Former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit warned Monday that the government’s plan to oust his successor, Gali Baharav-Miara, could result in the “complete destruction” of Israeli democracy.
“This is a recipe for complete destruction of democracy and the rule of law in the State of Israel,” he told Kan public radio when asked about the possibility that Baharav-Miara’s potential replacement would scrap Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing years-long corruption trial.
“The hearing scheduled for today allows the government to dismiss the attorney general and any future advisor for foreign and corrupt considerations. In response to the fact that the advisor prevented illegal actions, ordered an investigation or prosecution of a coalition member, refused to halt a criminal proceeding against a sitting government member, or as part of a ‚political deal‘ to ensure the survival of the government,” she wrote.
(July 13, 2025)
The decision by Judge Noam Sohlberg came hours after Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli filed a notice to the court asking it to reject petitions against the new procedure and implied that the coalition could ignore the court if it ruled against it on the matter.
The petition was put forth in January, when Odeh said he was “happy for the release of hostages and prisoners” as part of the Gaza truce that was signed that month. The petition clinched the required number of signatures after Odeh said at an anti-war protest in Haifa in May that “Gaza has won and Gaza will win.”
Both United Torah Judaism and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White—National Unity party boycott the vote, while Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and most of his Yesh Atid party’s MKs are absent as well.
The measure is supported by the coalition and by opposition party Yisrael Beytenu. The Democrats vote against it.
(16 hours ago)
“We strongly condemn the effort to expel MK Ayman Odeh from the Israeli Knesset,” the US senators said. “If Israel is going to call itself a democracy, it must tolerate peaceful dissent.” The senators linked the expulsion effort to Odeh’s calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and a political solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
“For over a decade, MK Odeh has been a leading advocate for peace, justice, and Jewish-Arab partnership,” they said. “The current expulsion effort is a direct response to MK Odeh’s outspoken and brave calls.” The lawmakers described the move as sending “a chilling message to millions of Palestinian citizens of Israel: that their representation is conditional and their rights revocable.” “We stand in solidarity with MK Odeh and with the right of all lawmakers, Arab and Jewish, to speak freely and without fear of political retribution,” they said.
“When they build a camp where they [plan to] ‘clean’ more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians]. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least.”
Israeli human rights lawyers and scholars have described the plan as a blueprint for crimes against humanity and some have warned that if implemented, “under certain conditions it could amount to the crime of genocide”.
Nein. Die USA sind der Westen. Und sie setzen auf „America first“ wie eh und je. Den Westen hat es nie gegeben. Es gab – spätestens seit Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs – immer nur die Weltmacht USA und ihre Vasallen. „America first“ ist keine Erfindung Donald Trumps, sondern eine Maxime der US-Politik seit der Gründung der Vereinigten Staaten. Und wie im alten Rom war und ist das „Divide et impera“, das „Teile und herrsche“, eine Konstante der Außenpolitik Washingtons, wenn es darum geht, aufkeimenden Widerstand in seinem Einflussbereich zu unterdrücken und seine Einflusssphäre auszuweiten.
According to Haaretz, the plan involves the construction of 3,412 housing units across 12 square kilometres, north and west of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, which is illegal under international law.
On Friday, Israeli settlers beat to death 20-year-old American Palestinian Sayfollah Musallet, his family stating that the mob surrounded him for three hours during the assault and attacked medics attempting to reach him.
Eight other Palestinians were also slain this past week – including one child – as a result of settler attacks, as well as targeted assassinations and raids conducted by Israeli troops.
In four instances, the bodies of those killed have been detained by Israeli authorities.
GAZA, July 14, 2025 (WAFA) – The death toll in the Gaza Strip has reached 58,386, the majority of whom were women and children, since the beginning of the Israeli aggression in October 2023. At least 139,077 others have also been injured.
Medical sources confirmed that since Israel broke its ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025, at least 6,710 civilians have been killed and 23,584 others have been injured.
Israeli forces killed 117 Palestinians and wounded a further 557 in the past 24 hours, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
At least five people were killed over the past day while seeking humanitarian aid.
(November 5, 2024)
This is to inform you that I propose that you be suspended from duty without pay for three (3) calendar days.
(page 10)
HSGAC Majority: I also work for Chairman Peters. And just as starting point if you could maybe give us a really brief high-level overview of your role and responsibilities with respect to the July 13th rally at Butler.
Witness: Sure. I was assigned as the command post/slash security room agent.
(…)
(page 16)
And then talking about July 13th specifically, could you give us a sense of the chain of command on that day from your point of view, who, if anyone, you reported to on that day?
Witness: Sure. I reported to the site agent.
HSGAC Majority: To the site agent?
Witness: Yes.
(…)
(page 25)
HSGAC Majority: And who do you know who was responsible for making the decisions about the location of the event and what equipment would be there?
Witness: Typically, that would be the site agent.
HSGAC Majority: And did you have any conversations with the site agent prior to the 13th about the setup in the room?
Witness: About the setup in the room? No.
(…)
(page 30)
Witness: So, it was a very, very busy site. I think in earlier testimony, I‘ve said it was one of the busier sites I‘ve ever worked from a command post perspective, the amount of traffic that was coming through it.
(…)
And there was a constant flow of dispatch of medical personnel to people who were, you know, having issues in the crowd. Throughout the day, we had two or three lost children, one of whom actually spent some time in the command post and security room until they were reunited with their family. We had lost property coming into the command post and security room. We had a call about a media truck that was going to set the ground on fire. So, we had to figure out how to get fire trucks to that. (…)
HSGAC Majority: Got it. Can you talk a little bit about just the physical setup of the room, how big it was?
Witness: Sure. It was a relatively large room, kind of in a standalone building. And there were essentially card tables or tables of about this size. You know, the six-foot, eight-foot tables set up in a big ring configuration. That was pretty much it. There was one door out the front, and then there were two small windows to my right. And there was a little kitchen in the back and a restroom.
(…)
(page 33)
I had to enlist the help of the Butler Farm Show personnel there to find me an extension cord and a power strip. So, I set up my radio so I could at least look out the door of the command post.
(…)
The security room also functioned as the — what we would call the down room. when the agents were getting relief from their post, it‘s where they would come. The site agents were in and out of the room throughout the day. The PI response and the counter sniper, CS Response Teams, were in and out of the room all day.
Other Pennsylvania State Troopers who were doing the same thing, who were being pushed, were in and out of the room all day. Our Uniformed Division personnel who were working the magnetometers who were on break, in and out of the room all day. And then at one point the agent assigned to work the UAS detection system, ended up taking up residence and setting up his station in the security room
(…)
(page 55)
HSGAC Majority: But the first person on the chain would‘ve been the site agent?
Witness: Correct.
HSGAC Majority: You mentioned in preparation the written materials were the only mention you saw of the setup that day. And correct me if I‘m wrong, but I believe you said it, reference commmand post or security room, but in this case, both?
Witness: Correct. So for this particular visit, the command post and the site security room for the Butler Farm Show were one and the same.
(…)
HSGAC Minority: I guess, let‘s start first with the man on the roof. Well, I mean at that time you didn’t know about it, so.
Witness: So the Man on the roof thing, again, I never heard the man on the roof thing because I believe if the claim is that that was said out loud into the room, that that was probably occurring as I‘m getting the same traffic of the local police are working a problem at 3 o‘clock, which I‘m listening to my Secret Service radio intently at that point.
HSGAC Minority: And are you only listening to your Secret?
Witness: Well, I‘m trying to listen to as much as I can, but I typically can only listen to one thing at a time.
HSGAC Minority: Do you recall, I guess, the level of activity that was going on around that time, around 6:09
Witness: Precisely at 6:09, no. But I will say that at the time that the call came across that the local police were working a problem at the 3 o‘clock, that the entire — everybody who was in the security room definitely peaked up and was very much turned on.
HSGAC Minority: So, is it that the locals were working something at the 3 o‘clock that raised it to enough of a threat level that you felt like you needed to communicate that out on the radio?
Witness: Yeah. I reported back what I heard on the radio that came across on the Secret Service radio from another Secret Service personnel. And to this day, I‘m still not sure exactly who that was, who called that into the security room. But I‘m listening for traffic on my Secret Service radio.
Witness Counsel: Can I just say that when you used the phrase „enough of a threat,“ there were between a suspicion and a threat, those are mutually exclusive categories and they have completely different meanings. If you wanted to expound on your understanding of the difference between a suspicion and a threat?
Witness: Sure. A threat is somebody who has the capability to do immediate harm to somebody. So even in this instance, even if I had heard that there was a man on a roof, a man on a roof solely that is not necessarily a threat.
Until the first shots were fired, the security agent managing communication at a Pennsylvania rally never knew Donald Trump‘s would-be assassin had taken to the rooftops.
The Secret Service agent also testified he was unaware of a second command post set up by state police, according to the final Senate committee report on the attack.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report also found there was „insufficient accountability“ by the Secret Service following the incident in Butler, Pennsylvania last July.
„Not a single person has been fired,“ the report said.
„This report reveals a disturbing pattern of communication failures and negligence that culminated in a preventable tragedy,“ Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, wrote in the report. „What happened was inexcusable and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation.“
The report accuses then-Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle of „falsely“ testifying to Congress that „no USSS asset requests were denied for the Butler rally.“ Cheatle resigned nearly a year ago after testifying before Congress.
The Secret Service failed to prevent the assassination attempt against Donald Trump last year at his Pennsylvania campaign rally, according to a Senate committee report, which accuses the agency of a botched operation snarled by communication fumbles and the repeated denial of extra security assets at a time when the former president faced heightened threats on his life. Documents shared by the Senate committee as part of the report also reveal new details about what its Republican chairman characterized as insufficient disciplinary actions against the agents and officers involved.