by Guy Millière, GATESTONE  •  July 11, 2023 at 5:00 am

• The riots grew bigger. Schools and theaters were destroyed…. churches were burned to the ground; graffiti in red paint on a church in Marseilles declared: “Mohammed was the last prophet”. Bank branches were ransacked and ATMs opened with chainsaws. Slogans were shouted: “death to the police”, “death to France”, “death to the Jews!”
• “We are Muslims,” one angry protester shouted, “if the police kill us we have the right to kill; it is written in the Koran!”
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The Prime Minister will not allow Itamar Ben-Gvir to join the discussions on concessions to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel National News      Jul 10, 2023, 9:48 AM

Prime Minister Netanyahu intends to distance Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir from any involvement in the issue of possible concessions for the Palestinians as part of the cabinet’s decision to prevent the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, according to Army Radio.

According to the report, after Ben-Gvir voted against the proposal in yesterday’s cabinet discussion, a limited team of ministers is expected to be formed to continue dealing with concessions to the Palestinian Authority – of which Ben-Gvir will not be a part.

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The conduct of protesters and their representatives in the Knesset shows that the think they are the only ones in the right and everyone else is mistaken.

By  Merav Sever, IH

You are a nice person, but you don’t really understand the judicial reform, Lt. Col. (res.) Oren Shvil told Likud lawmaker Tsega Melaku during a recent panel on the controversial legislation. I too received a similar response when I tried to explain to Svhil that the words “dictatorship” and “regime” do not describe the current situation in Israel.

Opponents of the judicial reform cannot fathom the fact that the other side has brains and are capable of thinking for themselves. In Shvil’s mind, there is no way I studied the material and came to an informed decision.<
>

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by Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE  •  July 10, 2023 at 5:00 am

• Iran’s mullahs are seeking to create a situation where Jews no longer feel safe in their own country and are forced to leave Israel. To achieve this goal, the mullahs have instructed their Palestinian terror proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), to step up their campaign of terrorism against Israel and Jews.
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T. Belman.

“Reasonableness is a judicial test that allows courts to strike down government and administrative decisions seen as having not taken into account all the relevant considerations of a particular issue, or having not given the correct weight to those considerations — even if they do not violate any particular law or contradict other administrative rulings.”

“The Attorney General’s Office also criticized the bill, saying that it opened the door to “arbitrary” decision-making.”

No one want’s “arbitrary decisions”. But who is to decide what considerations are more important than others? The Courts or the Government?

1st of 3 Knesset floor votes due Monday afternoon, advancing bill to protect elected officials from judicial scrutiny; mass protests planned for Tuesday by anti-overhaul activists

By CARRIE KELLER-LYNN, TOI, 10.7.23  

The Knesset was set to vote Monday on a controversial bill to curtail judicial review of the “reasonableness” of elected officials’ decisions, as part of the government’s broader plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.
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THE CURRENT OFFENSIVE HAS ACHIEVED NOTHING EXCEPT THE LOSS OF HUGE NUMBERS OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS AND EQUIPTMENT.

STARTING AT 16:40, BERLETIC COVERS THE RETURN TO THE UKRIANIAN ARMY OF THE AZOV BATTALIAN. HE FULLY EXPOSES IT AS A NAZI BATTALION AND ZALENSKY’S EMBRACE OF THEIR LEADERS.

THE NEW ATLAS

Cabinet ministers stunned to learn only 6 indictments filed in over 500 arrests at anti-government protests.

Israel National News      Jul 9, 2023, 2:19 PM 

The discussion with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara during the weekly Cabinet meeting became heated after data was presented showing that very few indictments have been made in the ongoing anti-government protests.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded the data on indictments against those who were arrested during the protests,

The attorney general forwarded the data to Deputy Superintendent Yoav Talem, Deputy Head of the Intelligence and Investigations Division in the police, and he replied: “six indictments out of 572 arrested, only for assaulting police officers.”

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by Martin Sherman     July 5, 2023

For months Israel has been engulfed in a tumultuous public dispute in the titanic clash between the advocates of a direly needed reform of the country’s system of law enforcement on the one hand, and its increasingly strident opponents on the other.

According to the University of Haifa’s annual index for public sector performance, the public’s level of trust in the Israeli judicial system is at the lowest level since the index was first published in 2001.—i24News, Nov. 6, 2018.

After a decade in which left-wing voters expressed a 44 percent confidence in the judiciary, their confidence has eroded since 2017 to 25 percent in 2020.—Haaretz, Jun. 4, 2020.

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The reasonableness doctrine isn’t explored enough in the debate, but Israeli citizens would do well to review the arguments on both sides.

By MICHAEL STARR, JPOST 25.5.23

Israel’s judicial reform can be a daunting topic to understand, as it is not one proposal, but several provisions. Some are simpler and more straightforward, like the Judicial Selection Committee or the override clause. But some issues, like the reasonableness standard, are more complicated.

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By B. Michael, HAARETZ

A passionate debate has been taking place recently in the TV news studios: On one side are people calling for a nonviolent civil rebellion against the approaching dictatorship. On the other side are overwrought interviewers who repeatedly demand of supporters of the rebellion that they specifically state whether they also support “illegal” acts. And the debate is raging.

But this debate, if you’ll excuse me, is somewhat idiotic. A “rebellion,” by definition, is an illegal act. Because “rebellion” means refusal, disobedience, opposition, an uprising. And a rebellion is also directed against the authorities, their laws or their conduct. For example, a rebellion against a government planning to pass evil and despicable laws.

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T. Belman. “We have noticed that the Israeli government has been promoting various moves to turn Israel from a liberal democracy into a dark dictatorship”.  They may believe it, but it is not true. Haaretz just published Israeli Protesters Want a Legal Rebellion. There Is No Such Thing. A rebellion is illegal.  It goes without saying that it is illegal to organize a rebellion.

Above 1000 veterans of the IDF’s elite cyber warfare will not volunteer for reserve duty if the reasonability clause is reduced.

Israel National News      Jul 9, 2023, 6:14 PM

More than a thousand veterans of Unit 8200, the IDF’s elite electronic intelligence unit, are threatening to stop volunteering for reserve service if the law reducing the reasonability clause is approved in the first reading.

In the letter they sent today (Sunday) to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Chief of Intelligence Major General Aharon Haliva, and Major General Y., the commander of the unit, they write: “We stand bravely and announce that we will not give in to the foolishness of the current government. We call on the Israeli government to immediately stop the dictatorial moves.

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Douglas Macgregor & Craig James

WATCHING THIS IS VERY WORTHWHILE

T. Belman. My daughter invited one of her girlfriends over for Shabbat together with her family. They are all religious. The conversation moved to judicial reform and she subjected me to a rant. Her views echoed those of Barak’s. The right is despicable and the left is principled. The right is destroying democracy and the left is protecting democracy. She even said we should look for a consensus. I didn’t have a chance to say “Been there. Done that”.

After Israel’s main highway was blocked for hours by protestors, the now-ousted police chief had no answers for law-abiding citizens.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, INN     Jul 7, 2023, 7:59 AM (GMT+3)

Fires on Ayalon FreewayKaplan pr

Tel Aviv police chief Amichai Eshed is clueless – he said his alternative to the passive police behavior during the four hour blocking of Israel’s main highway, including fires set in the middle of the intercity road, by the Kaplan dictators was breaking bones rather than ARRESTING them.

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by Avi Abelow, ISRAEL UNWIRED     June 29, 2023

This is a bombshell presentation that should be reported upon by all media channels, all over the world. Instead? Silence.

In addition, there is a huge effort trying to discredit Dr. David Martin, but they have a big problem, his impeccable credentials as explained below.

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T. Belman. The AG’s position is untenable. She claims,

“The law enforcement system is obliged to exercise its powers in a professional and independent manner. This independence is a central guarantee of the preservation of human rights,”

It is up to the Cabinet, not the IDF,  to decide to go to war. Similarly, it should be up to the Cabinet to decide whether law enforcement should be more aggressive or not. After all, the government was elected not the police. Whether to go to war or to fight terror or illegal protests are policy decisions. It should not be the police to decide how tough to be or whether to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

The AG has refused to answer questions “on the grounds that several ministers have a personal interest in how law enforcement responds to the ongoing protests.” We all have such a “personal interest”. The left wants both the High Court and the police to be the decision makers, not the government.

ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he would boycott the cabinet meeting with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, calling it a “waste of time.”

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T. Belman. As I reported elsewhere, Mudar and I have agreed between us, that Israel should be sovereign over all land to west of Jordan River. The Jordan Option envisages autonomous Palestinian areas west of the Jordan R. in some kind of confederation with Jordan. My suggestion was a long term lease of such areas to Jordan. Another suggestion was something akin to Indian Reservations in Canada and the US.

This paper expands the options.

Either full Annexation or “Occupation”? International Examples Establish the Precedent of Special Sovereignty

By Or Yissachar, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, Lt. Col. (Res.) Maurice Hirsch, IDSF

Breaking the False Dichotomy: Precedents set by the western democratic world for autonomy and special geopolitical arrangements

Notwithstanding the fervent discourse concerning the future of Israel’s control of the territories of Judea and Samaria (“West Bank”), a more nuanced assessment reveals that much of the passionate dispute is in regards to the specific details rather than the substantive position.

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T. Belman. Ben Gvir is right to fiercely oppose any aid to the PA. Bibi and Gallant are absurd to say “it will aid Israeli security interests.” The financial stability of the PA is not our concern. Destroying terrorism is. Supporting the PA is a cop-out. It is done to avoid a conflagration. A conflagration, like in Jenin, is needed.

Palestinians threaten family of man who killed Tel Aviv terrorist

‘The Palestinian Authority is encouraging terror and receiving a prize from Israel. This is not how a fully right-wing government looks,’ Cabinet ministers say.

Israel National News      Jul 8, 2023, 10:37 PM

PM Netanyahu at a government meetingYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Senior government officials have harshly criticized the intention to pass “relief measures” for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority.

“This is not what a fully right-wing government looks like,” the Cabinet ministers said. “The Palestinian Authority encourages terror and is receiving a prize from Israel.”

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T. Belman. This is a brilliant discussion of the shifting alliances in the ME and Israel’s challenges..

By BRIG. GENERAL (RES.) YOSSI KUPERWASSER, IDSF

In unusual move, all top Justice Ministry officials to attend meeting amid concerns of government pressure on police, legal system to suppress anti-overhaul rallies on its behalf

By TOI STAFF      Today, at 10:33 am  

Israeli border police officers work to disperse demonstrators against the judicial overhaul at Ben Gurion Airport, July 3, 2023 (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The entire top echelon of the Justice Ministry will reportedly attend Sunday’s cabinet discussions on law enforcement at protests, as senior coalition figures increasingly urge police and the legal system to deal more forcefully with demonstrators against the judicial overhaul.

According to a Channel 13 news report on Friday, the expected attendance of the top legal officials at the meeting was due to concerns that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government will pressure the law enforcement system to suppress the protests on its behalf.

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