Protests at the Nahalal Junction

Haviva Ner-David and Grace Sherman interviewed by Michael Appel

Haviva Ner-David and Grace Sherman live in the Jezreel Valley region of northern Israel and are active in the Israeli protest movement. When I learned of their regular presence at the Tzomet Nahalal (Nahalal Junction) protest site, I reached out to interview them. Moshav Nahalal is known to quite a few Ann Arborites because the local Federation sponsors a partnership relationship with the community, including a yearly student exchange with middle schoolers.

Grace lives in Moshav Nahalal with her husband and two younger children and has two older children from a previous marriage who live independently nearby. She has been a Nahalal resident for 11 years. Professionally, she is a personal trainer and surfing instructor. Rabbi Dr. Ner-David, who has orthodox rabbinic ordination, lives in Kibbutz Hanaton with her husband and two younger children, and has five older children who live independently elsewhere. She is responsible for the mikveh owned and managed by Hanaton, the only mikveh in Israel open to all to immerse as they choose. Haviva is also a spiritual companion and a writer who has published memoirs, novels, and a children’s book about mikveh.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Michael: The current series of protests has progressed from resisting judicial reform, to opposing the government coalition, to bringing home the hostages, to ending the war in Gaza, to a response to the war with Iran. Can you describe your participation in the protests in Israel?

Grace: I was never a supporter of Bibi and always voted the other way. However, when he was elected again, I let the democratic process take its place without resisting. I started protesting when the intentions of the government became clear — Bibi’s weakness and dependence on fringe Kahanist and messianic parties with commitments to limit democratic freedoms and expand both Jewish dominance and settlements. I started just by standing with a sign in local protests but soon found myself on the microphone speaking. Then, after October 7, which hit my husband and I so hard, we went to the UK to be with family for six months. During that time, Israel saw very little protests, mostly because of the shock of what happened. Six months in, I found that I couldn’t stay in the UK knowing what was happening in Israel and how the corrupt government is willing to sacrifice the hostages, and I made my way back to fight the government and demand hostages be returned. Since then, I have become one of a team of seven leaders who are leading the protests for Emek Yizrael (Jezreel Valley).

Haviva: I have been an activist all my life. My earlier activism was feminist-oriented, whereas now it’s focused on Palestinian-Jewish partnership work, as that is what feels most urgent to me at this time. But since this government came into power, I have also been focused on resisting this government, which sometimes overlaps with the partnership work and sometimes doesn’t.

I have been involved in the protests since the first week this coalition was formed. I heard a demonstration was taking place in Haifa on Saturday night, and I went. The next week, we, Standing Together (an Israeli grassroots social change movement based on Palestinian-Jewish partnership), had a big protest in Tel Aviv. It was a true Arab-Jewish partnership collaboration, and thousands of people came. I was so energized! I have been involved in Standing Together for the past six years or so, but even before that I was very involved in shared society work.

Then, the next Saturday night, more centrist and Jewish-centered protests began — the ones with the Israeli flags as the symbol. I am not saying this is a bad thing. It made sense in terms of trying to get out the largest number of people possible. And it was a smart symbol to use — taking back the flag — so that no one could say these were just a bunch of anti-Israel traitors who hate the country anyway. But this did push away Arab (or Palestinian) Israelis who would have wanted to be involved. I wish the leaders had reached out a hand to partner with Palestinian Israelis and Druze and Bedouin from the beginning. There was also even some antagonism towards people who came with messages against the occupation and the Nation-State Law at the beginning. But slowly, not only were we accepted, but over time, our messages became the messages from the podium. I heard more and more speakers speak against the occupation and against the Nation-State Law, for example. And more and more Arab (some who identify as Palestinian and some who don’t) speakers were invited. It was quite amazing.

And then came October 7 and everything stopped short. After a few weeks, demonstrations began in Caesarea, where Netanyahu lived most of the time then. These were very angry protests, condemning Netanyahu for October 7 and demanding that he resign or be impeached. Demonstrations for the hostages began early, too. It took longer for the big anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv to start again. I think one reason is that there were so many reservists involved. And because the leaders were involved in helping the victims of October 7 and the displaced, filling in where the government was being dysfunctional.

I go at least once a week to demonstrate, but often more than once a week. I protest all over, but mostly in local protests. I was going every Saturday night to Tel Aviv. Then I became the head of the field committee of my Standing Together chapter, and we decided to start standing at the Nahalal and Tivon protests each week with photos of children in Gaza who were killed in this war. I feel this is a calling at the present time, bringing this voice and message to the local protests.

Michael: Can you describe your specific involvement in the protest at Tzomet Nahalal (Nahalal Junction)?

Grace: We are a team of seven and we manage all the protests for this area. This consists of getting speakers to come, all advertising for the citizens of Emek Yizrael. We join forces with other protests like the one against Chikli (a previous Likud MK, who is the current Minister of Diaspora Affairs and lives on Hanaton), and we also take shifts in protesting in Jerusalem in Rehov Aza when needed where the Netanyahus reside. We work in correlation with other protest movements in Israel, but we are also our own movement. We raise money by making and selling apparel to our protestors and that’s how we pay for billboard signs and other big projects.

Haviva: As my protesting has become more locally focused in the past months, my path has crossed more with Grace’s. And Grace has also been helpful with the protests in Hanaton at Amichai Chikli’s house. It has been lovely to find there is much we share in terms of vision and outlook, whereas I had seen the Nahalal protests as too centrist for me. I am still on the left end there, but Grace’s welcome, embrace, and encouragement has been a pleasant surprise to me. Grace is a more outspoken leader than I am. I am a more quiet activist. I do a lot, and write a lot about it, but I rarely speak at protests, even those at Chikli’s house. But I have also become an organizer. Grace is a powerhouse.

Michael: Haviva, I know you are also very involved in protesting Amichai Chikli, a right-wing government minister.

Haviva: I have a neighbor, a member of my kibbutz, Hanaton, who is the Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli. And he is not a quiet minister. He is very vocal in his extreme right-wing views and can be quite offensive and in-your-face about them. I am part of a small group of Hanaton residents (some also kibbutz members) who protest regularly in front of his house. We try to have a presence there, actually every day now. I was there protesting twice today, in fact. I live so close to his house, so if I can manage it, I go out and join when someone else is standing there. My involvement in these protests began way back before the war, during the anti-government judicial reform period. A man in the area, Yisrael Boker, organized and initiated those protests — every Friday near Chikli’s house. These were loud protests, with megaphones and whistles. At first, I did not join them. It felt uncomfortable to protest in my neighborhood and in front of a neighbor. But then I began to feel bad, when I saw how people were coming from over half an hour away, and there I was, living right there. I wanted to support their efforts, so I started going to these protests.

Then October 7 happened and the war started, and these protests stopped. Two months later, in early December, a man from a nearby town started coming every Friday with an Israeli flag and a sign and standing in front of Amichai Chikli’s house. Alone. The police would come and tell him he had to move, but he came back week after week. Finally, December 2023, a few of us decided to stand with him, so that when the police came, we could tell them he is with us, we live here, and we have every right to stand on a sidewalk in our neighborhood.

Michael: Can you say a bit about the dynamics of protesting in a small community? How has it affected you and your family?

Grace: For me in Nahalal, being a leader of the protest movement does feel like it may have set me apart from many others. I find myself frustrated at people who don’t step up to the hour and are going about their lives as if all is well. When people aren’t feeling the urgency that I feel and choose the path of silence, especially people who are in the local committee and can use their power to get things on the table, I find it very difficult. I have on occasion made my frustrations clear in the community WhatsApp groups and have received a lot of negative responses and backlash. In Nahalal the majority doesn’t approve of the government, but people also try not to ruffle feathers, always choosing the easy and polite option which in times such as these does have a tendency to make me very frustrated.

Haviva: It has been very hard in Hanaton for us protesters. Most residents do not join our protests, for a variety of reasons. Mostly, people are against the idea of protesting inside the kibbutz. They think all politics should be left outside the yellow gate. Even if they agree that Chikli is very problematic and that this government is catastrophic, they prioritize what they call “Shalom Bayit,” peace in the home. Whereas we see the situation as so drastic, such an emergency, that it is worthwhile — in fact imperative — to disrupt the community’s quiet and peace.

Hadas, Amichai’s spouse, has also been very proactive in trying to turn other kibbutz members against us, including the secretariat, who have taken various steps to try and silence us and/or prevent our protests. They sent out a letter to the community saying harsh things against us and forbidding us from hanging signs in public areas or writing with sidewalk chalk on the street. Whenever someone joins our protests, Hadas comes out to yell at them, or she invites them to meet with her so she can convince them not to return. It reached a point where neighbors are not speaking to one another and send angry WhatsApp messages in the community group back and forth.

One member of our protest group dropped out because her daughter’s friends were making fun of her because of her mother’s activity and saying nasty things about her. This protester was in distress about the whole situation and stopped her involvement, whereas before she was a main force behind the protests.

About six weeks ago, an article about the whole controversy was published in the national newspaper, Haaretz. The silence in the community about it was obvious. The community organizer of the kibbutz sent our group a message inviting us for a discussion, writing that rather than go to a third party [the newspaper] if we have a complaint, we should come to her and the secretariat. We wrote back that the reporter came to us, and we have no intention of coming to speak with her and the secretariat unless we have a guarantee they will not treat us like they have in the past.

Lately, after more and more one-on-one discussions with people as they pass by or even come out to tell us to stop protesting, we feel we have gained more support — just a few more people every once in a while. Still, there is progress, we think. We feel the situation is so urgent that even things that might disturb or upset people are acceptable.

Michael: At least twice — after October 7 and during the war with Iran — most if not all of the protests were halted. Can you speak about how these events impacted you, your family, your safety, and your community? And how did they impact the approach to protesting?

Grace: October 7 impacted me on so many levels. Beyond being traumatized from having it live streamed to us, I was appalled at the magnitude of it and also felt like I had failed personally in preventing it. I had stood for so long warning about the war I felt was coming due to the corruption of the government and the judicial coup, I saw what it did to divide the people and the country, and I felt like all that protesting, all those signs, it didn’t help. I felt powerless against the system and that I had failed all those victims and the hostages. I couldn’t wrap my head around the colossal failure, and I had to leave to regroup. I wanted to hide anywhere with my two young children, hide them from the Hamas terror regime and from the Israeli government terror regime.

I felt we had all been pawns of two corrupt regimes out to get more power and land in the name of extreme ideology. The protests halted completely and I was submerged in deep mourning in London where the weather suited my mood. Six months later I realized that we’re going to have to fight to bring home the hostages as the government has every intention of using the situation for political survival. So we came back to Israel and started protesting again trying to bring people back into action. We’ve been protesting since. It’s like a beating heart, sometimes it falters and less people show up and sometimes it beats strong and heavy with lots of people coming and fighting to bring home the hostages, to stop the war and the senseless killing of civilians.

The campaign against Iran also brought the protests to a halt and people were in and out of safe rooms. Me and my family were on a visit to the UK when it started so we got stuck there. Protests renewed as soon as that was over. The Iran campaign really showed the government in its worst as the coalition was hiding with their families in bunkers and the citizens were left to fend for themselves after budgets have been cut so significantly that many people had to rely on protest movement initiatives to turn underground parking lots into bunkers. Now more than ever we understand that it is up to us to save the country and that the protests are also civil movements in times of need and have an imperative job in the future of Israel.

Michael: I’m eager to know your thoughts about how folks in the U.S. — particularly Jews who want to support your efforts in Israel — can be of support to you and/or to the protests more generally?

Grace: I think more than anything we need to know that the Jews of the diaspora see themselves as a part of Israel and in that respect they too have to protest and fight against this extreme Kahanist government. If Israel is an extreme state then Jews of the diaspora aren’t safe either from hatred and antisemitism. The fate of all Jews all over the world is intertwined and this is not just an Israeli problem, this is very much a Jewish problem that we as Jews have to come together to solve. I would like to see more and more Jews protest this corrupt government wherever they live and stand with Israelis in the understanding that Israel must be a democracy and we must find a diplomatic solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their and our fate is also woven together. This must take place for the sake of all of us.