The heavy stuff is still with us, big time. But I have decided to also focus on good news here. We all need to be buoyed. In fact, I’m going to begin with a chuckle.
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MK Simcha Rothman (RZ) was running a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which he chairs. The decision to move forward with judicial reform legislation had already been announced (more on this below).
Rothman began reading a statement that was highly critical of the interference of the Supreme Court in a decision that had been made by the security establishment and underwritten by a budget approved by the Knesset.
As he proceeded, MK Debbie Biton (of Yesh Atid, chaired by Yair Lapid) began uncontrollably screaming because of the criticism of the Court. Rothman advised her, to no avail, that she should stop the carrying on for her own benefit. Other MKs from the opposition loudly defended her. Ultimately, she had to be escorted from the room.
When he finished reading the statement, Rothman let those present know he had been reading the words of Yair Lapid.
Scroll down here for a video. You do not have to understand Hebrew to get what’s going on (Biton’s carrying on starts at perhaps one minute).
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There are a couple of lessons to be learned from this. One, it provides a sense of how the left behaves: not with reason and discussion, but with hysteria. It is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to proceed rationally in this atmosphere.
Perhaps more importantly, we see that the left isn’t really against judicial reform – it’s against Netanyahu and the right-wing government. There is instance after instance of members of the opposition having made pro-judicial reform comments, before the formation of the current government.
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It is just over a week ago that the government decided to move ahead with judicial reform. The first item on the agenda is ending the ability of the Court to overturn legislation based on its “reasonableness.”
“Reasonableness” is a very arbitrary and subjective measure for determining the validity of a law. It gives the Court excessive power over the other branches of the government. As is the practice in other democracies, Court rulings on legislation should be based on whether the new law contradicts or interferes with existing legislation, or, more importantly, with Basic Laws, which serve in place of a constitution.
To say that this legislation would weaken democracy is nonsense. It strengthens democracy by giving the elected representatives of the people (the Knesset) the right to set legislation. The Court is not elected by the people – members of the Court essentially select their successors. (This will be dealt with shortly.)
MK Rothman has been charged with bringing forward the legislation, which will be very close to what Justice Minister Yariv Levin had submitted previously. The goal is to pass this legislation by the end of July, when the Knesset breaks for summer recess.
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As soon as the government decision to move ahead on judicial reform was announced, the opposition moved into action.
Their major tactic is to threaten: And so it was in this case. You do this, opposition leaders declared, and we’re not going back to negotiations at the president’s house. Stop legislating, convene the Judicial Selection Committee and we’ll go back. An empty, tiresome threat. They were the ones who refused to negotiate any further because the government representative to the Selection Committee had not been chosen yet and Levin was not going to convene that committee.
Worse still was the threat of serious unrest leveled by opposition head Gantz (National Unity Party):
“We’ve already been there, on the verge of the abyss, on the verge of civil war. I urge Netanyahu not to be the one who casts the lit match into the forest.”
This smells of incitement. The opposition does not have to call out its troops this way. Please note that Gantz takes no responsibility for what might follow.
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Then there was the response of fellow opposition head Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid). He is into highly inflated hyperbole. With regard to passing a law on “reasonableness” he declared:
“We all know what the price will be: the economy will deteriorate sharply, the cost of living will rise, security will be seriously damaged, the countries of the world will turn their backs on us, Israeli society will collapse.”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/373232
What??? The man is an undereducated clown, but he’s dangerous. There will be people who will take to the streets because Yair has warned of the risks of the legislation.
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And sure enough:
“A group of leftist anarchists on Tuesday morning [today] protested outside Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s home in Modi’in. They burned tires, blocked the entrance to the residential street with barbed wire fences…and declared that ‘today it’s already clear to everyone who really controls the country and is leading it to destruction.’
“The police used tear gas and arrested six suspects, including a man who was involved in burning a tire, for violating public order. Multiple tires were burned at the anarchist protest.
“…most of the demonstrators had no idea what was planned and showed up in response to the call they received through their WhatsApp groups.
The WhatsApp message said: “We are at the beginning of the second act…We have five weeks until the summer break, and what we do is crucial.”
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While the above is clearly not good news, the fact remains that the coalition is finished trying to reason with the opposition. The major coalition players are intent on moving forward, which is a great relief.
A week ago, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Chair, RZ) stated that there would be no return to the negotiations at the president’s house (emphasis added):
Herzog “is a leftist and unfortunately he fails at being a fair mediator,” he declared on Channel 14. “We’re done being suckers. We showed much more than goodwill to the other side…
“There are elements on the left, the opponents of the reform, who are ready to burn down the country and damage its security and economy. Irresponsible players like [Ehud] Olmert and [Danny] Halutz are crazy and ready to dismantle everything. We will lead the changes with responsibility and discretion.”
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Netanyahu met on Sunday night with Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem to discuss the advancement of judicial reform legislation. A report that surfaced after this meeting indicated that Netanyahu has decided to “go all the way” in pushing through the “reasonableness” legislation before this Knesset session ends.
No decision was made by the prime minister regarding movement on other parts of the reform legislation before the recess, although Levin and Amsalem pushed for more.
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Other good news is the determination of the government to do substantial building in Judea & Samaria. In part, this is advanced now as a response to terror. My own opinion is that it should be done because it’s the right thing to do, period.
And, indeed, in part, this has been the trend over recent weeks with the right-wing coalition in charge.
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It is big news that the government passed a resolution on Sunday that gives control over planning approval for construction in settlements in Judea & Samaria to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also has a ministerial position in the Defense Ministry.
The decision, which takes immediate effect, dramatically expedites the process for expanding existing settlements in Judea & Samaria and retroactively legalizing some illegal outposts.
“According to the resolution, which is an amendment to a 1996 government decision, the numerous stages of authorization hitherto needed from the defense minister for the approval of land usage designation masterplans will be reduced to just one required approval.
“And, in line with a previous agreement, that approval will now come from Smotrich…”
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The Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council on Monday approved the construction of approximately 5,700 housing units throughout Judea & Samaria.
The majority of this construction (4,915 units) is at the first stage of approval and only 818 units are at the final stage. With Monday’s approvals, a record-breaking 13,056 housing units have been approved so far this year. These homes will be built within as neighborhoods within the footprint of existing communities; see details here:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/373301
Among the new homes are over 1,000 units to be built in Eli in response to the terror.
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“Last Wednesday night, a new neighborhood went up in the Binyamin Region between the towns of Maale Levona and Eli, not far from the scene of the terror attack on Route 60.
“The founders of the neighborhood point out that the location of the new ‘Hamor’ neighborhood strengthens the Jewish hold on the Shilo-Eli sector of the Binyamin region.”
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Then there is the outpost of Evyatar, an unauthorized community south of Shechem that was evacuated voluntarily by residents two years ago, with the understanding that their homes would not be razed. The commitment of the government was that the land would be surveyed, and whichever part was found to be state land would be made into a legal village – with first a yeshiva to be established and then the residents permitted to come back.
The survey was completed, and some 15 acres were found to be state land, but the government did not fulfill its commitment and allow the villagers to return.
After the terrorist murders in Eli, the residents decided to take matters into their own hands and return to their homes. Accompanying them were MK Tzvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), one of the original founders of the community; head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan; and the Rabbi of Samaria, Rabbi Eliakim Levanon; and Zvi Elimelech Sharbaf a leader of the Nachala movement (all pictured below, from left), as well Daniela Weiss, a Nachala leader.
After consulting with Dermer and Gallant, Netanyahu let it be known that the returning residents would be allowed to stay. I would hope so. There is no way that the Evyatar residents will vacate again.
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And so, we are doing very well with regard to building.
This is positive in several regards. That Netanyahu is willing to move ahead with this in spite of the vociferous objections (“We are deeply disturbed…”) from the US State Department is very encouraging. I believe he has faced the fact that Biden is a lost cause and is no longer actively seeking a visit to the White House or conducting himself as if that visit was high priority.
When the State Department expresses its disapproval of construction it says this is because it interferes with possibility of reaching that “two-state solution.” But in a closed door meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu said that the Palestinian Authority “could not be allowed” to collapse, but that the Palestinian Arabs’ desire for an independent state “must be cut off.”
https://www.jns.org/jns/benjamin-netanyahu/23/6/26/297894/
Right on! He stood in explicit opposition to the expressed goal of the State Department, as well he should. The desire to not see the PA collapse is presumably because it serves as a ballast of sorts against Hamas, and perhaps serves certain administrative functions.
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And now it has been announced that Netanyahu will be visiting China, although a date has not been set. Whatever statements are made to the contrary, this seems a sure sign that he has written off Biden – who will be irked by this. The Americans have been informed. The Chinese invitation is not new.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/benjamin-netanyahu/article-747894
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The behavior of the Americans has been consistently horrendous, and I will return to this issue, as well as security matters, when next I write.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
