Running With Asma

Today on Tablet, Liel Leibovitz reports on Da’am, the joint Israeli and Palestinian political party, and the group’s leader Asma Agbaria-Zahalka.

On the surface, there isn’t much to suggest that Agbaria-Zahalka and her party, Da’am, stand much of a chance of making it to the Knesset come this month’s election. The party’s last few campaigns have been more or less disastrous; in 2009, it hardly won 2,700 votes. But that was before the J14 movement, before the tents in Rothschild Boulevard, before Israelis collectively howled against the steep cost of housing and stagnant salaries and the other ravages years of rampant neo-liberal economic measures had wrought. And when they started paying attention to the economy, they started paying attention to Agbaria-Zahalka: Her unabashedly socialist platform is attracting a growing amount of attention in recent months, from a series of ads featuring a wide array of Israelis ecstatically stating their support to the sudden swelling of attendance at her many public appearances.

This is a fascinating read. Check out the rest here.