Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man

Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man

Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man is the Israel-Palestine director at DAWN. He is the former editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine, and the co-author of the upcoming book, “From Apartheid to Democracy,” to be published by the University of California Press.

Recent Articles
Israelis look on as smoke rises from an Israeli military operation in the northern Gaza Strip, July 23, 2025. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
Is this Gaza’s ‘bomb the tracks’ moment?
With Gaza’s annihilation in plain sight, the question is what can compel global intervention to end Israel's genocide — and what form it will take.
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man July 25, 2025
A large billboard thanking US President Joe Biden for his support for Israel is seen above the Ayalon Highway in Ramat Gan, October 11, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The world is complicit in a broken Gaza paradigm
The policy of separation and containment has been central to Israeli apartheid. It cannot be allowed to dictate Palestinians’ reality when the smoke clears.
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 18, 2023
Opposition MKs holding Israeli flags during a discussion and vote on the government's judicial overhaul plans in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Why Israel’s opposition won’t talk about the real goal of judicial overhaul
Government officials have explicitly said their legal reforms are about annexation. Opponents won't admit it because they share the same vision.
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man February 21, 2023
People next to a mural showing Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Jerusalem's Old City, on the separation barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem, April 18, 2022. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)
Want to dismantle Israeli apartheid? Start with this law
The crisis over an emergency regulation that applies separate legal systems in the West Bank illustrates the tangible ways apartheid can be undone.
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man June 8, 2022
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, August 29, 2019. (Edo Konrad)
A farewell from +972 Magazine’s editor-in-chief
A reflection and goodbye from Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, +972 Magazine’s outgoing editor-in-chief. When I began working at +972 Magazine nearly seven years ago, I was the organization’s first full-time employee. It was the eve of the 2013 Israeli elections, and looking back all these years later, things felt very different. True, Netanyahu had already been…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 29, 2019
See the original video here: https://twitter.com/cogatonline/status/1165677757319254017
When an American in the IDF meets a Palestinian American in Hebron
An American serving in the Israeli army in Hebron says that in her job granting and denying Palestinians permission to work and travel, it’s a ‘conversation starter’ to meet Palestinians who back home would have full rights like her. The video below was published Sunday by COGAT, the unit of the Israeli Defense Ministry charged…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 25, 2019
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 4, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
A sliver of hope
Even when our leaders engage in the type of demonization that educates our children to believe the other side isn’t even worthy of speaking to, they still see the value in talking — even while they kill each other. Some thoughts about Gaza. By the time you read this there’s a pretty good chance a…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man May 5, 2019
Illustrative photo of Israeli children preparing for the first day of kindergarten in Jerusalem. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Jerusalem orders kindergartens not to let ‘minorities’ visit
The municipality’s security department sends instructions to kindergartens in the city ordering that foreigners and ‘minorities,’ a euphemism for Arabs, not be allowed onto their grounds. Anti-racism group demands the city retract the orders. Public kindergartens in Jerusalem were ordered by the city’s Emergency and Security Division not to allow “foreigners” and “minorities” into educational…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 18, 2019
The Israeli separation wall surrounds the East Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev, April 9, 2011. (Activestills.org)
Annexation is more than just a declaration
By drawing a line at formal annexation, the international community is hobbling its ability to respond to Israeli changes on the ground. Benjamin Netanyahu declared on the eve of Israel’s April 9 elections that if reelected he would begin annexing the West Bank. Only, if we’re being precise, he didn’t. Israeli leaders have almost never…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 15, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during an election campaign tour in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on April 8, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The best outcome of these elections is if things don’t get worse
These elections have turned into a referendum on the annexation of the West Bank — but that’s not something for Israel to decide. Five thoughts on Israel’s upcoming elections. 1. In many ways Tuesday’s general elections in Israel seem fixed if you’re among the ranks of people hoping to see Benjamin Netanyahu end his decade-long reign…
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 8, 2019
Most Read
  1. What’s behind Israel’s growing assault on West Bank healthcare
  2. Qusra is where Israel’s lies about settler violence hit a wall
  3. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  4. Under Israel’s watch, Palestinian gangs are sowing chaos in the West Bank
  5. Arms sales to Israel are slowing. But that's only half the story
  1. Arms sales to Israel are slowing. But that's only half the story
  2. Qusra is where Israel’s lies about settler violence hit a wall
  3. In Jerusalem’s Mamilla Cemetery, an entire heritage is being erased
  4. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  5. Israel is secretly surveilling its teachers. No prizes for guessing which ones
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. Palestinian who snatched settler’s weapon was killed while unarmed, videos show
  3. As Israel sabotages Gaza talks, Hamas’ new ‘warrior leader’ faces his first challenge
  4. What an Israeli settler pogrom feels like
  5. ‘Full cooperation’: How Tel Aviv University serves Israel’s security state