(October 16, 2024)
“A year after the pogroms (of October 7), we will stand together — Likud members, regional [Likud] branch chairs, MKs and ministers — to jointly declare that ‘Gaza is ours. Forever,‘” a poster advertising the October 21 event read.
“Victory is settlement. It is doable” added a message on a Gaza settlement WhatsApp channel where it announced the participation of nearly one-third of the Likud faction Knesset members
The Israeli Likud Party Knesset Member Revital Gotliv requested the death sentence or life imprisonment for Yuli Novak, the executive director of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, for what she labeled as “the suspected serious crime of assistance to the enemy in war,” the Anadolu news agency reported.
Gotliv reportedly made her request in a letter addressed to the Israeli Chief Police Commissioner Daniel Levy, in which she demanded the detention and interrogation of Novak.
The move followed a speech delivered by Novak on September 4 at the United Nations Security Council.
(today)
And therefore, as was the case when he insisted on continuing to run the country while in the midst of a corruption trial, and as was the case when he pressed on with his assault on Israeli democracy and briefly fired that defense minister, so too, now, it falls to a potential few good men and women within his own coalition base to tell him that his presence is harming Israel, that his policies empowered and emboldened Hamas, and that far from being uniquely capable of ensuring Israel has the practical and diplomatic room to destroy Hamas, he is almost uniquely incapable of doing so.
(09.04.2024)
Israel must destroy Hamas as a military and political force in the territory while minimizing harm to civilians. It must do what it can to rescue its hostages without jeopardizing the overriding goal of destroying Hamas. It must, by diplomacy or force, push Hezbollah back from Lebanon’s southern border, so that 60,000 Israelis can return safely to their homes in the north. It must take the battle directly, as it did last week in Damascus, to Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s patrons, whether in Syria, Qatar or Iran.
And for all of that to happen effectively, Benjamin Netanyahu must go.
(23.01.2024)
The conference, under the heading “Only settlement will bring security,” is organized by a group of movements that want to resettle Gaza, led by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and the Nachala Settlement Movement. It is scheduled for Sunday at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem.
So far, Zohar and Katz, and Likud MKs Hanoch Milwidsky, Nissim Vaturi, Amit Halevi, Tally Gotliv, Etty Hava Atia, Moshe Passal and Ariel Kallner have all said they will attend, according to the report.
Nissim Vaturi, an Israeli lawmaker belonging to the ruling Likud party, has announced he is joining an Israeli group that is planning to create illegal settlements in northern Gaza.
He made the announced on X on Tuesday, accompanied by a picture of a poster which states „only settlement will bring security„.
With the government’s popularity plummeting, a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nevertheless garnered only 18 votes in the Knesset on Monday evening, falling far short of the necessary majority to pass in the 120-strong Knesset plenum.
The vote was boycotted by the coalition, whose heads stated earlier in the day that they would “not take part in political theater during wartime.”
In exchange, Israel has agreed to a ceasefire for at least four days for the first time since the outbreak of the war.
He is the only ultra-Orthodox journalist in the country who considers non-Jews to be human, hence he must be silenced
That sentiment was echoed by Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, also of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party: “Of course.”
Interior and Health Minister Moshe Arbel of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party took a similar tone. “Yes, unequivocally,” he responded when asked if High Court rulings need to be followed.
Israel‘s Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana warned Supreme Court justices on Wednesday that the parliament „will not acquiesce to its trampling,“ less than a week before the court is set to hear petitions against a key law in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s judicial coup.
“Israel is democratic, and in a democracy, the sovereign is the people. In a democratic state, the justice system respects the sovereign, the people and its elected officials, and this respect is mutual. There is no debate, and there cannot be one, over the question of whether the Knesset has authorized the court to nullify Basic Laws,” he says, arguing that the court possesses no such power.
Gotliv, speaking about a dispute between the Prime Minister’s Office and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir regarding visits allowed for Palestinian security prisoners, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “it’s good to know the IDF and Shin Bet work for terrorists and security prisoners.
“The entire deep state is against Ben-Gvir,” she alleged. “Bravo, Ben-Gvir, on displaying right-wing authority,” the MK wrote after it was reported by media that Ben-Gvir had blocked visits for prisoners, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releasing a statement denying that was so.
When cabinet ministers, under the leadership and guidance of the prime minister and justice minister, two human demons who have taken over the state, insult and denounce the High Court of Justice merely for hearing petitions (which it could end up rejecting), Israel can no longer be seen as a democratic, liberal state. Nor is it Jewish, because what Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir and Eliyahu and Strock represent is not Judaism. It is messianism, racism and degradation.
Netanyahu has since said he will seek to build consensus before approving further changes to the judicial system, but also pledged the coalition will move forward alone if no deal is reached.
“There is no rebellion in Likud. We all want to reach agreements and need to make the maximum effort to do so, but we will not give the other side a veto,” the ruling party said in a statement.
According to the report by Ynet, Gallant intends to work toward such a coalition with the National Unity party headed by Gantz, and Yesh Atid headed by Lapid, even if it meant that he would have to resign from his ministerial post.
This potential switch would primarily be made to replace the far-right Religious Zionism headed by Bezalel Smotrich and Jewish Power headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, in order to halt movements toward extremism, and return to a national conesus.
Likud minister David Amsalem launched a public attack on Bar-David, anticipating that the latter could end up launching a nationwide strike.
“I remind you that you represent workers who are mostly Likud people who are struggling to make a living,” Amsalem tweeted. “The issue of the judicial reform should be decided in the Knesset, not in the corridors of the Mapai-like Histadrut,” he argued, citing the workers’ party that was a precursor to left-wing Labor and was the ruling party for Israel’s first three decades.
(today)
The minister pointed to widespread “chaos” the day before, when anti-overhaul protesters blocked roads and disrupted train services while, he said, the attorney general “doesn’t see anything.”
“In my opinion, she is the most dangerous person in the country today,” Amsalem said. “In practice, there is a revolt going on in the IDF, and the attorney general doesn’t see, doesn’t hear.”
(9 July 2023)
“There’s no intelligence, no arrest on the nights [of the protests], no investigations of [former Supreme Court chief justice] Aharon Barak or Ehud Barak. You’re hurting? Protest — just like people have since the establishment of the state. But why riot? It’s lawlessness,” he said, adding: “Ehud Barak, in my opinion, should have been in the interrogation room some time ago.
Following Rabin’s murder, the public turned against Netanyahu. Many believed his political career was over. But he was soon brought to power amid a wave of terror by Hamas and a slick campaign capitalizing on the public‘s fears.
And that original assault against democracy, secular law and territorial compromise that launched both Netanyahu’s career and the ascent of the religious right, is today continuing its illiberal advance via a legal hijacking.
The demonstrators are protesting the government’s proposed state budget that is slated to send billions of shekels to the ultra-Orthodox communities. Protest organizers said in a statement that this “isn’t a state budget [that’s being put up for a vote], but rather raiding the public coffers that will destroy Israel’s economy for generations to come.”
he Knesset is slated to devote several days next week to debating and passing the budget.
Despite the tension, leaders of all the coalition parties expect the budget to pass next week and say the government is at no real risk of falling. “In the long run, things can’t work this way, but at least for now, the budget will pass,” one minister said. “There’s no immediate threat to the government.”
(02.04.2023)
The form and leadership of the national guard were yet to be determined and will take months to be fleshed out by a committee of government officials, who will then present their proposal for the cabinet’s approval.
Regardless of the form the guard ultimately takes, the government’s decision on Sunday reflected the influence that figures like Mr. Ben-Gvir, a once-marginal activist, wield within the most right-wing government in Israeli history.
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.”
(31.03.2023)
Addressing the protest, the head of the Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary faction likened the National Guard to “the brown shirts” of the Nazi paramilitary, “or the yellow shirts,” MK Ayman Odeh said in reference to the color included in the logo of several Israeli nationalist groups, including the Jewish supremacist Kach movement that Ben Gvir was active in as a teen. Kach was founded by the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who Ben Gvir and other members of his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party have described themselves as disciples of. “We won’t allow you to form fascist militias in the service of Kahanism,” Odeh said at the protest.
Ben-Gvir‘s proposal to establish a national guard will be discussed Sunday during the weekly cabinet meeting.
According to the polls, conducted by Channel 12 and public broadcaster Kan, if an election were held today, the parties that make up the current ruling coalition – Netanyahu’s Likud, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Shas and United Torah Judaism – would amass a total of just 54 seats, seven short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The opposition, made up of National Unity, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beytenu, Meretz, Ra’am and Labor, is projected to win 61 seats. Hadash-Ta’al would garner the remaining five seats.
Head of the Federation of Local Authorities, himself a member of the ruling Likud, Haim Bibas said the rift in Israeli society had nearly crossed the point of no return.
„We call on the prime minister to immediately halt his legislative push to overhaul the judiciary and reinstate ousted defense minister Gallant,“ he said. Netanyahu must recalibrate his path and enter immediate dialogue to bring about a broad agreement and preserve the unity of the country,“ he said.
Netanyahu ally and chairman of ultra-Orthodox party Shas, Arye Dery, reportedly expressed support for halting the process, as did ministers Ron Dermer and Yoav Kish of Likud who spoke to Netanyahu on the subject, according to a source in the party.
Meanwhile, United Torah Judaism party‘s Degel Hatorah faction expressed support for the „prime minister and his decisions,“ while far-right coalition party Otzma Yehudit called on Netanyahu not to stop the legislation.
The judicial overhaul will destroy democracy, the Knesset isn’t authorized to enact such laws, and their important clauses will be struck down by the High Court: Retired justices, former attorneys general and law professors weigh
The members of Likud who could stop the carnage but continue to participate in this government will go down in history as far worse than collaborators. Petain, the ruler of Vichy France, at least believed he was saving France. I cannot believe that Nir Barkat, Avi Dichter, Gila Gamliel, Yoav Gallant, Yuli Edelsein think they are saving Israel. They know in their heart of hearts that without legitimacy, they are gambling with the entire future of the country. To you distinguished ministers and members of Knesset, I ask: Will you willingly sacrifice the country you served for the sake of a cabinet position or Knesset seat? Will you silence your conscience for that?
Roni Alsheich – who led police investigation into former premier – suggests AG seek plea bargain as ‘our democracy is not yet ready to prosecute a sitting PM’