Israel

[LFC]

Much like Trump and his MAGAts, Netanyahu unleashed the worst that Israel has to offer. Now he's having trouble controlling their violence. I'm actually a bit surprised he's even trying.

A few hours after Sunday's shooting which killed two Israelis, a large group of settlers entered the West Bank town of Hawara and began throwing rocks at houses and setting trees and cars in the village on fire.

At least 15 houses have been burned along with 25 cars and 9 families have been evacuated.

The settlers set a house on fire when a Palestinian family was inside but Israeli security forces have rescued the family safely. The Palestinian health ministry reports that 37-year-old Samah Hamdallah Aktash died from gun shots to the stomach and another is seriously injured from head wounds after being hit by a rock. The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that 98 Palestinians have been wounded in the attacks by settlers, along with damage to 3 ambulances.

The Palestinians also report that following the shooting, a Palestinian was taken to hospital after being attacked by settlers in Nablus.

An Israeli military reserves battalion arrived at Hawara, south of Nablus, along with fire brigades, and is using riot control equipment to repel the settlers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the settlers "not to take the law into your hands" in an announcement on Sunday night.

[jackd]

Those Canaanites are blocking the road to the land of milk and honey.

[pnwguy]

Feb 27, 2023 14:39:38 GMT LFC said:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the settlers "not to take the law into your hands" in an announcement on Sunday night.

"That's the job of the Likud government.  We are more efficient at taking Palestinian land.  You amateurs stand clear"

[LFC]

Israel is all in on its nationalism. Bye bye, democracy.

Israel's Cabinet Just Advanced Full-fledged Apartheid in the West Bank

Under the thunderous bombardment of the government coup, the cabinet last week advanced a regime-change measure in the West Bank that carries dramatic implications.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed an agreement assigning governmental powers in the West Bank to a body to be headed by the minister in his ministry, Bezalel Smotrich, and removing much of the jurisdiction of the Civil Administration from military command. Once the agreement is implemented, Smotrich will in effect become the governor of the West Bank, holding powers that will allow him to control nearly almost all areas of life there, including planning, building and infrastructure, which he intends to use to expand the settlement enterprise and stop all Palestinian development.

Permits are for pussies. Time to mainline the strangulation of the Palestinians.

[LFC]

The extremists in Israel are speaking more openly about "The Final Solution" to their issues with the Palestinians.

Barak Ravid
@barakravid

BREAKING: Israeli minister of finance Bezalel Smotrich: “The Palestinian village of Hawara should be wiped out of the earth. The Israeli government needs to do it and not private citizens”

[LFC]

The fascists are turning on those who believe in democracy.

Israeli troops fired stun grenades and tear gas on Friday to block busloads of Israeli left-wing activists from staging a solidarity rally in a Palestinian town that was set ablaze by radical Jewish settlers earlier this week, protesters said.

The soldiers shoved protesters to the ground in the occupied West Bank town of Hawara, activists said, pressing their knees into their necks and backs before briefly detaining them. According to Sally Abed from the group Standing Together, at least two protesters were briefly arrested. The army threw them to the ground, kicking and handcuffing them, she said.

In another case, a group of soldiers violently pushed former Israeli parliament speaker, Avraham Burg, until he stumbled to the ground.

The Israeli army said it had decided to declare Hawara a closed military zone because of the soaring tensions following Sunday’s settler-led attack. When Israeli and Palestinian activists attempted to violate the military order, security forces used tear gas and other means to disperse the crowds and maintain order, the military said.

More from Juan Cole in a piece titled You’re all Palestinians Now: How Harsh Apartheid Policing is being Turned on Israeli Protesters. The fascist wing that now controls Israel even passed a law that allows "terrorists" to be put to death, with the definition of terrorist being rather broad.

Yesterday, Friday, buses full of Israeli protesters attempted to head to Huwwara near Nablus in the Palestinian West Bank to show support for the small town of 7,000 that was burned out by fanatical mobs of Israel squatters on Palestinian land last Sunday.

Majdi Mohammed and Isabel Debre of the Associated Press report that the Israeli army intervened to prevent the protest, firing military-grade tear gas and stun grenades at them before tackling and manhandling them. Protesters were put in stress positions on the ground and two were briefly detained. Soldiers accosted former speaker of the Israeli parliament or Knesset, Avraham Burg, knocking the elderly statesman to the ground.

The protesters were a mix of Jews and Palestinian-Israelis, waving Palestinian flags and posters condemning the pogrom conducted against the innocent civilians of Huwwara on Sunday by fascist thugs from the squatter movement. They were blocked by the Israeli army.

Since the army stood by and allowed the pogrom last weekend, the protesters made sardonic comments about how the military seemed perfectly capable of intervening when it wanted to. Huwwara is not in Area A, the 40% of the West Bank that is policed by the toothless Palestine Authority created by the failed 1993 Oslo peace process. It is under direct Israeli military occupation.

After one crowd gathered outside a hair salon Wednesday evening where Netanyahu’s wife Sara was having her hair done, the prime minister called them “terrorists,” the term he applies to all Palestinians. His coalition in parliament just passed a law imposing the death sentence on “terrorists,” a term the Israeli right even uses for human rights organizations that expose their crimes.

So now Israel’s dissidents opposed to Netanyahu’s plan to make sure the judiciary can never complete its trial of him for corruption are “terrorists” and “anarchists” who must be treated “firmly.”

Welcome to the club, folks. The non-fascist Israeli public, the vast majority, are now Palestinians as far as the Netanyahu regime is concerned.

[LFC]

Netanyahu and his fellow fascists are on the border of starting a civil war in Israel.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters have been demonstrating against the extreme-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since January. The protests have become some of the biggest in Israeli history and are drawing out the country’s most famous faces.

On Thursday, protesters plan to disrupt Netanyahu’s travel to Rome in a sign of defiance of his ultranationalist, illiberal government. They’re calling it a “day of resistance to the dictatorship.” This builds on two months of mass mobilization across Israel that have been squarely focused on the Netanyahu government’s set of judiciary overhauls, which would weaken the independence of the country’s high court and create the conditions for unchecked majoritarian rule.

The backlash to these proposals has reached even staunchly establishment groups in Israel: A group of fighter pilots are on strike, tech workers staged a work stoppage, and former prime ministers have joined the protests.

“This is not just another right-wing government,” says Yehuda Shaul, an Israeli activist and co-director of the think tank Ofek: The Israeli Center for Public Affairs.

The Israeli government is embarking on two revolutions at once, according to Shaul. “One is inside Israel: getting rid of any remains of checks and balances, independence of the judiciary, going full-blown illiberal democracy Orbán-style,” he told me, referring to Hungary’s prime minister. “Then there is the second revolution, which is the changes in the Israeli governance in the occupied territories, mainly in the West Bank. That is one word: annexation.”

Largely absent from the protests’ calls has been attention toward the already abysmal situation for Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank. But Netanyahu’s current government is unprecedented in this regard, too: Israeli settlers who advocate for Jewish supremacist policies now hold powerful ministerial roles and are making moves to annex the occupied West Bank. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently called for the eradication of a Palestinian village. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is a longtime inciter of violence against Palestinians.

The unholy trio of groups that created the current fascism leaning government all gain from gutting an independent judiciary, all by being allowed to stomp on the rights of others.

There are three pillars of his governing coalition — Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, ultranationalist settlers, and the ultra-Orthodox — and they each have something to gain from this massive judicial overhaul. “For the first time, they have a complete alignment of interests with no daylight in between, to destroy the judiciary and institutions, for different reasons,” Shaul told me. “And that’s what makes this moment so dangerous.”

It would be beneficial for Netanyahu’s allies in his party for the courts to be disempowered as he tries to wriggle out of longstanding corruption allegations. For the ultranationalist settlers led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, such judicial changes would open up the opportunity of annexation of the occupied West Bank and other policies that would benefit settlers. And for the ultra-Orthodox supporters, it would — perhaps through changing the makeup of key judiciary appointments — lessen the Supreme Court’s likelihood of ruling that exemptions to the military draft are unconstitutional, among other issues of church and state important to this constituency.

In short, the judicial reforms might be the most incendiary and attention-grabbing of the coalition’s proposals at this moment, but they’re in keeping with its broader goals.

[goldenvalley]

Great, just great. Here's my 1st World Whine. I an booking a trip right now to Israel (+Jordan and Egypt) for the fall. We had such a trip planned in 2014 that we canceled because we didn't want to spend our time keeping one eye open for the nearest bomb shelter. Not planning on being on the West Bank at all, but Israel is the size of New Jersey...violence spills over.

[LFC]

Israel is completing its transition to a total apartheid state.

Muhammad Shehada
@muhammadshehad2
·
2\ That Israeli police station itself is inside an illegal settlement! Palestinians aren't allowed into the settlement without a permit & the police isn't even letting the family in.

Settlers are only investigated by the police, Palestinians are hunted down by the military!

[LFC]

Shit is goin' DOWN in Israel! Netanyahu and his fascists pushed too hard.

[LFC]

Holy shit. That's massive.

[LFC]

Israel continues to be a complete shitshow. Read this thread about the protests.

The moment protesters break through barricades in front of Prime Minister's residence. One newscaster calls this by its name, a popular uprising. Tomorrow a nationwide strike is on horizon, joined by universities. The military is more fragile than ever.

In Tel Aviv unbelievable photos of main freeway blocked at 12AM. Protests happening throughout Israel. Netanyahu's firing the Defense Minister is being declared as the blatant attempt to transform the country to a dictatorship. Netanyahu has sparked a fire he has yet to see-huge.

[LFC]

This is a thread about the political choices that Netanyahu has handed himself. He doesn't have any good options. If he pulls back on neutering the independent judiciary his fascist backers will be pissed off. If he pushes his fascist agenda the country will remain in chaos, including the military. A remotely decent and patriotic man would resign for the good of the nation. Netanyahu is neither. He's a power hungry would-be autocrat, nothing more.

Netanyahu is stuck without any good options. He may no longer have the votes to pass the judicial appointments law this week and if he tries, the country will grind to a standstill with more massive protests, almost certainly a general strike and chaos in the security forces

But Netanyahu knows that if he announces he’s suspending the legislation until after Independence Day, he will have lost all momentum and he may lose his coalition. I think that after his colossal mistake of firing Galant this evening, no-one can predict anymore how Bibi will act

If I was forced to bet twenty bucks, I'd bet on him fighting. He's personally facing serious corruption charges and he's barely in power as it is. I suspect he'll dig in because it's all about him and f*** the country. It becomes more obvious by the day why he and Trump got along so well. I expect he and DeSatanist would be best buds.

[LFC]

The protests expand to local gov't.

[LFC]

Delayed fascism in exchange for a national police force run by an extreme right-wing politician. Cheezes, Israeli democracy is in free fall. Viktor Orban is looking at this and saying, "Damn! That's want I want."

[LFC]

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Prime Minister Benjamin Netantrumphu.

Responding to a High Court petition alleging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated a conflict of interest arrangement, a lawyer for the premier argued on Sunday that the court has no authority to hear the matter, while claiming the suit was an attempt to “carry out a coup.”

Earlier Sunday, a good governance group asked the Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating the conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with legislation relating to the judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said the court had given Netanyahu and the attorney general a week to respond.

He's fighting for both his political survival and to stay out of jail for his many crimes of corruption.

[goldenvalley]

Mar 27, 2023 21:44:30 GMT LFC said:

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Prime Minister Benjamin Netantrumphu.

Responding to a High Court petition alleging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated a conflict of interest arrangement, a lawyer for the premier argued on Sunday that the court has no authority to hear the matter, while claiming the suit was an attempt to “carry out a coup.”

Earlier Sunday, a good governance group asked the Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating the conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with legislation relating to the judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said the court had given Netanyahu and the attorney general a week to respond.

He's fighting for both his political survival and to stay out of jail for his many crimes of corruption.

He and Trump are sooo similar.  

[andydp]

Mar 27, 2023 16:24:22 GMT LFC said:

Delayed fascism in exchange for a national police force run by an extreme right-wing politician. Cheezes, Israeli democracy is in free fall. Viktor Orban is looking at this and saying, "Damn! That's want I want."

Does the last sentence of the tweet bring anything to mind ? I call your attention to a historical precedent: in WWII Germany Himmler had his own "private" army called the Gestapo and the SS.  WWII Germany also had a very subservient judiciary.

[LFC]

Mar 28, 2023 14:20:44 GMT andydp said:

Does the last sentence of the tweet bring anything to mind ? I call your attention to a historical precedent: in WWII Germany Himmler had his own "private" army called the Gestapo and the SS.  WWII Germany also had a very subservient judiciary.

Netanyahu has his own right-wing brownshirts as well. How do you say "Hail victory!" in Hebrew?

[LFC]

Good opinion piece on the need for Biden (and other democracies) to stand up to Netanyahu and his fascist government. Democracy, freedom, and the rule of law are all being imperiled by a handful of autocratic leaders like in Hungary and Turkey who will do almost anything to cling to power. Netanyahu's coalition and U.S. Republicans want to join that club.

For all these reasons, the Biden administration needs to send a clear message privately to Netanyahu that any further moves to curtail democracy will lead to an immediate pause of a meaningful portion of U.S. aid to Israel. We have the leverage. We should use it.

Moreover, as Israel’s most steadfast ally, we have an obligation to defend it. Standing in the way of tyranny from within is one way in which the U.S. can live up to its commitment to defend Israel.

Absent a solid promise not to pause but to actually fully stop the “judicial reform” effort, the administration should also rethink the invitation Israel has to participate in the upcoming Democracy Summit. (The administration says the criteria for attending the event must remain flexible to countries with differing degrees or systems of democracy. Fair enough. But undercutting that position is the fact that invitations to democracy backsliders like Turkey and Hungary were, appropriately, withheld.)

The Biden administration must recognize that what’s happening in Israel could easily happen here. Our once and possibly future president continues to call for violence against prosecutors investigating him, invokes racist slurs against them and their backers, and continues to venerate the Jan. 6 insurrectionists as political martyrs. Should Trump succeed or Netanyahu do so with the apparent acceptance of the US government, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Turkey’s Recep Tayyit Erdogan, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and India’s Narendra Modi will surmise that their moves against democracy will be more easily tolerated.

Democracy cannot and must not tolerate kamikaze politicians like Netanyahu, Trump and the others. The threat is too grave and given that they have been so clear about their intentions, we have no excuses for allowing matters to deteriorate even further than they already have.

[pnwguy]

Mar 28, 2023 16:01:59 GMT LFC said:

Good opinion piece on the need for Biden (and other democracies) to stand up to Netanyahu and his fascist government. Democracy, freedom, and the rule of law are all being imperiled by a handful of autocratic leaders like in Hungary and Turkey who will do almost anything to cling to power. Netanyahu's coalition and U.S. Republicans want to join that club.

For all these reasons, the Biden administration needs to send a clear message privately to Netanyahu that any further moves to curtail democracy will lead to an immediate pause of a meaningful portion of U.S. aid to Israel. We have the leverage. We should use it.

Moreover, as Israel’s most steadfast ally, we have an obligation to defend it. Standing in the way of tyranny from within is one way in which the U.S. can live up to its commitment to defend Israel.

Absent a solid promise not to pause but to actually fully stop the “judicial reform” effort, the administration should also rethink the invitation Israel has to participate in the upcoming Democracy Summit. (The administration says the criteria for attending the event must remain flexible to countries with differing degrees or systems of democracy. Fair enough. But undercutting that position is the fact that invitations to democracy backsliders like Turkey and Hungary were, appropriately, withheld.)

The Biden administration must recognize that what’s happening in Israel could easily happen here. Our once and possibly future president continues to call for violence against prosecutors investigating him, invokes racist slurs against them and their backers, and continues to venerate the Jan. 6 insurrectionists as political martyrs. Should Trump succeed or Netanyahu do so with the apparent acceptance of the US government, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Turkey’s Recep Tayyit Erdogan, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and India’s Narendra Modi will surmise that their moves against democracy will be more easily tolerated.

Democracy cannot and must not tolerate kamikaze politicians like Netanyahu, Trump and the others. The threat is too grave and given that they have been so clear about their intentions, we have no excuses for allowing matters to deteriorate even further than they already have.

The challenge is that the Left Behind MAGAts fervently believe that Israel can absolutely do no wrong, just like their tangerine dream.  

[LFC]

Here comes DeSatanist! (archive link) The fascist wing of Israel is his kind group.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, widely considered former U.S. President Donald Trump’s top rival in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, will visit Israel in April.

While the trip is ostensibly to address a “Celebrate the Faces of Israel” event co-sponsored by the Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, DeSantis will undoubtedly attempt to use his visit as an opportunity to stake claim as the most pro-Israel Republican aiming for the White House.

DeSantis, who will be traveling to Israel as a part of a larger Florida/Asian trade delegation, will deliver the keynote address before a crowd of 400 participants, including around 120 U.S. Jewish philanthropists. According to a press release from the sponsoring organizations, he will speak about “the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship – especially in difficult times.”

He has been a diehard supporter Israeli criminal conduct for ages.

The GOP front-runner, who has visited Israel three times as a member of Congress and once as governor (the sum total of his official foreign visits, as reported by the New York Times) has embodied the Republican Party’s rightward shift on Israel, having been among the most ardent supporters of Israel (and defenders against the country’s critics) since his time in the House.

This includes a January 2017 House speech calling for the U.S. to defund the United Nations until the UN Security Council revoked a resolution condemning Israeli settlements as a violation of international law.

[LFC]

Netanyahu's attempt to delay and hope that the protesters would accept that hasn't panned out.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested against the government’s judicial overhaul plan in dozens of locations on Saturday, in a sign that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement this week that he was temporarily suspending the legislation had not subdued opposition.

It was the 13th week of protests against the government’s move to expand the executive and legislative branches’ powers at the expense of the judiciary. Among the cities holding major protests were Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Netanya and Ashdod.

Law enforcement used water cannons, mounted police, and, for the first time, a “sound cannon” – a powerful loudspeaker that transmits noise at a very high frequency – to disperse protesters blocking Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway. Nineteen people were arrested and video footage from the scene showed one mounted policeman whipping one of the protesters.

[LFC]

F***ing Qevin.

[AnBr]

Qevin is a sleaze bucket.