![Israeli civilians sitting atop a hill in the city of Sderot watch as two Palestinian rockets fly towards southern Israel, before a ceasefire November 21, 2012. Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip agreed on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict that killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (ISRAEL - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3APKM](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/06/RTR3APKM.jpg/RTR3APKM.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=05-7FNWQ)
Daniel Ben Simon is a former Knesset member from the Labor Party. Prior to his political career, he was a journalist with the Israeli dailies Haaretz and Davar. Ben Simon has written four books on Israeli society and is the recipient of the Sokolov Prize, an Israeli journalism award.
![Israeli civilians sitting atop a hill in the city of Sderot watch as two Palestinian rockets fly towards southern Israel, before a ceasefire November 21, 2012. Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip agreed on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict that killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (ISRAEL - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3APKM](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/06/RTR3APKM.jpg/RTR3APKM.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=05-7FNWQ)
![Israeli border police run in front of Dome of the Rock during a protest after Friday prayers at a compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City February 22, 2013. Palestinian protesters have said they fear for the life of Samer al-Issawi, who has been on intermittent hunger strike for over 200 days, and three other hunger strikers jailed by Israel. Their cases have been at the centre of intensified clashes with Israeli soldiers throughout the Israeli-oc](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/06/1-RTR3E4G8.jpg/1-RTR3E4G8.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=TcZHOmk9)
Daniel Ben Simon
![Women walk past a Hebrew graffiti that reads "Love" in the "Train" neighbourhood in Lod May 15, 2012. The backstreets of Lod, a mixed Arab-Jewish city just 20 minutes from the tree-lined boulevards of Tel Aviv, reveal a seamy underside of Israel that few visitors get to see, tucked away behind Ben Gurion airport off the main highway to Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Picture taken May 15, 2012. To match Feature ISRAEL-ARABS/CRIME REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR32TYI](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/05/Lod.jpg/Lod.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=v_ZE2045)
Daniel Ben Simon
![Women walk past a Hebrew graffiti that reads "Love" in the "Train" neighbourhood in Lod May 15, 2012. The backstreets of Lod, a mixed Arab-Jewish city just 20 minutes from the tree-lined boulevards of Tel Aviv, reveal a seamy underside of Israel that few visitors get to see, tucked away behind Ben Gurion airport off the main highway to Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Picture taken May 15, 2012. To match Feature ISRAEL-ARABS/CRIME REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR32TYI](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/05/RTR32TYI.jpg/RTR32TYI.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=PfyGacKJ)
Daniel Ben Simon
![Ashdod-City-Hall-photo-by-Shmuliko.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/05/Ashdod-City-Hall-photo-by-Shmuliko.jpg/Ashdod-City-Hall-photo-by-Shmuliko.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=JCWNFzJP)
Daniel Ben Simon
![An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man (L) argues with a secular man during a protest against the government's pledge to curb Jewish zealotry in Israel, in the town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem December 26, 2011. Israeli police arrested several ultra-Orthodox protesters on Monday after an officer was injured in the demonstrations in the divided city over demands by zealots to restrict access by women to certain streets. REUTERS/Oren Nahshon (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ISRA](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/05/1-RTR2VNCE.jpg/1-RTR2VNCE.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=1p_3zkjx)
Daniel Ben Simon
![Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men study at Jerusalem's Mir Yeshiva, the largest Jewish seminary in Israel July 4, 2012. The ultra-Orthodox Jews have gone from being a tiny minority in Israel's mostly secular society to its fastest-growing sector, now about 10 percent of the 7.8 million population. They are exempt from military duty in Israel but draft deferments and state subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox have become a divisive political issue in Israel, where the government must decide a new law by August to ensure](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/04/RTR34N42.jpg/RTR34N42.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=8lmEKG4c)
Daniel Ben Simon
![A Palestinian stands on a section of the Pilgrimage Route, the path which tradition says Joseph and Mary took into the West Bank city of Bethlehem in their trek from Nazareth some 2,000 years ago, June 28, 2012. Palestinians hope to persuade UNESCO this weekend to declare parts of Bethlehem, including the Pilgrimage Route, and its Church of the Nativity endangered World Heritage sites in order to expedite funding for repairs. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR34AO6](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/04/RTR34AO6.jpg/RTR34AO6.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=-2UkNZ1W)
Daniel Ben Simon
![Jewish settlers cry as they walk to the synagogue for a ceremony before departing the Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal, in the Gush Katif settlement bloc, in the southern Gaza Strip, August 17, 2005. Israeli troops began the forced evacuation on Wednesday of thousands of Jewish settlers gripped by rage and anguish over their eviction from the Gaza Strip after nearly four decades of occupation. - RTXNOV8](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/04/RTXNOV8.jpg/RTXNOV8.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=apLSSMR6)
Daniel Ben Simon