Yom Chamishee
Thursday
25 Shvat 5783
February 16 2023
The Photo and Video of the Day
What are you looking at?
Click here to see a video of the rare striped hyena filmed here this week.
No one really knows how many striped hyenas are left in Israel, but the estimate is between 100-170. This was an especially rare sighting because hyenas almost always spend the day in their underground dens.
The News on the Israeli Street
An update on the “legal reform” (aka “anti-government) movement . . .
“The opposition’s brazen demand to stop the legislation as a condition for negotiations is a spit in the face of 2 million right-wing voters. It will not happen and it will not happen. We continue with the legal plan with all our might.”
Simcha Rothman, Chairman of the Knesset Constitution Committee
Just how brazen was the demand that Opposition leader Yair Lapid presented to President Herzog yesterday?
Lapid said that before the anti-government movement will negotiate with the government:
1. There must be a 60 day freeze of all legislation related to legal reform.
2. During these 60 days, President Herzog would convene “talks” that would include legal experts, those opposing the reforms as well as those supporting them, economic experts, and defense experts.
3. All of these experts would then produce a report about the proposed legal reforms.
4. Next, President Herzog would present the report to the Supreme Court justices who would then give their opinion in a meeting hosted by Herzog.
5. Then the Opposition and the Government would give their opinions on the report.
6. Based on all of the opinions (justices, Opposition, Government), President Herzog would then edit the report and publish a final version.
7. This final version would then become the basis of the debate that the Opposition and Government would have in joint meetings.
8. From this debate would come a newly revised legal reform proposal which would then be voted on by the Constitution Committee of the Knesset.
9. After that vote, the proposed law would be sent to the Knesset for a preliminary reading followed by three readings–the approval of which would be necessary to become law.
Talk about fantasy land.
Even a blind person can see that this delusional procedure is nothing but a stalling attempt that would take years to complete. Years that would give Lapid and his cohorts time to regroup, have new elections, and possibly get elected at which point they would throw the reforms in the trash.
So, back to the question of how brazen is Lapid’s plan? It is not merely brazen but it is also downright laughable. It is another attempt by those who lost the November election to cling to power via the Supreme Court.
Palestinian prisoners are upset . . .
The Israel Prison System (aka “The Country Club for Palestinian Prisoners”) has again been ordered by National Security Minister Ben Gvir to crack down on the host of benefits that prisoners receive.
The newest restriction concerns showers.
Apparently, up until now, prisoners have been free to take as much time as they wanted taking showers. As of this week, their shower time has been shortened to 4 minutes.
To enforce this restriction, the Prison Service has locked the prisoner showers in the new 600-prisoner security wing of the Nafha prison–Israel’s most severe penal institution.
In response, Hamas is threatening to fire missiles at southern Israel.
TODAY’S BLOG
The Fallout From The Shilo Atrocity Yesterday
It is still difficult for your humble servant to convey the anger I feel over what happened yesterday at Shilo (also spelled Shiloh).
1000 olive trees which had taken 20 years to grow were uprooted in a violent display of Civil Administration and Border police gone crazy. And it was not just violence directed at the olive orchard, it was violence directed at those trying to defend it.
The photo below is a screen shot from a video which shows the police beating up and kicking anyone standing in their way:
This policeman kicked the protester in the face.
In fact the violence was so egregious that the Border Police commander has now suspended the three policemen you see above, pending an investigation.
Another investigation is also in the works because Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech says that during the time she was illegally detained in violation of her Knesset immunity, she was sexually assaulted by one of the policemen as she tried to escape (you can watch it again here).
There is no doubt that the police greatly enjoyed what they were doing–and why not?
Many of the Border Police in this area are Israeli-Arabs (Israeli Jews object to what the government has been doing in Judea and Samaria), and many of the Civil Administration workers (such as the bulldozer drivers) are Palestinian.
Yes, Palestinians employed by the Civil Administration.
Here is a photo from a tweet made by an Israeli-Arab policeman yesterday after the olive trees were destroyed:
The policeman flashing the victory sign in front of the destroyed orchard. You won’t find this tweet online anymore–it was taken down last night. We can only hope the policeman was fired.
Yesterday’s events at Shilo where Defense Minister Galant overruled Finance Minister and Deputy Defense Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Ben Gvir have caused shock waves in the Coalition.
Smotrich has threatened to take his National Religious Zionism Party out of the government unless the Coalition Agreement he signed with Netanyahu which gave him authority over the Civil Administration is not honored immediately.
Ben Gvir is demanding that his Otzma Coalition agreement which specified that he would be in charge of the Border Police in Judea and Samaria be honored at the next Cabinet meeting on Sunday.
One final thought: click here to go to a crowdfunding page to replant the olive orchard. As of this moment some 350,000 shekels of the 1,000,000 shekels sought have been donated. Make a donation and make a difference!
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.