We must not resume that exhaustingly familiar ping-pong match with the right, in which the leftists predict the worst, the general public isn’t impressed, and everything goes on as usual.
The Netanyahu government’s annexation initiative must be halted. Period. But we must come to this definitive and emphatic bottom line for the most essential reasons.
In the past, for tactical reasons, first and foremost the effort to attract wider audiences, we on the left sinned by presenting our positions while highlighting motives and considerations that were not at the heart of the matter. This was a bad move that lost us more than we gained. The attempt to cover up an ethical and principled position by wrapping it in utilitarian considerations was not only perceived (justifiably) as inauthentic, but also weakened our opposition to some fateful moves, and undermined our core belief in the need to have a just society here.
