{"id":160646,"date":"2026-06-15T08:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/160646\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T08:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:41:13","slug":"the-blogs-5-reasons-i-love-the-rivon-harevii-aliza-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/160646\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blogs: 5 Reasons I Love the Rivon Harevii | Aliza Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rivon Harevii<\/a> (\u201cThe Fourth Quarter\u201d),\u00a0 the grassroots movement dedicated (in my own words) to taking the sting out of Israel\u2019s public discourse, announced a decision last night to run as a political party in the upcoming elections. I\u2019m deeply moved by this decision.\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never had any sort of political home in Israel. In most election cycles, I lose sleep over who to give my vote to, even as I deeply cherish the right to participate in Israel\u2019s democratic process.\n<\/p>\n

So this is quite new for me: I fully identify with the Rivon\u2019s work. Because the movement is focused on identifying long-term, innovative solutions to Israel\u2019s most pressing problems, solutions that are built carefully to earn the support of the majority of Israelis. Here\u2019s part of why I\u2019m such a big fan:\n<\/p>\n

\u201cStart-up Nation\u201d chutzpah applied to politics. Israel\u2019s \u201cStart-up Nation\u201d is famous for its out-of-the-box solutions. Yet, the famous quote about \u201cinsanity doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results\u201d could easily describe what we hear day in and day out on Israeli radio. The Rivon takes a different approach. The movement excels at developing in-depth, non-traditional, cross-party approaches to Israel\u2019s most substantive challenges: ideas that don\u2019t fit neatly into any political camp and genuinely have no other political home. See for example my post about the Rules of the Game, the Rivon\u2019s proposal for resolving the judicial crisis<\/a>.
\nConnecting with women and men of real character. Every time I participate in Rivon activities, I am impressed and even inspired by the caliber and openness of the individuals I meet. Holding and promoting unpopular political opinions takes grit and confidence. For example, Rivon activists from the right promote views unpopular with their own circles, like the idea of a unity government which could potentially unseat Netanyahu; Rivon activists from the left do the same, championing the Rivon\u2019s vision of a more Jewish yet more democratic Israeli experience.
\nPassion for democracy. With over 14,000 active members, the Rivon held one of the largest digital elections in Israeli history this week, on the question of whether to launch a new political party in the spirit of the movement. 69% voted in favor, 31% against. The vision is that both organizations will work in parallel, something like Bnei Akiva alongside the old Mafdal, or Hashomer Hatzair alongside Meretz\/Mapam.
\nDiversity and mutual respect. To quote Druze Israeli officer, academic, and fellow Rivon member Dr. Ala Abu-Roken, who spoke at last night\u2019s event: our diversity is our strength, not our weakness; the many cultures and ideologies within our small country contribute to its richness. At the Rivon, you\u2019ll find people from strikingly different backgrounds deep in conversation about the country\u2019s future. A small group discussion I participated in last night, for example, brought together about seven of us (from the geographic periphery and Center) spanning Charedi (ultra-Orthodox), secular, and national-religious perspectives.
\nRespect for Jewish tradition and history. It\u2019s relatively rare to hear self-defined secular Israelis quote Jewish history and Jewish texts. The current social polarization tends to mean that many secular Israelis prefer to present themselves as more humanist, \u201ccitizens of the world,\u201d while many religious Israelis tend to present themselves as more particularist, focused on Am Yisrael (at least, that\u2019s the stereotype). Some politicians in Israel speak about religious practice in ways that, as a religious Jew, make me genuinely uncomfortable. I love that Yoav Heller, who is secular and will be heading the new political party, continuously quotes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and draws on Jewish sources, treating tradition as something that grounds and enriches our national story.<\/p>\n

These aspects of the Rivon give me real hope.\n<\/p>\n

In the videos and photos:\n<\/p>\n

Charedi Rivon activist Yair Zechuta speaking about the need for Charedi integration into Israeli society. \u201cI am a Charedi who promotes the national interest (\u201cmamlachti\u201d) and a full partner,\u201d he told us.
\"\"
\nDruze Rivon activist Dr. Ala Abu-Roken: \u201cI define myself as 100% Arab, 100% Druze, and 100% Israeli. The multiple tribes in Israeli society are our strength.\u201d
\"\"
\nThe big reveal: 69% of Rivon members voted in favor of launching a new political party.
\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tAliza Israel made Aliyah 30 years ago from the US. A marketing writer for the technology sector, she lives in Alon Shvut with her husband Alex and their children.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rivon Harevii (\u201cThe Fourth Quarter\u201d),\u00a0 the grassroots movement dedicated (in my own words) to taking the sting out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[37,2742,26831,50614],"class_list":["post-160646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-israel","tag-israeli-politics","tag-religious-secular-divide","tag-the-fourth-quarter"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116753235164239083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}