Hi, Israel Story listeners, it's Mishii.

One of the very first decisions we made here at Israel Story, long before we had a name,

a single story idea, or even for that matter, a recording device, was that the show was

going to be a political.

And more or less ever since we made that decision 12 years ago, we've been trying to understand

what exactly that means.

Certain aspects of being a political have always been straightforward and easy.

There have been seven election cycles since the show began, and not only have we never

endorsed a party or a candidate, I think we've barely even mentioned the fact that elections

were taking place.

Other parts of being a political, however, have been mercier.

We've asked and never quite found clear answers to many pertinent questions.

For instance, do we avoid stories that relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict altogether?

Or if we don't, how do we choose which stories to tell?

Do we tell stories of people who live beyond the green line?

And if so, does that include only Jewish settlers or also Palestinians?

And what terminology should we use?

West Bank, Judean Samaria, Occupation, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Israeli Arabs,

Palestinian citizens of Israel?

Widening the lens just a bit.

The very notion of being a political is complicated.

See somehow in the Israeli context, political really means one thing and one thing only.

...