Political essays by Oded Goldreich

This collection of short essays (in Hebrew), includes only essays published after Dec. 2008. The essays appear in chronological order.

In the Wake of the 2008 Municipal Elections in Tel-Aviv: A Very Limited Success, Dec. 2008.
Capitalism versus Socialism: Which is Actually Unsound?, Jan. 2009.
[A revision was posted on HaOkets, April 2010]
On the "Charm" of Liberman: A Glance at the Relation of Capital and Fascism, Jan. 2009.
On the Justification of Refusal to Serve in the Military, Nov. 2009.
Loyality Tests and the Road to Barbarism: From a Hierarchy of Service-Based Rights to the Gaza Flotilla, June 2010.
[See English digest]
A Smokescreen Called Encouraging Excellence, Aug. 2010.
[See earlier and more detailed versions that focus on Shochat Report (June 2008), same + a wider perspective (July 2008), evaluating excellence vs budgetting (Jan 2010), and the centers program (July 2010).]
On Refraing from a Moral Stand, Nov. 2010.
[Interestingly enough, Haaretz chose to published a mild version that omitted the more general claims made in the original.]
Loyality Tests and the Denial of Uncoditioned Rights, Dec. 2010.
The Galant Affair: A Case Study in Recklessness, Feb. 2011.
Ehud Barak as a Model of Opportunism, Feb. 2011.
On Fascism: A Summary, March 2011.
The New Colors of Neo-Liberalism: A Review of Eran Fisher's Book "Capitalism in the Digital Media Age", Apr. 2011.
On the state of the economy, July 2011.
Stop arguing on the two-states (vs one-state) solution, August 2011.
Comments on a recent court ruling regarding Bedouims' rights, April 2012.
The Enigma of Capital and the Crisis of Capitalism: Review of David Harvey's book, Oct 2012.
Rebel Cities: Review of David Harvey's book, Oct 2012.
On the Possibility of a Humanistic Justification of Zionism, Jan 2014.
On the Moral Army, Jan 2014.
Haneen Zoabi is not the problem, Aug 2014.
Reality, Danger, Hope, and Duty, Aug 2014.
Struggle for Hope, Sept 2014.
On the production of fear, Sept 2014.
On the betrayal of the elites, Oct 2014.
Comments on the authority of the supreme court to nullify legistlation, Nov 2014.
On Intellectuals, Truth, and Power: A review of Shlomo Sand's book, May 2015.
On the Israeli Left and the Mizrachim, May 2015.
Ethnic Culture and Political Relaity: The Jews as a Test Case, June 2015.
On the attempts to justify anti-democratic actions, June 2015.
On a Poem of Roei Hasan, July 2015.
Review of David Harvey's Brief History of Neoliberalism, July 2015.
Communication without contents, Aug 2017.
On what is being forgiven (re Haim Ramon), July 2018.
What does a "Jewish State" mean, July 2018.
On the under-representation of low social-economical classes in academia, April 2021.
The Israel Prize affair: a comment at the ceremony and an essay on the affair, April 2022.
On the 2022 Elections in Israel
- A moderate call for a progressive vote, October 2022.
- Post-Mortem of the 24th Knesset (April 2021 -- June 2022), October 2022.
- Responding to thoughts regarding Meretz failure in the last election, November 2022.
- Who is to blame and why?, November 2022.
- What should the Left do now?, December 2022.
Points for an essay on the political situation, February 2024.
The cancelation of IL prizes for 2024 as reflecting the governmental disinterest in culture, March 2024.

My political views (a brief summary (from early 2000s)):

The Israeli society has been degenerating morally and intellectually for several decades, and has reached a disgustingly low point. This degeneration is due in part to a global degeneration (lead by the USA), but is actually dominated by a local factor: I refer to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which is a brutal system of ethnic subordiantion (i.e., a system that violates the most basic human rights of the Palestinians and brutalizes the Israeli society). Thus, the single most important change that should take place is the immediate ending of this occupation.

Turning from the most concrete and immediate to the most general and long-range, I call for moving from a soceity organized according to the rational of capital-gain (i.e., a Capitalist soceity) to a soceity organized for the benefit of mankind (i.e., a Socialist soceity). In the short range, the neo-conservative attack on the welfare-state and organized labor has to be blocked, and social (i.e., democratic) regulation of the economy has to be promoted.

And in the meanwhile (as well as in the latter days), I call for safe-guarding of human rights. In particular, I call for the de-militarization of the Israeli Society, abolishing all forms of discrimination against Israeli Arabs, Women, and Gay/Lesbians, providing fair treatment of foreign workers, separation of State and Religious Affairs, and providing a critical analysis of (mass and elite) Culture.

Back to Goldreich's homepage or to Oded's personal web-page