palestinians Even supposedly progressive figures like Democrats leader Yair Golan would reportedly prefer governing with Likud without Bibi over partnering with Israel's Arab-led parties such as the Joint List. The reluctance to work with Arab parties blurs the line between Israel’s left and right. Source: Al Jazeera / Writer: Marie

Sen. @tedcruz in March: "I don't believe that what is happening in Iran will be front and center in November. If it extends that long, we've done something wildly wrong... The president said at the beginning this is going to be a matter of several weeks."

Netanyahu and his allies have beaten the opposition in the Jewish Israeli vote. That's despite: - Presiding over October 7th - Netanyahu being on trial on charges of bribery and fraud - A cost of living and housing crisis - Attacks on the judiciary - Outrage over shielding ultra-Orthodox Jews from conscription - The Qatargate scandal - The disastrous Iran war - The Israeli establishment rationally believing that Netanyahu was making their state a pariah, and organising to get rid of him - The opposition overwhelmingly also supporting the genocide, occupation and illegal settlements If we include Ofer Winter's party - which pledged to support Netanyahu for prime minister, but hasn't crossed the threshold - then so far 51.5% of the non-Arab list vote went to the Netanyahu bloc. With 84.4% of votes counted, among the non-Arab list bloc, the opposition has only increased its share of the vote by about 1.6 points. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich stood separately this time, but are set to win almost the same combined number of seats as last time. The latter in alliance with Moshe Feiglin, who declared "Every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy." The only significant shift is the surge in support for the Palestinian-led parties. But most of the opposition is opposed to working with them. Avigdor Lieberman, for example, has taken even more extreme positions towards Palestinians than Netanyahu himself. If they do a pact with the Palestinian-led parties, not only would it not last long, it would produce a huge right-wing backlash. That the opposition could on paper form an arithmetical majority with the support of the Palestinian-led parties - but absolutely will not - trashes the "well if the small minority of Palestinians who remained in Israel after the Nakba can vote, then Israel is a democracy for all its citizens" nonsense. A very likely prospect is that this will pave the way for new elections. The two right-wing parties which didn't cross the threshold would likely not stand again, boosting Netanyahu. The same huge mobilisation of Palestinian citizens of Israel would likely not transpire. Netanyahu and his allies would likely benefit from shock at the unexpected surge in support for the Palestinian-led parties. The opposition would be demoralised by its failure, and Netanyahu strengthened by having come out on top in this election. So it's best to bet on Netanyahu winning a coming election. What does all this mean? Any illusions that change can happen within Israeli society should long ago have been destroyed. The opposition would have continued the genocide, the occupation, apartheid and colonisation. But as Israel's support in the West collapsed, Israel's cheerleaders pushed the position that Netanyahu was the bogeyman, and that a shift in figurehead could allow the state to do a PR relaunch. Netanyahu isn't Israel, we were told. Well that's true in the sense that on many key issues, Israeli society is actually more extreme than Netanyahu. This baseless illusion is now dead and buried. There must now be a much more determined push for a total arms embargo and sweeping sanctions on Israel. Those arguing that Israel is something it plainly is not are now completely and utterly discredited.

There are people who still think a minority government involving Eisenkot and the Arab parties is coming. It is absolutely not happening. Recent events have confirmed that: 1) Eisenkot’s own party is split. Amit Segal reported Wednesday that at least four Yashar members told the faction meeting they would not support a government relying on Ra’am with Joint List backing, even temporarily. Segal put its chances at “almost zero.” 2) One Yashar member has drawn this line in public. Hili Tropper, sixth on the list, told N12 in July: “I support only a Zionist government.” Haredi and Arab parties, he said, “chose not to be part of the Zionist story.” Matan Kahana, fifth on the list, told Arutz 7 on election night that Yashar will not form a government relying on the Arab parties. He cited their position on Hamas. 3) Liberman closed the door in August. “Yisrael Beytenu will not be a partner in any constellation for a minority government. Period.” In October he repeated that he would not back one even as a transitional government. Leaks close to him say he has not changed his mind. 4) Bennett has refused to depend on Arab votes or abstentions. On election night he pledged only “a Zionist government.” All told, I estimate that around 20 members of the opposition would just not join. Many of the others would have serious reservations. It is simply not happening.

"You see, there's no racism or apartheid in Israel: the Arab parties almost got 20 percent of the vote." Great, then surely they will be invited to help govern their own country? "Oh, no absolutely not."

Haaretz Explains: As the final results show a clear picture of this election's results, there are three possible scenarios to pay attention to | Linda Dayan 🔗Follow Haaretz's election here: haaretz.com/israel-news/elec… Credit: Itai Ron; Rami Shlush; Itay Cohen; Tomer Appelbaum; Olivier Fitoussi

Through their massive vote in yesterday’s election, the Arab/Palestinian citizens of Israel have made it clear that they want to participate fully, as equals, in shaping this country’s future. Not taking this historic opportunity to work with them would be cowardly, racist, and self-defeating.

💥Dov Gil-Har, an Israeli Berlin-based correspondent: "There's no way to explain to the world that there's a boycott of Arab parties as such. There's no way to paint them all as "terror supporters" without being seen as racist from head to toe. The world is watching."

I’ve waited ten years for someone to say this about Donald Trump.

As American Jews, we know what it means to be a minority and how important it is for every voice to count. Arab and Jewish Israelis deserve their votes counted equally. A democracy must include all its citizens.

🇮🇷 🎥 “In Iran, the Oscar-nominated director Jafar Panahi has been sentenced in absentia by a Tehran court to five years and one month in prison. He was already facing a one-year sentence. The court also issued an order to confiscate Panahi’s assets, and put in place a two-year ban on using social media and a two-year travel ban.” 👉democracynow.org/2026/10/28/… via @democracynow

If Gadi Eisenkot and the opposition bloc are remotely serious about getting rid of Netanyahu, and about Israel’s democratic future, they’ll do the obvious, strategic, and non-racist thing of forming a government with the Arab parties. A Jewish-Arab political partnership is necessary to meet this political moment, and for any shared future. haaretz.com/israel-news/haar…

Wow! Canadian journalist asks Moshe Feiglin, a former Likud Member of Knesset, if he is concerned about Israel's plummeting global standing. Feiglin's response is chilling, as it reveals the fundamental supremacist view he and many in Israel hold. He says that the real moral supreme court is in Israel, ie with the people of Israel. The Bible says, he explains, that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. As a result, it's we - Israelis - who get to judge you, rather than you judging us. And then he adds? "Are you with the children of God or not?"

After years of gloom in the shadow of Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, and others of their ilk, progressives and liberals around the world are finding cause to celebrate. On Monday, Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, defeated the far-right challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro, in his country’s Presidential runoff. Between Lula’s victory and events earlier this year in Hungary, where the long-ruling nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was ousted in elections, the White House has lost two hugely symbolic allies in its broader right-wing global culture war. No clear winner has yet emerged in the Israeli election, in which Trump had endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and which saw a historic turnout of Arab voters. And the U.S. President may be humbled further in next week’s midterms, as Democrats eye taking both the House and the Senate. At the same time, protests have broken out across the world. People have taken to the streets in India, France, Belgium, Spain, Albania, and Italy; among their demands are access to affordable housing, job opportunities for young people, relief from the cost of living, and greater investment in schools. “There’s no simple narrative bringing together all the separate uprisings,” Ishaan Tharoor writes. But across the world, on the streets and at the ballot box, the right-wing movement is facing a backlash. Read Tharoor’s latest column: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/-a…