Yesterday, protesters stormed our Jerusalem office over judicial reform proposals. Is this what democracy looks like?

By Moshe Koppel and Eugene Kontorovich    10.3.23

If you subscribe to mainstream American newspapers—or if you read Matti Friedman’s piece the other day in these pages—perhaps you’ve heard that Israeli democracy is in grave danger because of the government’s proposed judicial reforms. The two of us are well situated to address those concerns: our think tank drafted some of the policy papers that have informed the current government.

Read more…

Thirteen ways of looking at disinformation

By Jacob Siegel, TABLET

PROLOGUE: THE INFORMATION WAR

In 1950, Sen. Joseph McCarthy claimed that he had proof of a communist spy ring operating inside the government. Overnight, the explosive accusations blew up in the national press, but the details kept changing. Initially, McCarthy said he had a list with the names of 205 communists in the State Department; the next day he revised it to 57. Since he kept the list a secret, the inconsistencies were beside the point. The point was the power of the accusation, which made McCarthy’s name synonymous with the politics of the era.

Read more…

JNS

Israeli American artist and author Noa Tishby.

Israeli actress Noa Tishby revealed on Sunday that she was dismissed from her position as Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism.

The move comes just weeks after she denounced the government’s judicial reform program as a “coup.”

Read more…

Yesterday, protesters stormed our Jerusalem office over judicial reform proposals. Is this what democracy looks like?

By Moshe Koppel and Eugene Kontorovich      10.3.23

If you subscribe to mainstream American newspapers—or if you read Matti Friedman’s piece the other day in these pages—perhaps you’ve heard that Israeli democracy is in grave danger because of the government’s proposed judicial reforms. The two of us are well situated to address those concerns: our think tank drafted some of the policy papers that have informed the current government.
Read more…

After warnings by police chief and AG, several cabinet members express displeasure, yet vote in favor; Lapid decries measure handing far-right minister ‘a private militia’

By MICHAEL BACHNER, TOI       2.4.23  , 4:51 pm

After a heated discussion at their weekly cabinet meeting, ministers voted Sunday in favor of forming a national guard under the command of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, along with a major budget cut across all ministries to fund it.

The controversial force is expected to comprise 2,000 servicemembers who will report directly to the far-right minister and will be tasked with tackling “nationalist crime” and terrorism, and “restoring governance where needed.” A timeline for the creation of such a force is unclear, though it is likely to take months.

Read more…

T. Belman. I wrote about Russia in these articles.

RUSSIA AND THE NEW ME -Part IV: Can Russia be induced to use its UN veto to protect Israel

Contemplating, a US-Russia Alliance

By Dr. Eric R. Mandel, MEPIN

Prof. Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University, the preeminent historian of American Jewry, commented on my recent article in The Jerusalem Report, “The divide between US and Israeli Jewry.”

He pointed out that Jews from the FSU (Former Soviet Union), some 1.5 million in Israel and 750,000 in the US, do not fit neatly within the Israeli or American Jewish Diaspora pattern. To more fully understand the American Jewish Diaspora and contemporary Israeli Jewry, one has to consider the profound influence these Israeli and American citizens from the FSU and their descendants have had on their respective countries. Their significance is an underreported story.

Read more…

Despite the Left’s international propaganda campaign claiming that Israel’s judicial reform will render it an autocratic state, the Prime Minister was able to skillfully use his interview with Piers Morgan to deflect the unfounded attacks and set the record straight.
Read more…

By Shmuel Sackett      March 30, 2023

Most people simply have no clue as to how much power Israel’s Supreme Court has.

There is literally no example of this anywhere in the world. In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Netanyahu said the following:

“Israel’s Supreme Court can nullify any decision of the Knesset, can nullify any appointment of the government, can intervene in military matters, can intervene in the fight against terror and can even try to stop the government from taking gas out of the sea… a project that will bring billions of dollars into the economy.”

Read more…

L. Goudsmit. Jeff Goldstein is a man who understands we are a world at war.

Tyranny is already upon us. To defeat it, we must first learn to reject its premises. And to say so aloud.

By Jeff Goldstein<

Be it so understood:

I refuse to “unpack white violence.” I reject the idea that my existence “perpetuates white power structures.” I will not — and in fact cannot — “examine my implicit biases.” I’m an individual. I refuse to grant determined interpretive communities authority over my being. My meaning is mine. It is what makes me me.

Read more…

GREAT SUMMARY BUT TOO PESSAMISTIC FOR ME

T. Belman. This poll shows how bloody and bruised Netanyahu is due to the propaganda, lies, and smears used by the Left/elitists in their fight to maintain power. Likud also suffered a drop of 7 seats in another poll. The fight to erase Bibi as some see it, totally overcame the negative reaction to the moves by Gantz to give Area C to the Arabs and permit illegal construction.

When Netanyahu faces off against Lapid, there is a tie of 32%. When Netanyahu faces off against Gantz, the former Defense Minister prevails.

Israel National News    Apr 1, 2023, 12:42 AM (GMT+3)

Netanyahu and GantzYonatan Sindel/Flash 90, Olivier Fitoussi/Flash 90

A new poll published on Channel 12 News on Friday shows that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his advantage on the question of suitability for the role of Prime Minister.

When Netanyahu faced off against opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, there was a tie of 32% between the two. When Netanyahu was placed against National Unity chairman Benny Gantz, Netanyahu received 31% support from the public, while Gantz received 38%.

Read more…

Israel National News

The commander of an IDF reserves battalion ordered the officer charged with contacting reservists to try reservists who were summoned to participate in an exercise and did not report in protest of the government’s judicial reform plan, Walla reported.

In addition, the commander decided to suspend the summons of the reservists who did not report until further notice.

Read more…

By Michael Ordman, VGNI

It’s all go in Israel. As if to answer the Biblical demand to “Let My People Go”, Israelis have certainly been “on the go” since my last newsletter. In fact I had to go over my self-imposed limit of 50 positive news items, otherwise I would never have caught up.

Israeli scientists are going all out, to make debilitating medical conditions go away. Cancer, diabetes, reflux, muscle pain, heart arrhythmia, cerebral hemorrhage, and respiratory diseases will one day be gone, thanks to Israeli medical breakthroughs. So will religious intolerance, landmines, glass ceilings, water scarcity, pollution, and infant death from heart deformities – all being targeted by Israelis going beyond the call of duty to make a better world.

Read more…

T. Belman. My articles stress the same message:
The conspiracy to shrink Israel
Since when did the Palestinians become entitled to a state?
Saudi Arabia and the Peace Process

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”   30.3.23

Israel’s proposed Judiciary Reform ranks very low on President Biden’s order of priorities, far below scores of pressing domestic, foreign and national security threats and challenges. Therefore, he has not studied the various articles of the reform, but leverages the explosive Israeli domestic controversy as a means to intensify pressure on Israel, in order to:
Read more…

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS.  Joe Biden had strong words for Netanyahu, calling upon him to back away from judicial reform, even after the State Department was exposed for paying money to stir up the massive protests in Israel. Biden also stated that Netanyahu won’t be invited to the White House anytime soon. Bear in mind also that Democrats’ sympathies now quite clearly lie with the Palestinians over Israel. In this atmosphere, Netanyahu addressed the US State Department Summit for Democracy 2023.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks at the Summit:

“I want to thank the world leaders and President Biden, who’s been a friend of 40 years, for convening this important conference. You know, Israel and the United States have had their occasional differences, but I want to assure you that the alliance between the world’s greatest democracy and a strong, proud and independent democracy – Israel – in the heart of the Middle East is unshakable. Nothing can change that. We have worked together, Israel and the United States, to achieve the historic Abraham Accords that made peace between Israel and four Arab states. We are now working together to expand these peace accords further, and they obviously bring increased prosperity to our peoples.
Read more…

T. Belman.  The Wall by John Hersey was the first book I read on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

“Riveting & compelling, The Wall tells the inspiring story of forty men & women who escape the dehumanizing horror of the Warsaw ghetto. John Hersey’s novel documents the Warsaw ghetto both as an emblem of Nazi persecution & as a personal confrontation with torture, starvation, humiliation & cruelty–a gripping, visceral story, impossible to put down.”

The Words Of An Eyewitness

By Moshe Phillips

As we approach the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising there can be no doubt that the mainstream media will cover the occasion. For example, CNN is asking “Was your family affected by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943? Leave CNN a voicemail” 

Read more…

‘This is the third time in the past five years that the year-end total has been the highest number ever recorded,’ group states 

MAGGIE KELLY – ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE COLLEGE FIX •MARCH 31, 2023

Read more…

There’s something vaguely familiar to the MAGA Right in the current struggles in Israel with the uniparty.

By Bob Maistros, AM GREATNESS

JERUSALEM, Israel—What in the world is going on here? Political intrigue. A splintered conservative coalition. A fired minister. Soldiers disobeying orders to report for duty. “Day of Paralysis” protests with demonstrators shutting down traffic and a threatened general strike on the horizon. All of which is leading to a postponement, for now, of the government’s judicial reform proposal.

For the MAGA Right, it’s not hard at all to figure out what’s really happening. There’s no need at all to navigate the complex web of proposals, counter-proposals, cross-proposals, and compromise proposals on the issue.
Read more…