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 -

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

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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.”  

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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

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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