July 1 was a date some Israelis were looking forward to. For the past few months, most Israelis have been speaking about one thing, (well, except for the coronavirus) —annexation, aka, instilling Israeli law in much of the West Bank or Judea and Samaria. Since the Six Day War in 1967 when Israel conquered the area, Israeli citizens have been living there in settlements under military rule. Annexation would change that permanently, and settlers would cease to be settlers. They would be living, de facto, in the state of Israel.
Of course, in Israel, nothing’s ever that simple. This plan split the country in two: those who prayed for annexation, and those who dreaded it.
Uri Zaki is a political activist and a member of the Meretz party, one of Israel’s more left-wing parties. He is the founder of “The Front for the Protection of Democracy,” an organization that strives to be “the assaultive tool in the struggle for the Israeli democracy.” Zaki is also the partner of MK Tamar Zandberg, whom we had the please of hosting on our podcast (episode 34).
We’re happy to be joined by Zaki to discuss the Deal of the Century, democracy in Israel and much more.
Uri Zaki’s twitter and the website of the Front for the Protection of Democracy
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