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In recent weeks police are no longer preventing or penalizing acts at holy site as Ben Gvir pushes practice, and are allowing them on a daily basis
— Read on www.timesofisrael.com/open-jewish-prayer-prostration-on-temple-mount-now-routine-activists-say/ -
Opposition leader: Disaster could have been prevented, PM seemed ‘bored’ when told of dangers during joint briefing; PM’s office: He ‘did not receive any warning about the war in Gaza’
— Read on www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-says-netanyahu-knew-for-months-before-oct-7-that-a-violent-eruption-was-looming/ -
TUESDAY 27 AUGUST 2024 AFTERNOON
Israeli Legal System
- The Israeli High Court of Justice instructed the government to bring the appointment of a new Supreme Court president and two new Supreme Court justices and prepare for a vote.
- This may mean that the Justice Minister’s (Levin’s) year-long attempt to reshape the court into a “hardline conservative” court may be at an end.
- This is an attempt to “assert greater governmental control over the judiciary,” in which the Justice Minister, Levin, has refused to appoint new members.
- Levin wants to appoint Justice Yosef Elron, a hardline conservative. But his appointment would violate the principle of seniority.
- Levin heads the Judicial Selection Committee, but there is a liberal majority. So, he refuses to call a vote.
- Several government leaders, including Bezalel Smotrich, said the Court’s move was “divisive” and promoted a loss of trust in the justice system.
- Communications Minister Shlomo Sarhi, called for Levin to disobey the High Court.
- An opposition party leader claimed that Levin was continuing with a “regime coup” and trying to “eradicate Israeli democracy.”
- Another said: “Instead of focusing…on issues that unite…the government focuses on issues that threaten to break apart Israeli society, such as the Temple Mount and legal reform.”
Temple Mount
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount
Ben-Bvir Encourages Jewish Prayer at Temple Mount
- National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is, according to the Jerusalem Post, is “publicly and loudly” challenging Benjamin Netanyahu over the Temple Mount.
- Ben-Gvir maintains that Jews now have the right to pray there and that he would like to build a synagogue on the location. He is also arguing that the government will fund “Jewish education tours” at the site.
- Ban-Gvir knows just how provocative this is and that Iran is contemplating whether to attack Israel.
- “…many other orthodox and religious Zionist Jews…believe Jewish law precludes Jews from going to the Temple Mount because of its sanctity.”
- The Al-Aqsa Mosque is on the Mount and Muslims can pray there, but Jews cannot prostrate themselves and pray.
- Ben-Gvir is trying to maintain his relevance since Netanyahu marginalized him. Netanyahu refuses to make him part of the war cabinet. Netanyahu has sidelined the security cabinet as the main governmental body directing the war.
- Ben-Gvir also thinks this that appealing to expanded Jewish rights helps him politically, builds his “brand.”
- He hopes to draw more right-wing voters to his party and demonstrate his importance so that he can move any coalition toward his positions.
Podcasts:
- The Majority Report with Sam Seder
- Ukraine: The Latest
- The Thom Hartman Report
- BBC News Newshour
- On Israeli “judicial reform”
- “Religious Zionism and Judicial Reform” For Heaven’s Sake Podcast.
- If you are a real geek
- Hain, Elana (2024) “Circumventing the Law: Rabbinic Perspectives on Loopholes and Legal Integrity.”
- Kretzmer, David (2002) “The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories.” Updated in 2011
- Israel Supreme Court (2005) “Judgments of the Israel Supreme Court Fighting Terrorism within the Law.”
- Vyakappan, Sabarimuthu (2024) “Gaza War and the Law.”
- Cook, Steven A. (2023) “Israel’s Judicial Reforms: What to Know.” Council on Foreign Relations.
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This is a really good article and Haaretz is worth subscribing to if you are interested in Israel
Excerpts
Netanyahu is harming the interests of the West, particularly those of the United States. Why should Western leaders endure protests in their countries against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the region when they are dictated by a reckless arsonist igniting the Middle East? The clear interest is to remove him from power.
The West has enough leverage to replace Netanyahu democratically. This will become possible when the Israeli political system receives the necessary signals that Netanyahu has become a persona non grata.
Netanyahu is turning Israel into an autocracy – a Jewish Iran in the Middle East that could no longer be a true partner to the United States.
Furthermore, the means the two have employed over the past thirty years are taken straight from the autocrat’s playbook, as described in Martin Wolf’s book “The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism”: They have alienated reasonable people in their political circle and replaced them with incompetent yes-men; they have gradually and efficiently taken control of the judicial system and the media; they’ve turned the regime into a kleptocracy, plundering state resources; they’ve appointed their loyalists to control the security apparatus; they’ve institutionalized corruption, subjugating major capital holders; and they have forged alliances with similar rulers around the world.
They also don’t understand that if Netanyahu remains on the scene, there will be no more free elections in Israel. In the “best” case, there will be restrictions on certain populations, such as the Arabs, while in the worse case, elections will be postponed under the pretext of a perpetual state of emergency.
These issues particularly concern the ultra-Orthodox parties, whose shortsightedness is astonishing. They fail to understand that Netanyahu’s reliance on the far-right only increases the shifting of their voter base to Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, and that the severe deterioration of Israel’s economy will leave them without the state resources they require.
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Excerpts
the announced target of these sanctions sends an undeniable message that the U.S. is circling the two ministers, widely viewed as the impetus for much of the current unrest in Israel.
It is impossible to separate these sanctions – or any previous round of sanctions, for that matter – from the ongoing internal debate within the U.S. government on whether it should expand its already unprecedented sanctions regime to include Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Jack Kirby directly called out Smotrich for potentially compromising efforts to release the hostages, saying his rhetoric “would in fact sacrifice the lives of Israeli hostages – his own countrymen, and American hostages as well – and flies in the face of the national security interests of Israel at this critical stage of the war.”
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From a strictly military perspective, restrictions never help. Giving Ukraine the means and permission to launch attacks deep into Russian-held territory would surely improve Ukrainian combat power. But the difference is unlikely to be decisive. To achieve a game-changing effect, Ukraine would need to combine these strikes with tightly coordinated ground maneuver on a scale that its forces have been unable to master so far in this war. Otherwise, the benefits Ukraine could draw from additional deep strike capability would probably not be enough to turn the tide.
— Read on www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/false-promise-ukraines-deep-strikes-russiaNOTE: this line of argument has plagued Ukraine from the beginning of her second invasion. It has been deeply controversial.
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Hitting faraway targets will not tip the balance of the war.
— Read on www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/false-promise-ukraines-deep-strikes-russia
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Law, Power, and Justice 