https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/MoHOyOrnGZE?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
Above is a clip of Saturday night demonstration outside the Modiin home of Israel's Justice Minister Yariv Levin. One commentator said that until PM Benjamin Netanyahu is removed from power there will be no solution to the current upheaval. As of now @66% of the Israeli population is against the current government's Judicial Reforms. Reportedly, if elections were to be held today the present coalition would only get 59 seats, two short of a majority needed to run the government.
Observers point out that these protests seem to fall on deaf ears, as do entreaties from around the world, including eminent economists who predict a dire future for Israel if the reforms are fully implemented. The Attorney General has issued an opinion that Netanyahu should recluse himself since he stands to directly benefit from the Judicial Reforms. He has ignored this opinion.
OnWednesday the Knesset Constitution Committee ruled that a bill to allow Netanyahu to serve in the Knesset even though there was a conflict of interest since he had to decide on judicial matters affecting his current trial for corruption.
At Saturday night's demonstration in front of the building where Israel's Justice Minister Yariv Levine lives. @5,000 k attended. Most of the demonstrators agreed that the present government ignores the protests, no matter how large. Estimates are that over 300K protested around the country on Saturday night. The government claims they have a mandate from the people to carry out the reforms. Some in the government have said they need to do this as fast as possible before the 'window of opportunity closes.'
A pro-settler Israeli said that nothing should be done to stop the Judicial reforms. “It is early days. Let the reforms pass and then let’s see how bad they are.”
When a history professor was asked if Hitler was elected to government he said, "In 1923 Hitler tried a putsch. That failed. In 1932 he was elected. Then came his 'revolution.' This is the template that dictators around the world have adopted, he said. When asked if the current Israeli government is adopting that same template he answered, "Definitely.' First get elected. Then launch the revolution from within the government.
The Judicial Reform passed its first reading on Feb 21 by a vote of 63-47. There are those who agree that there should be some reform to the courts but not to go so far as to give the Knesset the power to appoint judges. Appointment of judges is part of a process in the USA where both the House and the Senate must vet the judge. The proposal in Israel is that only a slim majority in the Knesset will approve the judges and then only after chosen by a panel that the new rules would have made up by politicians.
“The reforms are necessary,” Justice Minister Levin told Israel Television’s Kan broadcaster, “since there are no conservatives on the high court.” Analysts say Levin would rather have a court similar to that in the USA made up of conservative judges.
Simcha Rothman, head of the Judicial Panel, that vets bills to be presented to the Knesset, said that the government has a limited window of opportunity to enact the proposed legislation, passing ideas that had been simmering in the minds of right-wing politicians for years.
One analyst likened the situation a rabbi bringing teenaged yeshiva students to a house of ill repute and turning them loose with a blessing saying, ‘Don’t worry, this is halachically approved.”. Others say this is like giving kids the keys to a humongous candy store telling them, “Have at it, take as much as you want.”
UPDATE: On Thursday he limited discussion on the bills he wanted to rush through committee. According to the TimesofIsrael, “Rothman’s bill, which is a committee-sponsored piece of legislation, would drastically limit the High Court of Justice’s ability to strike down laws that contravene Israel’s Basic Laws; significantly reduce the rights that are protected by judicial review in the first place; and allow the Knesset to pass legislation that is immune to judicial review from the outset.
According to the bill, the High Court would only be able to strike down legislation if 12 out of 15 justices on the High Court ruled that it “clearly” violates an order in a Basic Law that requires a specific majority of MKs to change.”Opposition members from Yisrael Beytenu denounced the legislation as a ‘regime putsch.’
David Friedman, Trump appointee as (former) US Ambassador to Israel and a friend of Netanyahu, surprised observers when he denounced the Judicial Reforms.
Resistance Among Veteran Israelis
Still, Israel is growing more and more divided. On Monday Feb 27,2023 the TimesofIsrael.com ran a story a group of 250 members of the Military Intelligence Special Operations Division, including top officers have said they won’t sho up to reserve duty if the legal overhaul passes. “We won’t be useful idiots,” said one of heir group.
Other veteran Israelis say “This is not the country we fought for. Not the country we immigrated to.”
Some disgruntled Israelis envision a doomsday scenario with Israel’s last days on the horizon. Others bemoan that the split caused by the Likud’s coalition’s various reforms are ripping apart the country. Some blame the ultra-orthodox who threaten to bolt the coalition of their demands for more money for Yeshivot and religious institutions and religious reforms are not met.
Ron Ben Yishai, a veteran military correspondent for Yideot Achronot, wrote that we are already in the third Intifada. He blames the ultra-orthodox and the “Messianists,” (those who think all Arabs must be driven from the Holy Land before the Messiah will arrive) like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist party, and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir of the far-right Otzmah Yehudit party, for trying to foment a situation that allows settlers a free hand in the West Bank, something that may create such friction that the Palestinians will start a real fight back. ‘
In Ben Yishai’s opinion, it is vital to keep the borders open, in contradiction to Ben Gvir’s call to close them after a terrorist incident, since over 160,000 Palestinians enter Israel every day to work. Their salaries support their families. Should they not be able to support their families than an uprising is inevitable. He also wrote that in 2022 180 Palestinians were killed and this year the number is already up to over 60.
Amos Yadlin, former head of Military Intelligence, sent a letter to a friend in the Likud spelling out why he thought the reforms were a real threat to Israel’s democracy. Yadlin wrote he was concerned that Israeli’s economy was put in danger by the reforms, so was Israel’s security, since so much focus was on the reforms and not enough on Iran and other enemies.
And Yadlin emphasized that the entire mess was caused by current Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is “Only concerned about himself, not the country.” Yadlin encouraged the continuation of street protests and other ways to pressure the government to drop the push for reforms.
Most analyst agree that Netanyahu’s support for Judicial Reform is simply a way to stay out of prison. If the laws pass, the Knesset can overrule the courts, fire the Attorney General, and stack the committee that appoints judges. All this so Netanyahu can get his three indictments dismissed and his current trial, that has gone on for three years while Netanyahu’s attorneys exploit democracy and the courts.
UPDATE: On Wednesday a Day of Disturbance was called by protestors. Demonstrations were held around the country. In Tel Aviv 11 protestors were hospitalized and scores injured when the police opened fire with tear gas and stun grenades. One man required surgery for a severed ear. Police claim that rocks were thrown at them by protestors but Channel 1 Kan TV’s reporter said no one could verify that stones were thrown. One highly placed police source said that Chief of Police Shabtai allowed to police to use exceptional force on the protestors to please his boss, National Security Minister Etamar Ben-Gvir, who said he gives the police full backing in handling “anarchists.”
Terrorist Attacks
Meanwhile, the Palestinians have taken to the streets in deadly attacks, as Ron Ben Yishai predicted. The Palestinian terrorists reaction was expected after the IDF raided a terrorist cell of the Lion’s Den faction and killed 11 Palestinians in a shootout.
On Feb 28, 2023, two Israeli settlers from the village of Har Bracha near Nablus were killed while driving on Route 60 that crosses through the Palestinian town of Hurwa. Reportedly, a lone gunman stepped off the sidewalk that ran along a line of shops and opened fire with a 9mm weapon shooting directly through the windshield killing Yaniv brothers Hallel, 21, and Yagel, 19, both from the nearby settlement of Har Bracha.
Later in the day American-born Israeli Elan Ganeles, 27, was gunned down while driving on Route 90 just past the Dead Sea. He’d flown in from NYC where he was attending Columbia University in order to be at a friend’s wedding. Elan had been a ‘lone soldier’ and then worked on a kibbutz before leaving to attend university.
Settlers Rampage
Settler reaction was swift and bloody. A reported rampage took place near Nablus where Palestinian sources say 30 homes and cars were torched. Palestinian sources say at least one Palestinian was shot and killed by settlers during the rioting and two others shot and wounded, and one person reportedly stabbed, and four seated with an iron bar.
The settlers didn’t restrict their anger to Palestinians. Some attacked IDF soldiers. One settler’s car rammed into an Israeli position and then fled while soldiers opened fire on it. The car was not identified. According to the Times Of Israel, IDF Benjamin Territorial Brigade Commander Col. Eliav Elbaz tried to stop settlers from stoning Palestinian cars passing through the Rimonim junction, near the settlement of Shavei Shomron,.and was attacked by Israeli settler bystanders who, according to the IDF spokesman “verbally assaulted him and pushed him back.” Two settler youths were detained and later released.
Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, head of the central command called the settler rampage in Huwra a “pogrom” Ha’aretz echoed the description and wrote this was just an appetizer of an impending Sabra & Shatila, a reference to the 1982 massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of that name in Lebanon when Phalangist militia members invaded the camp killing a reported thousands of civilians.
Also according to Ha’aretz, Knesset Member Zvi Fogel, of Ben Gvir’s ultra-right-wing Otzmah Yehudit party was “pleased with deterrence” achieved in the settler rampage in the West Bank.
Finance Minister and Deputy Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich made a statement that the town of Huwara should be burnt to the ground.
One veteran Israeli said he bemoans the split in Israel today. He thought the country should work to be united. He also said he was against the settler rampage, but wondered why the US government wanted to pay restitution to the Palestinians whose homes and cars were damaged, with no mention of restitution to the families of the young Israelis killed.
Some accuse the present Israeli government and the previous one of nearly daily raids into the West Bank to arrest suspected terrorists. The raids began after Palestinian terrorists began a reign of terror on Israeli cities, sometimes stepping into the streets of cities like Tel Aviv and opening fire with automatic weapons.
In Ynetnews former Defense Minister and former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Ganz, who was in charge of the nightly raids during his term, told the media “We have to be able to uproot the terrorist’s tree without destroying the entire forest.” Later he added that Netayanhu has to step in and stop the Judicial Reforms. Gantz said Israel is on a slippery slope that could quickly devolve into a civil war.
Following the shootings and the settler rampage, the IDF has announced a halt to their nightly raids into Palestinian towns to arrest terrorists.
Beginning of the End?
Many Israelis are incensed over what is going on in Israel. Some analysts say that right-wing Deputy Defense Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir are not going to get in the way of the settlers, who are after all their constituency. PM Netanyahu has said that the settlers’ action are not the way to solve the problems. But has done nothing to reign in the settlers.
Other analysts say that the typical scenario for a revolt is to have the military put an iron fist on those against the government which historically has only served to strengthen the numbers and cause of those protesting.
Some observers say that today’s Israel is the present Third Temple, following the first one in 539 B.C., and the second that fell in 70 A.D at the hands of the Romans. In both cases Israel had been torn apart from within by internal strife.
These observers say that now, because of the current internal struggle, this Third Temple is in danger. And might not survive. “History has shown that when the Jews fight among themselves and weaken the country, then outsiders invade and take over the country,” said one historian, citing the Babylonian invasion.
Many Israelis fear that Israelis fighting among themselves while the enemy waits for an opportunity to invade is a repetition of history. According to Yadlin’s letter, Lebanon’s Hezballah terrorist leader Nasrallah has said that Israel won’t make it to its 80th birthday. Only time will tell if he’s correct.
Meanwhile, the question is if there’s more road behind then ahead?
