Category: Israel

Half a million Israelis join latest protest against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, organizers say | CNN

On By TxTrailblazerIn Israel, Politics, protestLeave a comment

Half a million Israelis join latest protest against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, organizers say | CNN

March 12, 2023

Photo: https://worldnews2023.com/world-news/half-a-million-israelis-join-latest-protest-against-netanyahus-judicial-overhaul-organizers-say-cnn/


Jerusalem
CNN

Half a million Israelis took to the streets in the tenth consecutive week of protests against plans by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the country’s judicial system, organizers claimed.

Israel has a population of just over 9 million, so if organizers’ estimates are correct, about 5% of Israelis came out to voice their opposition to the proposed reforms.

Nearly half of the protesters – about 240,000 – gathered in Tel Aviv, the organizers said. In Jerusalem, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of President Isaac Herzog’s house. They carried Israeli flags and chanted slogans including “Israel will not be a dictatorship.”

On Thursday, Herzog – whose role is largely ceremonial – urged the Netanyahu government to take the judicial overhaul legislation off the table.

Protesters and critics of Netanyahu’s plan say it would weaken the country’s courts and erode the judiciary’s ability to check the power of the country’s other branches of government.

The package of legislation would give Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, the power to overrule Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority. It would also give the government the power to nominate judges, which currently rests with a committee composed of judges, legal experts and politicians. It would remove power and independence from government ministries’ legal advisers, and take away the power of the courts to invalidate “unreasonable” government appointments, as the High Court did in January, forcing Netanyahu to fire Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri.

Demonstrators clash with police during protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Photo: https://worldnews2023.com/world-news/half-a-million-israelis-join-latest-protest-against-netanyahus-judicial-overhaul-organizers-say-cnn/

Critics accuse Netanyahu of pushing the legislation in order to get out of corruption trials he is currently facing. Netanyahu denies that, saying the trials are collapsing on their own, and that the changes are necessary after judicial overreach by unelected judges.

Israel does not have a written constitution, but a set of what are called Basic Laws.

“We are done being polite,” said Shikma Bressler, an Israeli protest leader. “If the laws being suggested will pass, Israel will no longer be a democracy.”

About two out of three (66%) Israelis believe the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down laws incompatible with Israel’s Basic Laws, and about the same proportion (63%) say they support the current system of nominating judges, according to a poll last month for the Israel Democracy Institute.

“The only thing this government cares about is crushing Israeli democracy,” opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said.

“Antisemitic at their core”: Four House Dems blast progressive colleagues for rhetoric on Israel, Jews

On By TxTrailblazerIn antisemitism, hate crimes, Israel, Nancy Pelosi, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The rift between progressives and establishment Democrats exploded today over the issue of Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Four House Democrats signed a letter to Joe Biden demanding more action to curtail a spike in hate crimes against Jews following the latest iteration of the Hamas war on Israel. The letter cites a number of reasons for the rise in attacks, but takes aim particularly at members of their own caucus for statements the four call “antisemitic at their core”:

“Displeasure” is certainly one word for it; another might be “disgust.” The letter doesn’t call out anyone by name, not even Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican clearly meant in the passage about equating mask mandates to the Holocaust. This passage doesn’t identify anyone by name or party either, but it’s very clearly aimed at members of The Squad and their allies in the progressive caucus:

We also reject comments from Members of Congress accusing Israel of being an “apartheid state” and committing “act[s] of terrorism.” These statements are antisemitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile to many Jews. We must never forget that less than eighty years ago, within the lifetime of our parents and grandparents, six million people were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust because they were Jews. Israel has long provided the Jewish people with a homeland in which they can be safe after facing long centuries of persecution.

No one can possibly mistake who is meant in this passage from Josh Gottheimer, Elaine Luria, Kathy Manning, and Dean Phillips. Nevertheless, Seth Mandel isn’t too impressed by this effort:

Yes, but the rift over The Squad’s hateful rhetoric is now out in the open, at least. This comes at a very awkward time for Nancy Pelosi, who had probably hoped that Taylor Greene had provided enough of a distraction to keep the media at bay. This open letter undoes at least some of that strategy, although just how much of it is anyone’s guess. The media probably won’t rush to cover this accusation, in general anyway, although some outlets have been reporting on this rift for a while. For instance, the New York Post reported almost a week ago that Squad member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had intimidated pro-Israel Democrats into silence:

Jewish activists accused powerful Democrats in the New York congressional delegation of cowering to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other leftist House members of the “Squad” by failing to forcefully stand up for Israel during its fight with Hamas in the Gaza strip.

“Chuck Schumer? Who?,” a frustrated Michael Nussbaum, president of the Queens Council of Jewish Organizations, said sarcastically of the powerful Senate majority leader who represents New York.

“I’m surprised and disappointed. Members of the New York congressional delegation who have a lot of sway have not spoken out forcefully to defend Israel, and they have not denounced AOC or corrected her,” said Nussbaum. …

Nussbaum and other activists are seething that the New York pols who claim to be pro-Israel have been quiet and meek, giving Israel critics like AOC a leg up in the war of public opinion.

He argued they’re afraid of repercussions from AOC and the left if they speak up.

“A lot of Democrats are afraid of the AOC contingent. They’re sacrificing their principles to avoid primaries,” Nussbaum said.

Nussbaum finally got his wish today with this letter, even if it doesn’t name AOC specifically. We’ll see how much interest the media has in a Democratic civil war when it erupts, even as politely as this.

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2021/05/26/antisemitic-at-their-core-four-house-dems-blast-progressive-colleagues-for-rhetoric-on-israel-jews-n392721

Reports: Israel Lured Hamas Fighters Into Tunnels With Rumor Of Ground Invasion, Then Bombed Tunnels In Massive Airstrike

On By TxTrailblazerIn Israel, PalestineLeave a comment

“160 aircraft flying simultaneously conducted a massive attack on a network of tunnels dug by the Hamas terror group after ambiguous IDF statement caused media frenzy that Israel has launched ground invastion.”

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal

Friday, May 14, 2021 at 09:09am

The Israeli military apparently used a brilliant deceptive maneuver to take out Hamas’s terrorist fighting force and underground tunnels — in a single blow.

In what could only be described as killing two birds with one stone, the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday night told news reporters that the Israeli ground forces were on their way to Hamas-held Gaza.null

The news spread quickly through the mainstream media and affiliated social media accounts. Believing an Israeli ground invasion to be imminent, Hamas ordered its terrorist fighters to seek shelter in the tunnel network dug up under the Gaza city.

What followed the Hamas mobilization was a massive wave of Israeli airstrikes — comprising of 160 aircraft — on the Gaza tunnel network with the jihadi group’s top terror brass sitting underground, right where the IDF wanted them.

The Times of Israel reported the devastating blow to the Hamas terror tunnels:

Some 160 aircraft flying simultaneously conducted a massive attack on a network of tunnels dug by the Hamas terror group under the northern Gaza Strip around midnight Thursday in the largest Israeli strike since the outbreak of fighting earlier this week, the military said Friday.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, in this air campaign, which lasted nearly 40 minutes, some 450 missiles were dropped on 150 targets in northern Gaza, particularly around the city of Beit Lahiya. The military said it was still working to determine the extent of the damage caused to the underground infrastructure, which IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters was a “strategic asset” to Hamas, and the number of terrorist operatives killed in the strikes.

Continue reading “Reports: Israel Lured Hamas Fighters Into Tunnels With Rumor Of Ground Invasion, Then Bombed Tunnels In Massive Airstrike” →
Featured

WATCH as the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System intercepts rockets over southern Israel 👇

On By TxTrailblazerIn Israel, PalestineLeave a comment

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1392289537594994693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1392289537594994693%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F

ApkaPrithvi (@Nkb_indian) Tweeted:

Live rocket attacks while cameramen was shooting the usual images. 👇

IronDome #Iron_dome #IsraelPalestine #airstrike #HamasAttack. https://t.co/FXAmX8pvUi

https://twitter.com/amoyal_amit/status/1392872444197838849?s=20
The Trans-Zionist Entity pipeline was damaged in a rocket strike earlier, currently burning 👇

https://twitter.com/tamaralbaghdadi/status/1393166217695870982?s=20