Thursday, July 13, 2023

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING -

Avichai Mandelblit was once Netanyahu’s Cabinet secretary, then became the Legal Adviser to the Government, a/k/a Attorney General (to the State, not any particular government). This is not a “left” – “right” issue (for me) but one of values and worldview. What kind of Israel do we want to live in?

Ex-AG Mandelblit: Overhaul legislation has Israel ‘on brink of dictatorship’

 

This is what I call diversification. A piece of Hamas. All of Al Jazeera and now a basketball team.

Qatar Investment Authority buys 5% of NBA's Washington Wizards owner

What happens when you mix Clickbait with Horse Shit? You get a kvetch that “The original [Superman] character is still White and straight…”

Opinion: The new Superman is half Jewish. Here’s why that’s making waves

Plenty worrisome. As goes the American political system, so goes…

GALLUP: Historically Low Faith in U.S. Institutions Continues

 

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING -

This ad appeared in today's print newspapers 

 Al-Monitor Palestine Briefing

There are lots of nuggets here for the discerning reader who can separate propaganda from factoids.


 Israeli authorities evicted a Palestinian family from a contested apartment in Jerusalem’s Old City

Yet another example of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”  Keep in mind that Arabs can’t pursue property claims in west Jerusalem. And the extremists pushing to oust the Arabs from seam neighborhoods are Hardal messianics and their clueless US orthodox supporters who think they're doing something good.

How to Interpret Pope Francis’ Choice of New Cardinals

Pope Francis isn't getting any younger.

החוק לביטול עילת הסבירות הוא תחילת הסוף של הממשלה הזאת, הוא יוביל למפלתה. מפני שעם ישראל הוא נצחי וממשלות הן זמניות - בממשלות שפועלות באופן כל כך בוטה וקיצוני נגד האינטרסים החיוניים של עם ישראל, לא ישרדו.

Yair Lapid puts Netanyahu’s regime change putsch in perspective

The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu’s Government Has Begun

It pains me to be on the same side as Tom Friedman because he has always hidden his true attitude toward the Zionist enterprise (especially in From Beirut to Jerusalem). The last time, BTW, the US reassessed relations with Israel was under Kissinger/Ford.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Harassment of Channel 14 Journalist by radical anti-regime change protesters is completely unacceptable!


The harassment of a journalist from the pro-regime change Channel 14 is outrageous, indecent, counterproductive, and plays into the hands of Netanyahu et al. 

It’s dangerous and wrong. 

This is where Netanyahu is leading the country toward chaos and mutual hatred.  Attacking journalists, you disagree with -- no matter how despicable the outlet they work for may be in your eyes -- is indecent. I denounce it in the strongest possible terms.


Netanyahu's Efforts to Limit the Supreme Court’s Oversight Powers are Officially Underway - PROTEST REGIME CHANGE!

Netanyahu's Efforts to Limit the Supreme Court’s Oversight Powers are Officially Underway  

IF THEY'RE HAPPY...


THE REST OF US SHOULD BE VERY, VERY WORRIED....

Below is an excellent analysis by TOI editor David Horovitz and in Hebrew the Knesset statements of Yair Lapid and Benny Ganz (in Hebrew). The final link is interesting about the background of Elizabeth Tzurkov who is being held by Iranian proxies in Iraq.

If you are in Jerusalem today (Tuesday), come to the Knesset at 10 AM to join the protest against Netanyahu-led regime change that will trash the ethos of the Zionist enterprise.

There will be protests throughout the country all day.

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Netanyahu leads Israel into the abyss

Only a government bent on doing the unreasonable would move to ensure that the justices cannot defend against it

 

 

הממשלה הארורה הזאת מחסלת את הברית הישראלית מסיבות קטנוניות של מטורפים, מושחתים ומשחיתים.

 

אל תגידו ״אצלנו זה לא יקרה״.

כדור השלג שמתחיל להתגלגל כאן היום - יגדל, יצבור תאוצה וירמוס את המדינה כולה, אם לא נעצור אותו עכשיו.

 

 

Who is Elizabeth Tzurkov and Why Was She Abducted by an Iranian-backed Militia in Baghdad?

 

Four months ago, a Russian-Israeli Princeton University doctoral student and human rights activist disappeared in Baghdad. Why was her abduction kept secret until last Wednesday?

 

Sunday, July 09, 2023

שומרות ושומרים על הבית המשותף - בוקר טוב Why is the hard-left determined to destroy the anti-regime change campaign?


I want to say to the anti- “occupation” campaigners who tried to hijack last night’s united front rally in Jerusalem against regime change-in-the-guise-of-judicial-reform —“you do not speak in my name.”

You tried to chant over the speakers. You marched showily, banging drums through the audience, making it hard to hear speakers like Tzipi Livni and Matti Friedman.

You are the flip side of the Hardal extremists like Ben-Gvir -- Mindless fanatics who believe that your ideology or theology is more important than the Zionist enterprise and a united front.

You are out of touch with reality. It is easy to oppose the “occupation,” but what is your plan B? Hamastan in the West Bank? Gaza in Jenin? Or do you prefer rule by the next generation of corrupt PLO warlords? Jibril Rajoub and Hamas are already coordinating for the day after Abu Mazen passes from the scene.

Has the PLO yet recognized the rights of the Jewish people to a national homeland? Anywhere in Palestine?

So spare me your sanctimonious dribble about democracy in the West Bank. 

And to the anti-"occupation" gentleman holding the anti-"apartheid" sign, I say: “Sir, have you no shame?” If "apartheid" means anything you want it to mean, then it means nothing.

Yudith Oppenheimer, Executive Director of Ir Amim, you spoke with feeling about house demolitions in Jerusalem. You forgot to mention that if 40 percent of the city’s population that is Arab voted – which is their right – they could influence rules and regulations over construction in their neighborhoods. It is hard to help people who won’t help themselves.

And to the coordinators of הבית המשותף I have also been thinking about the worth of demonstrating at the private homes of government ministers. Just because the Netanyahu/Regev camp did this to the previous government does not make it right or good politics.  Our side does not get points for potentially traumatizing the children of ministers or inconveniencing their innocent neighbors – especially erev Shabbat.

I get the attraction of blocking highways. But it seems to me that Bibi wants these scenes of chaos so that the population demands “law and order.” 

What then? What we need is a general strike.  

And to the Bibists & Hardal extremists of the Ben-Gvir ilk, I say: I opposed Oslo, which was railroaded through using every corrupt trick in the book.

Now you are trying to cram power permanently in your hands using Oslo rules - without consensus and against the principles of representative democracy and the Declaration of Independence.

Worse of all are your goals: Consolidation of power in the hands of the few. You want to control the courts, the police, the bureaucracy, the central bank, and eventually the press. 

Your vision for Israel is that of an intolerant, chauvinistic, and halachic state.

I pray that you fail.

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WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING

Have the protestors against Israel’s judicial overhaul gone too far?

A mass protest for the good of Israel needs to be led by moderates who want to unite, not radicals who refuse to compromise

Anatomy of a power vacuum: How sewage and import rules stoke West Bank conflict

Part of the story of escalating violence is as boring as it is devastating: Bureaucratic ineptitude driven by the lack of democracy in areas under its control