Israelis protesting Judicial Reforms
Israelis have been mounting judicial reform protests since early January. The government’s plan to enact sweeping judicial reforms triggered them.
They see the plan as a brazen attempt to help PM Netanyahu escape justice. He’s on trial for corruption and breach of public trust. Beyond that, Israelis fear these reforms will undermine their democracy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Tuesday for the first time advanced a plan to overhaul the country’s legal system, defying a mass uproar among Israelis and calls for restraint from the United States. …
Netanyahu’s ultrareligious and ultranationalist allies say these changes are needed to rein in the powers of an unelected judiciary. Critics fear that judges will be appointed based on their loyalty to the government or prime minister — and say that Netanyahu, who faces trial on corruption charges, has a conflict of interest in the legislation.
(PBS, February 20, 2023)
Jews ethnic cleansing Palestinians
In a parallel and more sinister development, Israel’s ultrareligious and ultranationalists are also executing a latter-day Nakba. That, of course, is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s government is the most far-right and anti-Palestinian in Israeli history. He’s even appointed a notorious Zionist vigilante as national security minister. This move adds credibility to the belief that his government endorses ethnic cleansing.
Zionist Jews acting like KKK wasps, apartheid whites, and Islamic jihadists
Yes, they’re acting like German Nazis too. But why go there…
Whites massacred Blacks in Tulsa in 1921. That was after a White woman accused a Black man of assaulting her. Jewish settlers are executing a similar kind of racist vigilantism.
The PBS News Hour reported on their ongoing Nakba on February 26 as follows:
Scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank late Sunday, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four others were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in decades.
You might wonder why settlers didn’t even manufacture a triggering crime – like those White folks in Tulsa did. But that might be because, under Netanyahu’s government, vigilantism in defense of their apartheid state is no vice!
The Israeli police’s performative arrests, followed by quick releases, only add to the grim tableau. But Israelis should beware. Because, unlike Blacks in America and South Africa, Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have organized defense forces. Militias like the Lions’ Den are vowing to avenge these Jewish rampages.
This escalating conflict reveals a stark divide in public sentiment. On one hand, only a minority of Israelis endorse the aggressive settler actions, suggesting a disconnect between government policy and public opinion.
On the other, this ongoing aggression has galvanized a significant shift among Palestinians, with a growing majority now backing violent resistance. This swing towards support for a potentially more destructive intifada reflects deepening desperation and a profound sense of injustice.
Netanyahu’s delayed response to a controversial statement from his government minister speaks volumes. After days of silence, he finally tweeted that the minister’s call for wiping a Palestinian village off the map was ‘inappropriate.’
This reaction, seemingly prompted more by mounting international outrage than by the statement’s incendiary nature itself, sends a troubling message. It’s a stark reminder of the Netanyahu government’s extreme stance and potential implications for escalating regional tensions.
But this is how far Israel has lost its way. After all, this is the same Israel that Iranian government ministers have called to be wiped off the map. And Netanyahu led the chorus of international condemnation back then.
The irony is stark: Netanyahu now seems determined to turn Israel into a theocratic autocracy. You know, a Jewish version of the Iranian one that called for the destruction of Israel.
Israelis become divided over judicial reform protests
Israel is becoming a house as divided against itself as America. After all, secular Israelis are protesting against Netanyahu’s government with existential determination. They want to protect their democratic rights.
But these same Israelis stood by as successive Israeli governments denied Palestinians those same rights. The irony in that seems lost on them.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu knows there’s only one surefire way to quell these protests. He will wag the dog. That means citing the unprecedented threat Iran’s nuclear program poses.
That will be his pretext to launch unprecedented military strikes. Because, if Israel is at war, no Israeli will care about judicial reform or a corruption trial.
But kudos to Iran for preempting him. Its leaders have invited the UN to resume inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities. That’s pursuant to a deal Iran struck last weekend.
Mind you, that will not prevent Netanyahu from attacking if he thinks that would save his hide. So, on guard, Iran!