J Street: The Path of Power for the Israeli Peace Camp
The day before the 2015 Israeli election, an interviewer asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to confirm that a Palestinian state would never be created under his watch. Without hesitation, Netanyahu replied, “Indeed.”
Polls at that time showed the center-left Zionist Union party on the verge of defeating Netanyahu’s Likud. But the next day, Netanyahu outperformed expectations, forming one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history.
From his pre-election statements to the government’s pro-settlement policies, it has become abundantly clear that meaningful diplomatic progress toward a two-state solution must await a change in Israeli leadership.
And that is the focus of our next Solutions@70 YouTube Live event. As we look at concrete solutions to challenges standing in the way of peace, we will examine the Israeli peace camp’s effort to blaze a path to power.
We’ll have a frank discussion of past failures, current challenges and what’s being done now — particularly in light of legal challenges facing Netanyahu — to prepare for a post-Netanyahu Israel.
J Street Israel Director Yael Patir will moderate the event. She’ll lead a Q&A during the event, but we welcome your questions ahead of time. You can send them along to info@jstreet.org or simply reply to this email.
Many thanks,
Jessica Rosenblum
J Street VP of Communications
About our presenters
Avi Buskila is the general director of Peace Now, Israel’s largest and longest-standing peace movement. Prior to joining Peace Now, Buskila has led a variety of social and political campaigns, including elements of the struggle for LGBT rights and the struggle for rights of self-employed workers. As a social entrepreneur, Buskila also co-founded the Public Defense Front, an NGO focusing on narrowing social-economic gaps in Israel. During the past decade, Buskila worked as the CEO of two advertising firms. Prior to his work in advertising, he served as a Major in the Israel Defense Force for 15 years and became known in 1997 after stopping a Jewish settler from committing a massacre in Hebron.
Mikhael Manekin is the director of Israel Tomorrow, a strategic communications company. He is also the Israeli director of The Alliance for Israel’s Future, a consortium of donors and organizations focused on building new progressive, political leadership in Israel. Manekin is co-founder and former director of Molad, a nonpartisan progressive think tank based in Jerusalem. Prior to Molad, Manekin directed the organization Breaking the Silence. He co-founded Mahapach, a progressive caucus operating within the Labor Party. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three children.