What keeps this Israeli leftist in a pro-occupation government?

[Israeli]

MK Mossi Raz opens up about being part of a coalition that is 'moving to the right' on the occupation, and whether his Meretz party truly promotes Jewish-Arab partnership.

By Yoad Winter-Segev October 4, 2021

Knesset member Mossi Raz is not running short on dilemmas these days. Considered by many to be the most left-wing member of the liberal Meretz party, the former secretary general of the anti-occupation group Peace Now — who attends demonstrations against Israel’s military rule on a weekly basis — now serves as a parliamentarian in a governing coalition run by a former head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization that attends to the needs of West Bank settlements.

As a key leader in the environmental movement and a vegan who uses and encourages public transportation, Raz has found himself promoting the same environmental policies put forth by the preceding governments of Benjamin Netanyahu. And when it comes to economics, Raz, an avowed social democrat, is navigating his way through a coalition dominated by right-wing neoliberals.

In an interview before the escape of the six Palestinians from Gilboa Prison last month, and before a meeting on Sunday by Meretz ministers with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, I tried to understand how Raz copes with these contradictions. We spoke about why Meretz entered the Bennett-Lapid government in the first place, what are his party’s plans to end the occupation, and whether they would have the power to stop another war on Gaza.

Continued @ https://www.972mag.com/mossi-raz-occupation-government/