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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Overhaul protests at MKs’ homes, key roads; plans for unprecedented demo next week |
| 2023-07-08 |
Let us give the credit due to the interventionist Biden administration, which is financing and aiding in planning via the US State Department. [IsraelTimes] Levin, Rothman, Likud ministers targeted in another round of protests; ex-PM Ehud Barak says pilots, special ops should refuse to serve if coalition passes ’reasonableness’ billEx-PM Ehud Barak sounds Leaders of the ongoing protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul plans pledged to further intensify their opposition next week, as demonstrators blocked roads and rallied outside the homes of coalition members on Thursday evening.Spray ‘em all with Israel’s specially developed skunk water, just like they do for Palestinian rioters. Wouldn’t want to be racist by giving them special treatment, right? Speaking at a presser, organizers called for a demonstration "such as has never been seen before in Israel" next Tuesday, a day after the Knesset is due to hold the first of three plenum votes on a bill that would block courts from exercising judicial review over the reasonableness of government decisions.Shoot ‘em with rubber bullets, ditto. “We are going to intensify our struggle," they said.Addressing National Unity party chief Benny Gantz’s call Thursday for the coalition to resume judicial reform talks, the protesters reiterated their demand for no negotiations until the judicial legislation is shelved altogether. "The country is in great and immediate danger," said Shikma Bressler, a physicist and grassroots organizer. That’s “grassroots”. According to Wikipedia, Shikma Schwartzman-Bressler is an Israeli physicist doing research at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland. She is also a social activist and leading figure in the "Black Flag" protests against Benjamin Netanyahu. In other words, a pro. Moshe Radman, another protest leader, vowed the demonstrators would continue "exercising our democratic right to protest with all strength."The democratic right is to peaceful protest and voting, not riotously blocking major roads and threatening civilians and members of government because your party lost the last election. The income tax bureau needs to see how much they’re being paid by the US State Department and the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), the Israeli front for a variety of anti-Israel international progressive groups. He urged employers to give their workers the day off on Tuesday to demonstrate.I would urge employers to fire anyone who thinks his politics more important than actually doing the job he is being paid for. Former prime minister and IDF chief of staff Ehud Barak said Thursday that pilots and other elite military members should refuse to continue to serve in the Israel Defense Forces if the reasonableness bill becomes law.The bill, which would prevent the judiciary from using the "reasonableness" doctrine to review decisions made by the cabinet, government ministers and unspecified other elected officials, was approved by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee on Tuesday and is set for its first reading next week. The coalition reportedly aims to have it enacted into law before the Knesset breaks for summer recess at the end of July. Thursday evening saw demonstrators rally near the homes of numerous coalition politicians, most notably two of the leading figures in the judicial shakeup push — Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, the latter of whom heads the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. Other protests were held at the homes of ministers and MKs from the ruling Likud party, including Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Economy Minister Nir Barkat and Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel. Protesters also demonstrated earlier in the day at Gamliel’s house in north Tel Aviv. Police said two protesters were arrested in Tel Aviv for attacking officers and disturbing public order, near the home of Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party. How many others were not arrested, but should have been? Two people were also arrested outside Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s home in the coastal city for disturbing public order.Coalition members have recently upped their complaints about the rallies outside their homes and urged a tougher police response (though they often supported similar demonstrations when in opposition to the previous government). Oh, a yes, but. One wonders how many coalition members actually did support such behaviour, back in the day, because I don’t remember reading about it. Protesters marched on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway and briefly blocked Route 2 along the coast. They also blocked roads near Levin’s home in Modiin and in Ramat Gan."The violence against protesters must stop. It would be nice if the protesters stopped their violence, too, because they started it. The government’s attempts to forcibly suppress democracy will be met with determined resistance," opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a statement. "The attempt by Levin and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir to turn the police into a It would be nice if they could get the police to uphold laws against blocking traffic and threatening politicians’ families instead of allowing the “grassroots” organized protesters to run roughshod over both custom and law. The protests came after roads across the country were blocked for a number of hours Wednesday night by spontaneous demonstrations after the Tel Aviv police chief announced he would resign rather than be transferred to a more marginal role.Amichai Eshed said he had been removed from his role due to what he said were "political considerations" and for refusing to use "disproportionate force," following what right-wing critics claimed was his soft handling of protesters against the overhaul. I think they deserve to be treated like rioting Palestinians instead of getting kid glove handling merely because they are fashionably Progressive. Attempting to overthrow a legitimate election because it did not come out the way the Left wanted is anti-democratic totalitarianism, despite all the Israeli flags and loudly professed love of democracy. Thousands erupted into the streets after his announcement, with the largest of the over 40 demonstrations reported nationwide taking place on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, where police clashed with protesters who blocked traffic and lit bonfires. That, my dears, is exactly not peaceful protest. The thoroughfare was blocked for several hours as police struggled to restore order, before deploying mounted officers and water cannons to forcibly disperse protesters after midnight.One driver stuck in traffic plowed through the demonstration, apparently while filming the incident on his phone, injuring at least one protester before being pulled over and arrested by police. He was reportedly released on Thursday morning under certain limitations. Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center said Thursday that 14 people had been brought in for medical treatment from the protest. Six of them had wounds to their eyes, one of whom required surgery. See? You really can put an eye out with those things. Police said they arrested 15 people in Tel Aviv. All of the detainees were released by Thursday morning, the Kan public broadcaster reported.The Wednesday night protests echoed larger ones that took place across the country in late March, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after the latter raised the alarm regarding the judicial overhaul’s impact on security. Netanyahu went on to freeze the overhaul the following day and later walked back his decision to axe Gallant. The demonstrations have been ongoing since Levin revealed the overhaul plans in January and recently ramped up again as Netanyahu’s hardline coalition has renewed its efforts to push through some of the relevant laws unilaterally. Opponents say they are a threat to Israel’s democratic character while supporters argue they are needed to curb the powers of a judiciary they say is unrestrained. 2 detained for assaulting anti-overhaul protesters near Likud MK’s home [IsraelTimes] Video shows driver and his son getting out of truck and scuffling with demonstrators, who accuse the father of trying to run them over Video looks to me like typical Antifa/Black Bloc blocking the road, then harassing and threatening cars that get caught in the morass they created, In this case the driver and his son got out to attack their attackers. But the Times of Israel staff is sympathetic to the “grass roots” protesters, despite knowing that the cadres are paid by the US State Department and international Progessive organizations to cause trouble for the Netanyahu government. Police detained two suspects for assaulting anti-government protesters outside a Likud politician’s home in southern Israel.The incident near MK Shalom Danino’s house in Omer came as demonstrators have increasingly been rallying outside coalition members’ homes as part of their push to ramp up protests against the government’s judicial overhaul legislation. Photographer hit by car at Tel Aviv protest questioned for ‘breaching public order’ [IsraelTimes] Photographer Ari Sarur was shooting pictures of anti-government demonstrators as they spontaneously ...that should be in scare quotes, being as it’s the kind of spontaneity that has been planned, coordinated, and pre-supplied to a fare thee well... blocked the Ayalon Highway on Wednesday night, when a driver suddenly barreled through the crowd and hit him, dropping him to the ground.Sarur was largely unharmed. Other protesters were forced to scramble out of the way and some were hit by the vehicle, but no one was injured. Sarur was called in for questioning by the Tel Aviv police Thursday to submit his testimony of the event. He was then informed that he was being investigated "under caution" for allegedly participating in the blocking of the highway, Sarur’s lawyer Shachar Mandelman told Haaretz. Police have not confirmed the allegation. According to the lawyer, Sarur was not actively participating in the demonstration, but rather only taking photographs. "At first he only stood next to other press photographers and did not descend onto the highway with the first protesters who blocked it, and only later" went down, he said. The driver who drove through the crowd and hit Sarur, a resident of Holon, was arrested by the police immediately after the incident. He was interrogated on Thursday morning and subsequently released with a restraining order. He alleged that he did not hit the protesters on purpose, but rather that he became stuck with his car in the rally and tried to make his way out of the crowd. Related: Judicial overhaul: 2023-07-06 Thousands take to the streets, block roads after Tel Aviv police chief steps down Judicial overhaul: 2023-07-06 Anti-overhaul protesters target ultraconservative, influential Jerusalem yeshiva Judicial overhaul: 2023-07-04 Israeli police tussle with anti-government protesters as chaos erupts at Ben Gurion Airport Related: Movement for Quality Government: 2023-07-02 Turnout rises, several arrested as anti-overhaul protests enter 26th week Movement for Quality Government: 2023-06-13 Israel tells US it plans to announce thousands of settlement homes later this month Movement for Quality Government: 2023-06-11 ‘Not the time for a time-out’: Mass anti-overhaul protests held for 23rd week |
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