'Protesters are wrong when they claim that this judicial reform will end Israeli democracy,' says Trump apologist Alan Dershowitz

 Last Night's Weekly Demonstration in Jerusalem Opposite the President's House

Q & A

The government's judicial overhaul putsch has elicited militant opposition.

For good reason. The Netanyahu government's goal is to enervate the judiciary and make the attorney general and state prosecutor stooges of the cabinet. It wants to drain the Supreme Court of its judicial review powers. Since Israel has no constitution or bill of rights, removing the only institution that checks the government's power would transform Israel into an illiberal democracy. Read up on judicial reform here:

The Israel Democracy Institute

Axios

Israel Hayom

Netanyahu refuses to be interviewed in the Hebrew press, but he has told foreign media outlets that "judicial reform" will improve Israel's democracy. The winner of the Pinocchio Prize told Fox News that he doesn't understand why there is so much interest in Israel's internal affairs. After all, he's "never commented about the internal debates in other democracies." And Trump apologist Alan Dershowitz writes in the JC, "Protesters are wrong when they claim that this judicial reform will end Israeli democracy." 

That very much depends on how you define "democracy." If you mean "pure majority rule" with no structural or constitutional protections for the minority, Israel will be more democratic like the UN General Assembly, where the raw majority rules. It's also a matter of aesthetics -- if you are comfortable shilling for Trump, Julian Assange, and Jeffrey Epstein, you might also feel Netanyahu's regime change putsch doesn't stink.

I don't get why things are so visceral?

Start by looking at who we are battling. The main component of the Netanyahu government is the post-Jabotinsky Likud; many of its MKs have floated into the party from the Haredi-Leumi planet or are garden-variety demagogues and ethno-pyromaniacs. 

Next come the Haredi-Leumi parties led by Ben-Gvir (Jewish National Front), Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party), and Maoz (Noam). All are messianic, apocalyptic, and blinkered. 

Rounding out the government are the ultra-Orthodox UTJ and Shas parties. They are benighted, reflect draft dodgers' interests, and are infamously intolerant. 

Together these radical political parties are trying to create an Israel in their own image.

So this is left versus right?

You're really not getting me. Most Israelis no longer see the political map that way. This is a struggle between liberalism and intolerance, middle-class values against authoritarianism, and cosmopolitanism versus parochialism. If you lived here, which vision would you prefer?

Granted, the "reasonableness" amendment to Israel's Basic Judiciary Law was passed by the Knesset 64-0, but you make it seem like the sky is falling...

"Judicial reform" is an amorphous bundle of proposed bills that elements in the government aim to pass into law. The ultimate outcome would be an Israel in which ultra-Orthodox rabbis (haredi and haredi- Leumi) have more power beyond their current control over "who is a Jew," kashrut, divorce, marriage, and burial.

Political power would be ever more concentrated in the extremist government, which anyway controls the Knesset.

When all is said and done, Israel's media (Kol Yisroel/Kan and Army Radio as well as Channel 11, 12, & 13) ) will be hamstrung, patronage appointees will upstage the professional civil service, budgetary resources will be redistributed to the kollel world, the Bank of Israel and the Bureau of Statistics will cater to the political whims of the government. So, too, the National Library. 

Already, West Bank settlement expansion no longer requires the approval of the political echelon, only a green light from "the Minister in the Ministry of Defense," Bezalel Smotrich, also Finance Minister.

And put aside the brain drain that will ensue if Netanyahu gets his way. Elite IDF units will be short on service personnel and training instructors. Doctors studying abroad or on foreign fellowships may not return. The high-tech sector will be depleted. Longterm, Washington and Western Europe will dissociate from us economically and diplomatically. 

Without a strong Supreme Court, our enemies will exploit their lawfare tools at The Hague and elsewhere. Until now, Israel's High Court of Justice has factored international law into its rulings. If the court is sidelined,  Israeli assertions that we honor international law are fatally undermined.

I just feel it will all work out in the end. The good news, at least, is that Likud ministers are saying they will not pursue any further legislation without a consensus.

Pleeeezzz! Insinuating that they will henceforth curb their rapacious appetites might just be a way to lull the opposition into sluggishness. I will take your sanguinity as naivete, not disingenuousness. 

My response is: "You're either part of the solution or part of the problem."  I mean you.

Or, put another way – "If You Can Keep Your Head When Everybody Round You Is Losing Theirs, Then Maybe You Don't Understand the Severity of the Situation."  

Wake up, for God's sake.

OK. OK. Maybe now is a good time for all sides to compromise?

Do you mean maybe we can settle for a semi-undemocratic Israel? Like Poland or Hungary.  Yair Lapid outlined the singular possible road to compromise in this Knesset speech. There needs to be an 18-month moratorium on regime change while talks to rebuild Israel's polity are conducted.

You have to acknowledge that the courts do have too much power…?

There is no question that Israel's political system needs reengineering – from how we elect the Knesset and the lack of genuine representation for everyone living between the Mediterranean and the River Jordan to restructuring numerous state institutions. 

Doing so calls for a constitutional assembly (like the one envisaged by our Declaration of Independence). You might say we need a Strategic Plan.

Fixing what's wrong should be done systematically, prudently, and by broad consensus, not by a bunch of extremists with a four-seat majority-riding shotgun over the rest of us.

Any further reading suggestions for this weekend?

Yes. These two...

BRET STEPHENS

Israel's Self-Inflicted Wound

YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI

The wounded Jewish psyche and the divided Israeli soul

 

A Black Day for Israel's Democracy

 

'We have taken the first step in the important historical process ...'

                            - Yariv Levin, Justice Minister, and key                                                                                     regime change architect.

- Haaretz, Yediot and Yisroel Hayom all have the same black front page today.

Are the anti-regime change protests helping? (Today is the 206th day of the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvir/Smotrich/UTJ/Shas government) | December 29, 2022

 

                                                 Human Chain Protest This Morning Old City, Jerusalem

Just got back from the "human chain" demonstration from the Old City to the Knesset. It was 33 degrees (91F) near the Jaffa Gate by 10 AM.

"Do you think all these protests will make any difference," we ask each other.

Regardless, we have no option but to protest. Whatever happens, my conscience has to be clear.

Either we lose and wind up with an Israel where a pure majority dominates, or we end up strengthening the principle that democratic values trump majoritarian control.

The Netanyahu-Haredi-Hardal camp argues: "We won – let us enjoy the fruits of victory."

But they want to exploit their four-seat Knesset majority to impose – not "judicial reform" but – their unenlightened vision upon Israel. Their Israel is illiberal. In their Israel, ultra-Orthodox/socially conservative values would dominate popular culture, education, media, and the public square. 

We say that to fundamentally change the rules of the political game, you need to hold the equivalent of a constitutional convention, not exploit a four-seat Knesset majority.

So where are we now?

I have never seen Israel this divided since I made Aliya. Both sides feel they are engaged in a zero-sum game.

And the person who brought us to the precipice of catastrophe is Binyamin Netanyahu.

I wish him good health. When he underwent anesthesia last night to implant a pacemaker, he left Justice Minister Yariv Levin as Acting Prime Minister.

The lengths to which Netanyahu has gone to stay in power are unpardonable. I gave up on him when in 2011, he released 1,027 terrorists from prison. Many had blood on their hands. The worst of them went on to restore Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the West Bank. But Bibi -- a master manipulator --changed the subject. 

In building his current coalition, he appointed ethno-pyromaniacs, groomed messianic fanatics, empowered convicted criminals, and raised inciteful demagogues to sensitive ministries. He gave the keys to the kingdom to rabid ideologues Justice Minister Levin and chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Simcha Rothman. 

What now? Later this afternoon, Big Capital and Big Labor may decide whether to call for a general strike if the government insists on proceeding with a vote on the first phase of its regime change putsch.

This is not a simple left-right or religious-secular divide. It is a fundamental disagreement about what kind of Israel each camp wants. 

I pray Netanyahu comes to his senses before the damage he has wrought is irreversible.

 

 

An Open Letter to an Old Comrade -

=========================================

Today is the 204th day of the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvir/Smotrich/UTJ/Shas government, which came into office on December 29, 2022

=========================================

Dear Alex,

I have appreciated getting your pieces in support of Netanyahu's judicial "reforms." 

And I am impressed by your energy and creativity.

That said, I wanted you to know that I am committed to blocking the government's efforts at regime change on the basis of its slim four-seat majority. 

As Jabotinsky's yahrzeit approaches, I would like to think it is obvious on which side this cosmopolitan liberal democrat would be standing.

Not with the benighted hardalnikim of the Ben-Gvir/Smotsrich messianic ilk but with the Opposition. He might likely look at the benches of Likud and bow his head in dismay at the demagogues and ethnic pyromaniacs among them. 

He would dissociate from Likud and find another political home. 

You cite Evie Gordon, who is a clever thinker. But one in this instance myopically focused on the trees when the forest is burning. 

This crisis has morphed. It is now only tangentially about judicial reform.

Instead, it is about the ethos of the country -- EITHER liberal, Jewish, and democratic OR ultra-Orthodox-halachic, insular, and politically extremist and messianic. 

I wish you good health, an easy Fast, and that we should all hear besorot tovot. 

Respectfully, 

Elliot

TONIGHT THURSDAY - 19:00/ צעדה המונית מככר פריז לשער יפו!*** Dear Friends & Family Abroad

Hundreds of protesters are marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, due here on Sunday.

Dear Friends & Family Abroad -

Events here in Israel are moving at a dizzying pace, and I wanted to keep you updated.

Overnight, the Knesset Law, Constitution, and Justice Committee put the finishing touches to the “Reasonableness Bill” that would hamstring the judiciary from adjudicating government appointments and firings. The committee will now send the bill to the entire Knesset to debate and presumably pass into law as the Government controls 64 in the 120-seat Knesset. 

Passage would mean that, for example, Aryeh Deri could -- as Netanyahu wants -- be appointed Finance Minister, notwithstanding a graft record that landed him in prison. He is head of the Sephardic Shas Party, an essential constituent in the Netanyahu government.

But let’s not lose sight of the forest because of a tree.

The reasonableness law is part of a slew of legislation intended to castrate the judiciary and concentrate power in the hands of the executive. It aims to fundamentally change the Israeli political system so that the values of the benighted current leadership are permanently enshrined.

In the fullness of time, they intend to muffle the media, strengthen the ultra-Orthodox all-male rabbinical courts (which already control marriage, divorce, and conversion), emasculate higher education, and take charge of "culture." Indeed, this is a cultural war over values. And "live and let live" is not in the extremist vocabulary. 

If you envision Israel as a Sparta permanently at war with Muslim civilization; if, like the Sicarii of old, you believe that critics of the Netanyahu-Ben-Gvir government are “leftist traitors” and “haters of Israel” who need to be dealt with; if you want messianic politicians to direct the country’s domestic and foreign affairs (from reprogramming the youth to jettisoning ties with the vast majority of Diaspora Jews) then by all means either sit quietly or shill outright for the Bibists and Hardalnikim.

...Or if you want a tolerant, Jewish, and democratic Israel - join the Big Tent Opposition.

I am uncomfortably behind the same barricades as Gideon Levy and Tom Friedman. But just like Trump was occasionally right, so too are Levy and Friedman. 

I am comforted by the fact that every previous director of the Mossad and Shin Bet  (save for Avi Dichter, who is a member of Netanyahu's Government) and every previous IDF Chief of Staff, and every previous prime minister and every previous governor of the Bank of Israel and every previous Supreme Court justice and every previous Attorney General and police commissioner and the leaders of high-tech, academia, the business world, and the union chiefs ALL OPPOSE the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvir putsch for regime change. 

Elite members of the IDF who have proffered their time to the country are drawing the line and announcing they will volunteer no more. Not to a country that is going the way of Poland and Hungary. We are not talking about draft dodgers (like many in the Haredi community) or refusing to serve while on active duty (as was the case during the Gaza disengagement). These folks have already gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Get involved if Israel is precious to you, no matter where you are.

As the axiom goes: “If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.”  

--------------

And here are some links that caught my attention:

A leading "As a Jew" pundit named Goldberg noch endorses a canard about Israel.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG The Hysterical Overreaction to Jayapal’s ‘Racist State’ Gaffe

While our Prime Minister focuses on his putsch, the enemy is making plans of its own.

Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub met in Turkey with Saleh al-Arouri, the head of Hamas's military wing in the West Bank, and discussed strengthening of coordination 

Biden's soft talk falls on deaf ears. 

Biden to Netanyahu: Please Stop Trying to Rush Through Your Judicial Overhaul. Build a Consensus First.

The Biden administration may not replace the outgoing US Ambassador to Israel.

"אם ביטול עילת הסבירות יעבור, ביידן לא ימנה שגריר חדש"

את הדברים אמר חוקר יחסי ישראל־ארצות הברית וחתן פרס ישראל פרופ’ אבי בן־צבי, והוסיף שהגענו למצב של "שבר טקטוני ביחסים". הוא מכריז שאין אופציה לתקיפה באיראן כי היא "תגרור עימות חריף עם אמריקה" ומזהיר ש"ישראל חוזרת להיות מטרד עבור ארה"ב, לא נכס"

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING - to follow the crisis in Israel 24/7 www.timesofisrael.com *** 18:00 - כיכר אגרנט***

Once the various pieces of legislation that the Netanyahu government refers to as "judicial reform" are in place and the justice system is subsumed under the executive (as in any intolerant East European "democracy"), the government will target the free press.  

The goal of the Minister of Communication is to turn Channel 14 and other Bibist/Hardal/Haredi mouthpieces into state-backed media while making it financially unviable for opposition outlets to thrive. 

רפורמת קרעי היא תעתיק של רפורמת לוין: הממשלה רוצה לשלוט סופית בתקשורת

שר התקשורת קרעי הציג את עיקרי תוכניתו לחוק השידורים החדש. במוקד, כצפוי, ערוצי הטלוויזיה המסחריים, כשהחוק נוטל מידיהם את מרבית הנכסים ומרכז את הפיקוח והכוח בידי משרד התקשורת והממשלה. וגם, צעד אחר צעד - כך ירוויח ערוץ 14 מהחקיקה. פרשנות

 &

הדובדבן שבקצפת: השידורים יישלטו ישירות בידי קרעי

גוף הפיקוח החדש שיקום בעקבות חוק השידורים שהציע שר התקשורת, ייאלץ לציית לכל גחמה פוליטית, וכדי לשרוד יירדו גופי התקשורת על ברכיהם — בדיוק כפי שהפוליטיקאים אוהבים אותם

New material is coming out on Nazi efforts to win the hearts and minds of Persians and Arabs in the war against the Jews.

The 1948 War and the Iranian and Arab Nazi Propaganda

Hebrew uses male and female gender nouns. Under the culture purification campaign of the Netanyahu regime, henceforth, the government will eliminate references to the female person from RFPs.

נציבות שירות המדינה תפסיק להשתמש בלשון נקבה במכרזים: "מסורבלת ומקשה על הקריאה"

 If US elections were held today, chances are Donald Trump would be elected. The Economist reveals that a Trump presidency will come with a “to-do” list this time.

How MAGA Republicans plan to make Donald Trump’s second term count

They think they know how to banish the chaos and frustrations of his first four years

The NYT also covers what a future Trump administration plans here.

What a stupid move proving that even a seasoned poll like Biden can be suckered by Netanyahu. The president and PM were anyway going to "meet" on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September. Why the WH felt compelled to throw Bibi this public bone now is hard to understand.

Biden Invites Netanyahu to U.S., Easing Tensions

WHAT WORTH KNOWING

 IDI Public Opinion Survey

Some highlights:

-43 percent of Likud voters have reached the point where they would freeze Netanyahu's regime change putsch rather than risk civil war.

-45 percent of the public fear that the chances of civil war are high

-58 percent of the public would freeze Netanyahu's "judicial reform" scheme

Haredim Protest Woman Bus Driver

You don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows. Sensing backing and momentum, extremist ultra-Orthodoxers blocked an Egged intercity bus in B'nai Brak because the driver was a woman.  Watch here.

Security Officials Plead for Netanyahu to Hault Regime Change Putsch

It is hard to think of a single former IDF chief of staff or police commissioner or anyone involved in the national security establishment who favors Netanyahu's campaign to concentrate power in his own hands.

Support the protest campaign - 

>this is a bipartisan big tent NGO organized in Jerusalem

>You can also choose to support the national protest movement here.

Let's end with the unstable Robert F. Kennedy, who is challenging the elderly Biden for the Democratic nomination. His antisemitism is now coming out.

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING

1. Israel Today reports (Sunday) on a new survey. “Worrisome Report: 54% of Israeli Young People Would Prefer to Live Abroad.” They see themselves as the left-behind generation. The study was funded by https://gandyr.com/en/gandyr-foundation/ and the Rashi Foundation https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7086218879969992704/  Here’s the Hebrew press release:

צעירים היום מודאגים מהעתיד הקולקטיבי שמחכה לנו במדינת ישראל.

מה עושים עם זה?

לצד השיבושים והתחושות המורכבות, התקיים בשבוע שעבר כנס 'מחשבים מסלול מחדש' בנושא צעירים בישראל שערכנו במשותף עם קרן גנדיר - פרטנרית מדהימה לדרך, בו הוצג לראשונה מחקר משותף שהציג תפיסות ומוטיבציות של צעירים ממגזרים שונים בארץ.

תפיסות הצעירים לגבי העתיד - מה מניע אותם,

הגשמה אישית? רווחה כלכלית? או אולי מעורבות חברתית ואקטיביזם?

דוברים מתחומים שונים: הכתב הכלכלי מתן חודורוב , פרופסור נטע קליגר ויל'ציק מהאוניברסיטה העברית, העיתונאית אמל גאווי ועוד, הביאו זוויות חברתיות וכלכליות מרתקות שנוגעות לחיי הצעירים ולעתידם.

תודה לכל מי שלקח חלק בהצלחת היום -

@מכון ERI מתן חודורוב @teenk מתחת לרדאר

@קרן גנדיר @מרכז מעשה @שותפויות אדמונד דה רוטשילד

**המחקר נערך עם מכון ERI

2. The Prime Minister, who has unleashed a culture war and empowered demagogues, is trying to put some of the demons back in the bottle. I am referring to Likud central committee member Itzik Zarka who shouted down at anti-regime change protesters with this diatribe:  "Ashkenazim! May you burn in hell. Not for nothing did six million die. I'm proud. If only six million more would burn,” He was standing next to a banner from the Lehava movement, which is committed to ending race mixing. Hummm.

Bibist see themselves as victims of the Ashkenazi elite. Some also think Arab men are out to seduce their women. Here is the Twitter link to the incident.

תניהו הורה למנכ"ל הליכוד לסלק את הפעיל שאמר: "גאה שנשרפו שישה מיליון"

איציק זרקא תועד יורק אמש לכיוון המפגינים נגד ההפיכה וקורא לעברם: "אשכנזים, הלוואי שאלוהים ייקח עוד עשרה מיליון". המפלגה ושר המשפטים גינו את דבריו: "לא נקבל התנהגות מבישה כזו בתנועה"

3. Here is another sick phenomenon - attacks against Christian clergy in the Old City have become rampant. The attackers are Bibist louts or Hardal extremists. A Channel 13 reporter dressed up as a monk and strolled through the Old City. He was spat upon by frum yobs. Orthodox girls routinely spit when they pass a church and at anyone who is standing in the doorway. Police under media glare have made two arrests.

בעקבות חשיפת חדשות 13: שני צעירים נעצרו בחשד להשחתת כנסיה בירושלים

4. I have right-wing friends in the US saying they don't know who to believe on "judicial reform." 

Start with -- it ain't about judicial reform. It is about regime change using salami tactics. 

Maybe believe former Justice Minister Dan Meridor, who, like Benny Begin, represents the old Herut/Jabotinsky ideal. Meridor spoke at last night's Tel Aviv rally.

Maybe trust General Moshe Ya'alon, former IDF chief of staff. Here is last night's Jerusalem rally, including Yaalon and Rabbi Epstein.

 

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING - SPECIAL EDITION - cri de coeur

The letter below is from our young friend Joel Collick who made aliya from London, did his stint in the IDF, married, and now lives and works in Jerusalem.

Protesting Netanyahu's putsch is a cross-sectional, bipartisan endeavor. To keep up on events here I recommend regularly checking https://www.timesofisrael.com/

Join me in identifying with Joel's cri de coeur.**  Thanks. Elliot  

 

#starts

 

Dear all,

 

Israel is in a critical 'three week' period. Three weeks between the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls and destruction. Three weeks between the first and final readings of the reasonableness bill, part of the government’s 'judicial reform'.

 

For those overseas, consider donating to Jerusalem's broad-tent pro-democracy movement 'Safeguarding our Shared Home' (it sounds a bit better in Hebrew), via PayPal here.

 

*** 

 

“I’ve got a brilliant new strategy", boasted Boris Johnson in a 2006 television interview, nearly 15 years before he would become UK Prime Minister. His strategy, he elaborated, was "to make so many gaffes, that no one knows what to concentrate on... You pepper the media with so many gaffes that they are confused.” Boris didn't stick by much, but these were words he has certainly seemed to live - and govern - by.

 

Binyamin Netanyahu seems to be following a similar strategy. Here, though, 'gaffes' doesn't cover it. We're talking about scandalous acts of national self-harm. 

 

Netanyahu's record of lies and 'red-lines' crossed is so exhaustive that we have become numb to it. His government's sins and failures are so numerous we just can't keep up, and it's hard to know where to start. I have no intention of attempting to draw up an extensive list, although someone definitely should. Until that happens - here's an abridged list of just some of the unforgivable acts and colossal failures. Each one on its own merits censure, and earns Netanyahu and his government an eternal mark of shame in the history of the Jewish people.

 

A List of Shame

 

'Judicial Reform'

 

As the former Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit - whom Netanyahu himself appointed - kindly reminded us just last week, Israel is 'on the brink of dictatorship'. Virtually every credible expert agrees. The country is being torn apart by legislation to gutter Israeli democracy, with devastating costs to liberty, diplomacy, economy, security - you name it. The Justice Minister – who has been working on these 'reforms' for decades – has himself admitted that they are not compatible with democracy. What the government calls ‘reform’ is an authoritarian power grab.

 

Here's a resurfaced clip from 2012 to remind us that Netanyahu also knows very well that his 'reforms' don't 'strengthen democracy' as he is wont to claim.

 

Inciting Against Demonstrators 

 

Netanyahu, his government and supporters, have repeatedly incited against non-violent pro-democracy demonstrators, who have been labelled terrorists and anarchists, and falsely accused of stopping ambulances and spilling blood. The Prime Minister's son compared them to Nazis. Netanyahu himself has (more than once) equated the protests to radical settler pogroms against Arab villages. Many of his fellow ministers have gone further, making it clear which of the two groups they prefer. 

 

Let's recall: not a single policeman has been sent to hospital. Indeed, in one instance, demonstrators paused their protest to treat a policeman who injured himself with his own pepper spray! Those visiting emergency rooms are the demonstrators themselves, many of whom have faced unreasonable police brutality. One former air-force pilot nearly lost his eye to a water cannon, which Minister David Amsalem thought worthy of mocking on the Knesset podium. 

 

Talking of police brutality - let's speak about the Minister in charge of the police... Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

 

Itamar Ben-Gvir 

 

This fascist retrograde with a criminal record (convicted of supporting terrorism) was once a political joke on the fringes of politics. Now, he is a monster, and one that Netanyahu deliberately unleashed to save his own political skin. Netanyahu orchestrated his joint running ticket with lesser-extremists on the far-right to ensure he would get into Knesset. He then sought to calm fears by saying that Ben-Gvir was 'not fit' to be a Minister. This was 2021. In 2022, Netanyahu appointed him 'Minister of National Security', granting him an unprecedented portfolio of security responsibilities over Israel’s internal security matters.

 

Not enough has been made of the fact that Ben-Gvir's top-aid, Chanamel Dorfman, established a 'charity' that raises money for Jewish terrorists. We've long complained (rightly) about Palestinian Authority stipends for terrorists and their families. Yet, here, Dorfman and co. have outdone them - not only do they bankroll those who've committed acts of terror against Arabs, they also reward Jews for killing other Jews! They raise money for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir, and Haredi extremist, Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed 16-year-old Shira Banki to death during the 2015 Jerusalem Gay Pride parade. Dorfman is sadly but one example of Ben-Gvir’s empowered criminal gang of fundamentalists.  

 

Once upon a time, in 1984, then Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir led a Knesset walkout upon the election of Ben-Gvir’s ideological father, the late Meir Kahane. Today's Likud is unashamedly partnered with the hateful Kahanists, normalised and empowered – it is a different party, not worthy of the name.

 

Terrible Ministers Appointed and Unpunished

 

Aside from Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu's government has so many ministers whose statements and actions, under normal circumstances, would have prompted immediate dismissals. Here are some highlights:

 

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi told Israel's air-force pilots threatening to halt reservist duty to "go to hell".

Settlements Minister, Orit Strok, compared the IDF's Chief of Staff, Mossad Chief, and Shin-Bet Head, to the Russian mercenary Wagner Group. 

Finance Minister and Second Defence Minister, Betzalel Smotrich, called to "wipe out" the Palestinian village of Huwara days of a settler rampage in response to a Palestinian terror attack.

Second Justice Minister, David Amsalem, called to arrest anti-judicial overhaul protest leaders.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli made an obscene gesture to fellow-Jews protesting his attendance at New York's Celebrate Israel Parade, and compared Israeli and Jewish pro-democracy demonstrators to BDS activists. 

 

And, let’s not forget that Netanyahu fought tooth and nail to keep twice-convicted fraudster, Aryeh Deri, in his position of double Minister of Health and the Interior (one portfolio for each prison sentence): an appointment the Supreme Court annulled. 

 

As for dismal coalition MKs, the list is too long, and their names don't merit mentioning. Highlights include directing slurs and animal noises at Arab MKs in the Knesset, blaming the Supreme Court chief justice for a deadly terror attack, calling for soldiers to shoot unarmed Palestinians, and claiming that homosexuality is a bigger threat to Israel than Hezbollah. 

 

Firing the Defence Minister

 

With ample choice of heinous ministers, Netanyahu instead chose to fire just one: his Minister of Defence, Yoav Gallant. His crime? Calling on the government to pause the 'judicial reform' in the wake of mass-unrest among army reservists. "The growing rift in our society is penetrating the IDF and security agencies. This poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state. I will not lend my hand to this." In the face of mass outrage, nobody knew whether Netanyahu would rescind the firing. For weeks, it was unclear whether Israel had a Defence Minister. Security of Israel be damned. 

 

Causing and Condemning Reservists' Refusal

 

The government is tearing up the basis of this country's social contract - that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. Widespread refusal to serve among reservists would have been unthinkable before the government launched its 'judicial reform'. Why should we kill or be killed for a non-democratic regime, they ask, and how we can trust this government to issue and oversee commands that are moral or serve the national interest? As angry air-force reservists told their commander this week, they serve the kingdom, but will not serve the king. 

 

The government has the audacity to condemn these reservists and incite against those demonstrating, many of whom have served in Israel's wars. To see how perverse the situation has become, see here pro-government protestors near the Kotel chanting “leftist traitors" at protesting veterans of the 55th Paratroopers Brigade who liberated Jerusalem in 1967, singing Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. 

 

The government is filled with ministers and MKs who themselves have shirked military service, including Ben-Gvir (whose extremist views kept him out the army) and Smotrich (who delayed conscription and completed a shortened service), not to mention the Haredi ministers, whose communities enjoy sweeping exemptions from national service. The government is further entrenching the 'status-quo' of draft-dodging and state-benefits. It takes a special kind of audacity for this government to incite against its soldiers – and indeed, its taxpayers.

 

***

 

This is all without discussing the looming economic crisis as investors pull out or pause further investment, an unparalleled social crisis, skyrocketing crime including multiple murders a week among Israel’s Arab communities, increasing international isolation, abuses of taxpayer money, blatant cronyism, and domestic policy failures from education to the environment. 

 

Over twenty years ago, in an angry phone call with a Likud activist, Netanyahu's wife, Sarah, tore into supporters of triumphant Likud leader Ariel Sharon: "Bibi is a great leader, greater than this entire country... Come on, why does he need to try so hard? We'll move abroad. Let this country burn!" 

 

The country's burning, and the Netanyahus' high regard for themselves and disdain for the country remains the same. 

 

It is incumbent on us to boycott the government of Israel – to save the people of Israel.

To partake in protests.

And consider donating to the Jerusalem protest movement here. (For those in Israel, here; or the national movement, here).

 

Help us win this war – or it will be our last. 

 

Feel free to share.

 

Shabbat Shalom 

 

P.S. On a personal note, the situation in Israel is heart wrenching. The miracle of Israel – my home – is unravelling before our eyes. Yet, I am privileged to be part of a protest movement – the largest in Israel’s history – that is saving the country. I have never felt more Zionist than marching among a sea of thousands upon thousands of blue and white flags at the Knesset and in the streets, and collectively singing Hatikva at the end of each protest. Last week, on a mass march to the Knesset, protestors blew the shofar from atop the bridge to the Supreme Court, to the jubilation of us all below – secular, religious, left, and right – loyal to the founding principles of the greatest project in Jewish history.

Shehehianu v’kiamanu v’higuyanu lezman hazeh

 

#ENDS

 

 

1. One of the dispiriting phenomena of life in Israel is discovering how shabbily we treat strangers among us. These are mostly foreign workers who take care of our elderly or pick the vegetables we eat. They have few rights and are far from home and their own culture. And this does not even reference Israel's appalling occupational health and safety record in construction which mainly impacts the Palestinian Arabs.

High Court of Israel Orders Annulment of Law Allowing Confiscation of Migrant Workers' Pension Funds

Then there is this. Jewish louts in cars knocking over foreign workers on their way to work.

 

2.     Will someone tell The New York Times that Mahmoud Abbas does NOT want to end Israel’s “occupation” and has rejected viable plans put forth by Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon, and – even Trump (read the plan before you smirk).  Only thanks to the IDF did he have the capacity to visit Jenin. It is time for him to go and take his corrupt, financially bloated coterie with him.

Palestinian Leader Visits City Israel Raided, Trying to Signal Strength

A resource in the face of Netanyahu’s putsch for regime change.

The judicial overhaul – everything you need to know from the Israel Democracy Institute

3

For now, electricity flows normally on Shabbat, and those who want to disconnect from the grid must make their own arrangements. But as Haredi/Hardal power grows, there may come a time when every household in Israel will need to make special arrangements for “kosher” electricity on Shabbes.

הפוסק: כך תנהגו במקרה של הפסקת חשמל בשבת קודש בגלל עומס החום הכבד

4.     

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T     🇮🇱 Biden’s Israel Problem? The Wall Street Journal editorial board slams President Joe Biden’s approach to the Israeli government, accusing him of using worse rhetoric against the Jewish state than he does against the Islamic republic. “The President’s Israel policy has been counterproductive. U.S. aid to anti-Israel international bodies has resumed, and all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is treated as ‘occupied territory.’ This is now a liberal article of faith, but how does it advance peace to indulge Palestinians in the belief that Jews are interlopers in Judea and at the Western Wall? While Mr. Biden undermines the Netanyahu government, Hamas and other Iranian proxies are gaining power in the West Bank, activating another front against Israel. The new wave of terrorism against Jewish civilians will set back the Palestinian cause but advance Iran’s.” [WSJ]

T        The WSJ misses the point. Biden's refusal to meet Netanyahu is not over the two-state business but because of Bibi's putsch and because of retaliatory settler violence. While scores rioted, only two people have been arrested for the attacks against the Arabs, and Bibi is moving full speed ahead on "judicial reform." That is why there will be no White House parlay for Netanyahu and why President Herzog has been invited instead.

I         I guess the Journal's ideology got in the way of its analysis.