Yom Shishee
Friday
24 Adar 5783
March 17 2023
The Quotes of the Day
“I call on all world leaders to boycott the Israeli Prime Minister.”
Former PM Ehud Olmert speaking in an interview on Israel TV Channel 12 yesterday
Can you believe that the anti-government movement has come to the point that it has exactly the same goals as the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement?
“We accept the president’s outline because in a civil war there will only be losers . . . We will continue to fight in the streets of Israel together with the wonderful patriots of the protest . . .
Yair Lapid, Leader of the Opposition at a press conference last night (see below).
No civil war but “we will continue to fight in the streets of Israel.” With the wonderful “patriots” (President Herzog termed the mixture of anarchists and protesters “patriots” two weeks ago).
The News on the Israeli Street
The war in Judea and Samaria.
In a daring midday operation, Israeli security forces engaged in a firefight with terrorists and killed 4 including the head of the Az Adin Al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) and a senior official of Islamic Jihad.
IED, Molotov, and “rock” attacks.
Palestinian terrorists attempted to murder Israeli men, women, and children on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road between the Tunnel Checkpoint and Al Khader, between Ariel and Tapuach, north of Ofra, in the vicinity of Jama’in, at the Hossan Bypass, near Beitar, between Beit Omer and Karmi Tzur, at a farm near Elon, and at nearly a dozen other locations.
The choreographed rollout continues . . .
There is no doubt about the deep interconnections between leftist President Herzog and the leftist leaders of the anti-government movement. From the moment that Herzog went to former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak and current Court President Esther Hayut for their input on his “People’s Proposal”, the stage was set.
First came Herzog’s ludicrous presentation of the Barak-Hayut proposal on prime time TV two nights ago.
Then came this sorry scene last night (on prime time TV again):
The 5 Stooges (aka heads of the Opposition). Left to right: Avigdor Liberman, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Merav Michaeli, and Mansour Abbas (photo: Avshalom Sassoni).
Carefully choreographed, the press conference began with Yair Lapid hypocritically railing about how the Coalition had rejected Herzog’s proposal in 17 minutes (hypocritically because Lapid and his minions have done nothing but reject any attempt at negotiations over the last two months).
Then came Benny Gantz (who apparently thought the Iranian deal was a good idea) ranting how the Coalition’s rejection of the proposal puts Israel’s security in danger.
This was followed by Avigdor Liberman obsessing yet again about how all of the trouble is being caused by the ultra orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism.
And on and on.
Who knows what the motley crew of Herzog, Barak, Hayut, Lapid, Gantz, Liberman, Michaeli, and Abbas have in store for us tonight?
TODAY’S BLOG
Stabbed In The Back: The Duplicity of President Herzog
Just how duplicitous President Herzog is became apparent last night as the story of what happened prior to the presentation of his “People’s Proposal for Compromise on the Legal Reforms was revealed.
According to numerous sources:
1. Herzog called together a roomful of academics to hammer out a compromise proposal.
2. The room produced two main proposals (one balanced and addressing the Coalition’s concerns, one adhering to the Opposition narrative and maintaining the status quo).
3. Then at some point in the 24 hours leading up to his announcement, Herzog passed information to the Coalition that he was going to present the proposal that addressed the Coalition’s concerns.
Specifically Herzog pledged that his compromise proposal for the Judicial Selection Committee would call for 11 members, including:
3 Coalition Ministers
3 Current Supreme Court Justices
2 Knesset members from the Opposition
1 Knesset member from the Coalition (not a Minister)
2 Public representatives appointed by the Minister of Justice after consulting with the Supreme Court President.
[In this scenario, the Coalition would have 4 representatives + another two possible supporters depending on the consultations between the Justice Minister and the Supreme Court President.]
Herzog also made other pledges concerning the invalidation of laws and the role of the Attorney General.
4. PM Netanyahu, Justice Minister Levin, and Constitution Committee Chair Rothman all got on board.
5. Then came the knife in the back when Herzog delivered his speech presenting the proposal that was favorable to the Opposition. For example, his Judicial Selection Committee proposal suddenly shifted to:
3 Coalition Ministers: the Justice Minister and 2 Cabinet Ministers
3 Current Supreme Court Justices, one of whom is the Supreme Court President
2 Knesset members from the Opposition. 3 Knesset members (one from the Coalition, 2 from the Opposition)
1 Knesset member from the Coalition (not a Minister)
2 Public representatives appointed by the Minister of Justice after consulting with the Supreme Court president. 2 “Jurist” representatives jointly approved by the Minister of Justice and Supreme Court President.
[In this scenario, the Coalition would only have 4 sure votes because the Supreme Court President would have veto power over the 2 “public” (now “jurist” representatives). In short the status quo would remain the same with the Court and Opposition having power over 7 votes.]
Perhaps you can now see, dear reader, why Herzog’s plan was dead on arrival.
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.