Israeli philosopher Micah Goodman talks about shrinking the conflict with the Palestinians. After reading Goodman’s proposal, the 2017 film “Downsizing” came to my mind. This film envisions a fantastic world of downsized people, that allows for the world population to occupy an area the size of a football field. The great idea behind it is that little people don’t quarrel over territory, leave more space for nature, consume next to nothing and don’t pollute the planet. The only problem is that downsizing only changes people’s size, not their nature.

Goodman (46) teaches at the Hartman Institute and gained popularity in Israel for his books Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism (2010) and Moses’ Final Oration (2014). Goodman is also interested in the crisis of identity plaguing contemporary Israeli society, in particular understanding the political gridlock that has come to characterize Israel, supposedly since 1967.

His 2017 book, Catch 67 (an obvious allusion to Catch 22), is an attempt to explain why Israel’s remarkable victory in the Six Day War created the unresolvable problem between Israel and...