The word “unity” has become one of the most overused words in Israeli discourse recently. Anyone who seeks to avoid a moral decision, blur divisions, or cavort with racist and anti-democratic forces hastens to wrap their position in a call for “unity of the nation.” Unity that will always, even at the theoretical stage, be only among Jews. 

This is the empty unity that the Israelis of “The Fourth Quarter” social movement and likeminded compatriots offer us: not to debate values, not to set red lines, and not to decide what direction the state will go in. In the name of reconciliation, they ask us to accept extremism, as if merely sitting together as part of a coalition government could erase the danger.

But there is also another kind of unity. In the past two years, I have had the privilege of being part of  “The London Initiative” (TLI). The TLI network was established by Sir Mick Davis, former CEO of Britain’s Conservative Party and chairman of the Jewish community in the UK, and Mike Preshker, a former British-Israeli social entrepreneur who founded “Merchavim” to advance equitable citizenship among all citizens of Israel.

The network currently comprises over 200 women and men from Israel, the Jewish diaspora, and other prominent international changemakers and is set to expand to 360 members. 45 percent of the network’s members are citizens of Israel, of whom 20%, in accordance with their proportion in Israeli society, are Arab Palestinian citizens. An additional 45 percent of the network’s members come from........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)