‘Israeli Society Has Become Completely Genocidal' - B'Tselem Head Yuli Novak

In this latest episode of Beyond Israelism, Simone Zimmerman sits down with Yuli Novak, Executive Director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, and one of the most uncompromising dissident voices within Israel. Yuli reflects on her journey from an upbringing shaped by patriotism and belief in Israeli democracy to a painful reckoning with what she now calls an apartheid regime — and with the conditions that enabled mass complicity with genocide. Yuli revisits her years leading Breaking the Silence — a group of former Israeli soldiers that documented abuses under occupation — which became the target of an all-out smear campaign involving government officials, mainstream media, legal harassment, and infiltration by right-wing groups. Today, as head of B’Tselem, Yuli explains why the organization chose to name Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide in its report ‘Our Genocide’. Beyond Israelism with Simone Zimmerman is a provocative new video podcast series from Tikkun Olam Productions, the team behind the viral and award-winning 2023 film Israelism. In this series, Simone hosts bold and inspiring conversations that face, head on, the growing global reckoning with Zionism, the debates over Jewish identity, and the urgent struggle for Palestinian freedom. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Opening montage :40 - Intro 4:04 - B’Tselem 7:23 - Yuli’s upbringing in Israel 16:00 - Breaking the Silence 21:23 - Acknowledging apartheid 26:46 - Being targeted for speaking out 34:22 - The journey of anti-Zionism 39:45 - Yuli’s experience in South Africa 47:42 - ‘Our Genocide’ 1:03:27 - Israeli society 1:08:15 - Where do we go from here? This interview was published 10 days earlier on Zeteo.com. If you want early access to exclusive content and hard-hitting, independent journalism, subscribe on Substack here: https://zeteo.com/subscribe Find Zeteo: Twitter:   / zeteo_news   Instagram:   / zeteonews   TikTok:   / zeteonews   Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/zeteo.com Find Mehdi: Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasan Twitter:   / @mehdirhasan   Instagram:   / @mehdirhasan   Tik Tok:   / mehdirhasan