RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://amgreatness.com/2023/07/28/what-israels-protests-are-really-about/

“The new, modern Israel is more nationalist, more religious and more traditionalist. That is a wonderful thing. And that reality is not changing anytime soon.”

Many Israelis have once again taken to mass protests in the streets, both in the lead-up to and in the aftermath of the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government’s successful passing on Monday of one tiny sliver of the broader judicial reforms that it had previously floated earlier this year. But any sober analysis of the perhaps-unprecedented civil strife now afflicting the Jewish state leads to one conclusion: The vitriolic pushback has nothing to do with substantive separation-of-powers concerns or the particulars of constitutional theory, and everything to do with the Left’s insatiable personal loathing of Prime Minister Netanyahu and its deep-set cultural anxiety over the more nationalist and religious direction Israel is now heading.

For the first four and a half decades after modern Israel’s founding in 1948, the Jewish state operated according to the British model of governance: no written constitution, parliamentary supremacy, and a subordinate, common law-based judiciary. Israel lacks a written constitution to this day, but things began to change in the early 1990s, when former Supreme Court of Israel President Aharon Barak self-pronounced a so-called “constitutional revolution.”

By snapping his fingers, Barak – absent any statutory basis for doing so – arrogated to the Supreme Court of Israel powers that no other judicial tribunal in the world possesses. Those powers include, among other things, the power to hear any issue – no matter how transparently political, and regardless of a plaintiff’s legal “standing” to bring the suit – at any time, for any reason; the ability to overturn any law, policy or even cabinet/ministerial appointment for effectively any reason, from judicial review grounded in Israel’s 13 quasi-constitutional “Basic Laws” to judicial nullification based on an ultra-subjective finding of “unreasonableness”; and the nepotistic power to veto the justices’ own successors, due to the idiosyncratic makeup of Israel’s Judicial Selection Committee.

Anyone vaguely familiar with comparative constitutionalism, to say nothing of American constitutionalism as propounded in The Federalist Papers and ratified in the U.S. Constitution, can spot the glaring problems here. Judge Robert H. Bork, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 before having his nomination derailed by a loathsome Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)-led character assassination, wrote in his 2003 book Coercing Virtue: “Pride of place in the international judicial deformation of democratic government goes not to the United States, nor to Canada, but to the State of Israel. The Israeli Supreme Court is making itself the dominant institution in the nation, an authority no other court in the world has achieved.” And the situation has actually gotten markedly worse in the two decades since Bork made that observation.

Netanyahu’s Likud party and other allied right-wing parties made reform of the imperious, leftist-dominated Israeli Supreme Court a key campaign plank ahead of the Jewish state’s election last November, which resulted in a 64-seat (out of 120) majority conservative coalition in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. The coalition advanced a wide-ranging suite of reform measures, from amending the Judicial Selection Committee’s composition to adding the hotly contested Knesset “override clause” provision to paring down the binding powers of Israel’s overweening “attorney general,” earlier this year; this column wrote in favor of those broader reforms, at the time. However, amidst a secularist-leftist national meltdown that saw myriad of highways shut down by protestors, army reservists threaten not to report for duty, billions of investment dollars flow out of the country, and the country’s lone international airport briefly close due to a strike, Netanyahu backed down in late March.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/end-american-aid-israel

Two years ago, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez famously wept in Congress after changing her vote on funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from “no” to “present.” The New York Times said that the incident showed progressive members of “the Squad” “caught between their principles and the still powerful pro-Israel voices in their party, such as influential lobbyists and rabbis.” (The line was later removed with no correction.) In People magazine, the congresswoman’s procedural maneuver to avoid voting was appreciated for its pathos: “Ocasio-Cortez Opens Up About Israel Iron Dome Vote That Left Her in Tears: ‘Yes, I Wept.’” In the end, the resolution passed the House 420-9.

Ocasio-Cortez’s bit of Kabuki theater fit neatly into the premade mythology of a domineering Israel lobby, popularized by academic John Mearsheimer, whose views are experiencing a burst of popularity in isolationist corners of the right. His central claim—that America has been pressured by an all-powerful, determined ethnoreligious lobby into acting against its own interests—is made explicit in references to “influential lobbyists and rabbis,” in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s tweets that U.S. support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins,” and in graphics like The New York Times’ infamous “Jew-tracker” that policed support for Barack Obama’s Iran deal according to the religion of members of Congress.

Belief in the mythic power of “the lobby” rests on a common article of faith that is shared by Israel’s loudest critics and most fervent supporters—namely, that U.S. military aid forms the cornerstone of the “special relationship” between the two nations, and that this aid is a gift that powerfully benefits Israel. Cutting off Israel’s D.C. cash pipeline, it’s assumed, would dramatically alter the balance of power in the Middle East: in one scenario by endangering Israel’s security, and in another by forcing its recalcitrant leaders to accept the enlightened proposals of Western policymakers.

While this fantasy version of the U.S.-Israeli relationship is useful for stirring up emotions and demonstrating partisan loyalties, it does more to flatter the self-importance of Israel-aid opponents and supporters alike than it does to describe an increasingly warped reality, in which Israel ends up sacrificing far more value in return for the nearly $4 billion it annually receives from Washington. That’s because nearly all military aid to Israel—other than loan guarantees, which cost Washington nothing, the U.S. gives Israel no other kind of aid—consists of credits that go directly from the Pentagon to U.S. weapons manufacturers.

In return, American payouts undermine Israel’s domestic defense industry, weaken its economy, and compromise the country’s autonomy—giving Washington veto power over everything from Israeli weapons sales to diplomatic and military strategy. When Washington meddles directly in Israel’s domestic affairs, as it does often these days, Israeli leaders who have lobbied for these payments—including current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—are simply reaping the rewards of their own penny-wise, pound-foolish efforts.

https://www.jns.org/jns/isaac-herzog/23/7/20/304430/?_

Far from the diplomatic triumph that some are making it out to be, Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to Congress this week left a bad taste in the mouth.

Certainly, the audience punctuated his remarks with repeated applause and standing ovations. For many members, warmth towards Israel is genuine and for some even profound. The Democratic Party, however, is sliding into increasing hostility.

Seven Democrats in the House of Representatives, along with the independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, boycotted Herzog’s address. Last Saturday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told a group of Palestinian supporters, “Israel is a racist state.”

After she was forced into a mealy-mouthed retraction, the House overwhelmingly passed a Republican-sponsored resolution, with nine Democrats voting against, stating that Israel is “not a racist or apartheid state.”

Is Israel really supposed to be grateful for this? If a member of Congress had said “Jews are child-killers” does anyone think an adequate response by Congress would have been a motion declaring “Jews are not child-killers”?

The House should have strongly condemned Jayapal and dissociated itself from her. But, of course, that wouldn’t have had anywhere near overwhelming support. Indeed, when White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was invited to condemn Jayapal, she refused.

When it came down to it, Herzog failed in his most important task. In the continuing furor over Israel’s judicial reforms, with the Biden administration outrageously telling the Israeli government to abandon its policy and snubbing Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by failing to invite him to the White House, Herzog needed to avoid being played off against the prime minister. He needed to demonstrate there wasn’t so much as a cigarette paper between them.

But he didn’t do that. Instead, he spun the “heated and painful debate” over judicial reform as “the clearest tribute to the fortitude of Israel’s democracy.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/07/a_stirring_speech_to_congress_from_israels_president.html

According to the Jewish calendar, yesterday was the first day of the Jewish month of Av, beginning a period of intense mourning as Jews remember and commemorate multiple tragedies in different eras that befell the Jewish people over 2,500 years ago over a period of three weeks, including several wars with enemies culminating in the destruction of both temples on the same day, years apart, nine days later.

And so it was especially significant that yesterday, speaking eloquently to a joint session of Congress attended by most of the senators and representatives, Israeli president Yitzhak (Isaac) Herzog honored the occasion

to celebrate 75 years of Israeli independence with our greatest partner and friend, the United States of America. … The people of Israel are grateful to no end for the ancient promise fulfilled and for the friendship we have formed.

(By the way, not to be confused with Israel’s elected prime minister, Binyamin [Benjamin] Netanyahu.  Under Israel’s parliamentary system of government, the president is a non-partisan, unifying figure on issues both in his country and abroad.  Also, nine “progressive” Democrat House members, plus Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.], progressively once again closed their minds by their deliberate non-attendance.)

Thanking both the Republicans, led by speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R), and Vice President Kamala Harris (D) for U.S. support, Herzog noted the mutual cooperation and resulting mutual benefits for the two countries: “When the United States is strong, Israel is stronger.  And when Israel is strong, the United States is more secure.”  So “it is time to design the next stage of our evolving friendship and our growing partnership together.”  “Thank you, dear members of Congress, for your support of Israel throughout history, and at this critical moment in time.”

An important element of this partnership presently is combating Iran, whose potential for nuclear terror is not confined to Israel.

Let there be no doubt: Iran does not strive to attain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran is building nuclear capabilities that pose a threat to the stability of the Middle East and beyond. Every country or region controlled or infiltrated by Iran has experienced utter havoc.

Allowing Iran to become a nuclear threshold state — whether by omission or by diplomatic commission — is unacceptable. 

Plus so much more.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19817/palestinians-summer-camps-to-kill-jews

For more than a decade, the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups have been holding summer camps for thousands of schoolchildren throughout the Gaza Strip. These camps have served as a framework for inculcating an extreme ideology that glorifies Jihad (holy war), terrorism, and armed struggle against Israel with the aim of “liberating Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.”

The camps also provide military training, such as practice with knives and firearms; hand-to-hand combat, and marching and foot drills. The children also stage plays and enact scenes of fighting and capturing Israeli soldiers or firing rockets at Israel.

On July 8, Hamas launched its summer camps for 2023, with the participation of more than 100,000 boys and girls…. The children are being trained to carry out terror attacks and serve as human shields in the Jihad against Israel.

In June 2022, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denied any trace of Jewish history in Jerusalem…

When Hamas talks about “liberation,” it is expressing its desire to eliminate Israel, as explicitly stated in the charter of the group:

“Article 11: The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it.”

“Article 13: [Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion….”

The summer camp director in Rafah, Muhammad Barhoum, said that the camps are part of Hamas’ activities that focus on the [younger] generation “due to its importance as “the generation of liberation and victory.” — MEMRI, July 17, 2023

As in previous years, the summer camps focus on familiarizing the youngsters with various weapons, including the AK-47, sniper guns, RPG launchers, mortars and machine guns. The campers practice assembling and disassembling the weapons, holding them and using them, and also train in urban warfare and tunnel warfare…. Terrorists who carried out deadly attacks against Israelis are presented to the campers as role models, and their portraits feature in the camps and in camp activities. — MEMRI, July 17, 2023.

The spokesperson for the Hamas summer camps, Abu Bilal, said that… “the young people have [always] been the ones to carry out armed operations, and were the fuel of the intifadas and uprisings.” — MEMRI, June 28, 2021.

This sweeping child abuse by Palestinians is ignored by the Western media, the United Nations and most politicians. The next time Palestinians complain about minors being killed or injured while carrying out terror attacks against Israelis, it would be worthwhile recalling the scenes of children in the summer camps of the Gaza Strip, where the process to transform them into combatants begins.

It is time for the international community, and above all human rights organizations, to hold Palestinian leaders accountable for the child abuse inherent in training their children to become “martyrs,” in the Jihad to kill Jews, and in trying to destroy the region’s only democratic nation.

https://bit.ly/3K4dzeS

State Department policy

*The June 2023 banning of all Israeli research and scientific entities in East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Golan Heights from the mutually-beneficial US-Israel binational commercial research and development projects, such as BIRD, BARD and BSF, reflects the return of the State Department to the center stage of foreign policy making.

*This ban is consistent with the State Department’s systematically erroneous and counterproductive policy on critical Middle East issues, as documented by this video and this article.

For example:

*The State Department provided an essential tailwind to the Ayatollahs’ rise to power in Iran and the toppling of the Shah, who was “America’s policeman in the Gulf.” Foggy Bottom contended that the Ayatollahs would be moderate, anti-Soviet, pro-US, preoccupied with tractors and not with tanks, and refrain from the global exportation of the Islamic Revolution….

*The State Department considered Saddam Hussein as a potential ally (until the day of his 1990 invasion of Kuwait), worthy of an intelligence-sharing agreement, financial assistance, and the supply of advanced dual-use systems. It communicated to the ruthless despot that a military invasion of Kuwait would be treated as an intra-Arab matter.

*Foggy Bottom welcomed the 2010 turbulence on the Arab Street – which is still raging – as a “Facebook and youth revolution” and the “Arab Spring,” failing to realize that it has been an Arab Tsunami. 

https://www.aol.com/news/house-vote-resolution-saying-israel-162049637.html

The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution to reaffirm the U.S. ally is not a “racist state” and to condemn antisemitism — a GOP-led effort designed to drive a wedge between Democrats as the party contends with divisions in its ranks concerning Israel.

The vote was 412-9-1 with nine Democrats voting no, including Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, Summer Lee, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, Andre Carson and Delia Ramirez.

Notably, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, whose recent comments sparked the move, voted yes. (Rep. Betty McCollum voted present.)

The resolution, introduced by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, says “the State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state, Congress rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia, and the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel.”

The vote was essentially a rebuke of Jayapal, who has walked back her comments calling Israel a “racist state” and apologized to those she hurt with the remarks made at a political conference over the weekend. Seeking to clarify her remarks, Jayapal said she supported the two-state solution but is opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime and its policies.