The +972 Podcast Why Voting to Maintain the Occupation is Rational for Israelis
Israeli elections are right around the corner. But for a country that controls millions of non-citizens, the concept of democracy becomes muddled.
In this episode, +972 Magazine writer Noam Sheizaf explains why, as opposed to the one- or two-state paradigm most of the world thinks in, Israelis consistently vote for a third option: maintaining the occupation just as it is.
"Netanyahu and the right have been saying to Israelis that, not only is the status quo is significantly better than the one-state or two-state solution, but some of the things that people said you can only achieve through a peace deal, can [actually] be achieved within the status quo."
In the second half, former +972 writer Omar Rahman, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, talks about what it means for Palestinians to have no say in elections that in many ways could determine their national fate, in addition to their daily lives.
"When we're looking at Israeli elections, whether it's the left or the center or the right or the far-right that's elected, that has a tremendous impact on the daily lives of Palestinians and they don't have any say over that. So there's a deep uneasiness over what's coming, which you have no control over."
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The music in this episode is by Ketsa.