{"id":740,"date":"2023-03-03T10:56:06","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T10:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/?p=740"},"modified":"2023-03-03T11:05:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T11:05:08","slug":"news-from-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/?p=740","title":{"rendered":"News from Israel - From Carolyne"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carolyne Davis gives a full report on the situation<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Israeli society has really ripped itself apart this week, culminating with the burning of an Arab village in revenge for the killing of two brothers, who were sat in their car and shot at point blank range.

This month alone, 14 Israelis have lost their lives due to Arab terror attacks and now the settlers in the West Bank have turned vigilante, and taken the law into their hands, killing one and injuring many others while destroying houses and cars.

The IDF were so overwhelmed they could do little to prevent the violence.There is an angry divide within Israel over politics and religion and how we deal with the Palestinian issue and how we deal with preventing terror.   It is now seeping into all aspects of everyone\u2019s lives. These murderous actions by Israelis further corrode Israel\u2019s standing in the world and give so much ammunition to the anti Israel brigade. This is not the Jewish way and it cannot be condemned enough. It has sunk us  to the level of the terrorists that we so abhor.

There is pain, tears and immense anger over the killing spree of the Arabs, the re-action to the murders leading to more murder and to the government and their elected officials. The whole situation is in danger of spiralling out of control. People are really afraid, for their safety, for the democracy and the future of Israel.

The protests due to the proposed changes to the Judicial system  continue at full strength,and today, the roads are blocked due to the huge protests.
The funeral of Elan Ganeles z\"l , the American Israeli slaughtered in this last outbreak of random violence took place in Ra\u2019Anna today attended by thousands.

In Israel we do not have an official class system, we have no Kings, no Lords or Ladies. We have a voting system that gives one vote to one person but it  is over democratised as it allows small parties to hold the balance of power in government: hence most governments fall very quickly  when the small party that has pushed them just over the threshold has a temper tantrum over not getting their way and pulls out. We all go back to the voting booth to start over.

Laws change  slowly in Israel as there is always difficulties due to the coalition make up agreeing even the first reading of proposed legislation, let alone it passing to the second reading and having the agreement of the Supreme Court. This government however, is made up of right wing groups so they have more consensus and pass laws more quickly. The centralist groups that refused to sit with Bibi, have done the country a dreadful mis-service, as in their quest for \u201canyone but Bibi\u201d, they have let ideological extremists take control. They must swallow their pride and somehow get into government in order to stop this dreadful coalition. We cannot get rid of the right wingers as they have too much support, but we must weaken them and quickly.

The political parties in Israel are mostly diametrically opposed to each other\u2019s policies. Instead of class distinction, Israeli society is broken down into groups bordering tribal.

We have the so called  \u201csettlers\u201d, who are right wing, mostly religious and believe in the Greater Israel and live in the predominantly Arab areas of the West Bank. They have suffered mostly at the hands of the Arab terrorists and have now taken the law into their own hands. 

We have the 2  powerful groups of Ultra Orthodox, Shas and United Torah, right wing, but mostly seeking money for their Yeshivas, generally they do not go  to the army and they want to see the country functioning under strict Jewish Law.

We have a large Russian block who were traditionally represented by Avigdor Lieberman but now their kids have morphed into Israelis. They support a more right wing but secular government.

We have a large centre\/left secular  society fanning out from Tel Aviv, who support gay marriage and civil marriage (the Right does not support those freedoms) and want transport on Shabbat and would like to see a two state solution and a  separation of  Church and State. 

The left wing groups that traditionally ran Israel in the early days are much weaker and have little say as Israel no longer wishes to be a socialist country and the kibbutzim are mostly privatised now. The socialist  agriculture background against which the country was founded is mostly in the past.

We have the Israeli Arabs, who have full civil rights in Israel, but feel underrepresented and their sympathies lie with their Palestinian brethren, so they would like a two state solution, but most wish to stay under Israeli administration. We have the East Jerusalem Arabs, who have a special status of residency but do not vote, so are not full citizens.

We have, of course , the millions  of Palestinians who live under Palestinian civil authority, but Israeli military authority in the West Bank together with the settlers. They do not vote in Israeli elections and as the Palestinian Authority has not held elections for many years they have little say in their own futures and are  held hostage to the ongoing conflict.

We have no civil or military control over Gaza, which is an independent dictatorship, since Israel disengaged in August 2005.

Israel is a country without a constitution and has instead 13 basic laws introduced between 1958-2018. They do not include a Bill of Rights except the right to vote. The process of passing Basic Laws is no different from the process of passing ordinary laws, and some are worried that the Knesset can misuse the way laws are passed and reviewed.

The Supreme Court<\/strong>

Some feel the make up of the court needs a more diversified composition.
The Supreme Court\u2019s powers were expanded in the 1970\u2019s and these extended powers granted to the Supreme Court remain controversial to today.

The court has the power to overturn anything if they find it \u201cunreasonable\u201d. Reasonableness  is subjective, so many object to this ability, especially when it relates to matters of the IDF. The critics of the Supreme Court claim it has too much discretion under the doctrine of \u201creasonableness\u201d.
The Supreme Court serves as highest court of appeal and The High Court of Justice making it the first and last review in any government action.
It must interpret statutes in ways compatible with basic human rights as defined by major democracies, such as freedom of expression, right to assembly, privacy rights, rights to equality, and in line with  Israel\u2019s Declaration of Independence.
There are, however,  limits to these powers, as there is no written constitution to rely upon.

Israel is a parliamentary democracy and not a liberal  constitutional democracy .

The process of appointing Judges

Originally the government appointed judges but ceded this in 1953, and the appointment of judges is made by the Judicial Selection Committee, which comprises three Supreme Court justices, two members of the bar and two members of the Knesset, resulting in an elitist and non diverse judiciary  as the appointments are weighted against the government\u2019s choices.

The appointment of the Attorney General

The country\u2019s chief legal advisor is appointed, since 2000, by the government and serves as the head of the government\u2019s legal representation. He is empowered to uphold the law and protect the public. He is the \u2018Gatekeeper\u201d between the government and the law. All government agencies are bound by the decisions of the Attorney General.

Convictions of Politicians<\/strong>

Since 1990\u2019s , a President, a Prime Minister, 12 ministers and 20 members of Knesset have been convicted of criminal offences and the current Prime Minster remains indicted. The court has held that except for a Prime Minster, anyone convicted of serious crime,  or indicted cannot hold a ministerial  post. Deri(head of Shas),  has been banned from his ministry due to this ruling and his party and Bibi are keen to reinstate him and over turn this ruling. Hence, the government of the day has a vested interest on a personal level to restrict and weaken the powers of the Supreme Court.

Proposed Changes<\/strong>

The proposals by Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, wants to declare that the courts may not invalidate a decision of the government on the basis of the \u201creasonableness test\u201d.  The Supreme Court may not review the decisions of elected officials. Basically, the courts would no longer be able to oversee the proper conduct of the government  even if they disregard basic human rights.

Further proposals are to cut down the power of government legal advisers that require the government to follow their position on legal matters and interpretation of the law. The government would no longer be bound by the advice given to them by their own legal advisers. The government would be interpreting the law among themselves leading to total confusion and legal case being brought against the government resulting in legal anarchy.

The changes also propose to alter the way Supreme Court judges are elected, so the government can place judges that are more sympathetic to their ideals.

I would love to bring good news from Israel,  but this week sadly instead of celebrating Purim, the country is more in mourning. We pray that things change quickly, that we can bring the PA back to security co-operation.  Bibi must finds the strength to do what is best for the country and not himself,  and dissolve this government, probably step down,  so Likud can make a government, with a new leader, together with right minded people not far right wing fanatics.

Shabbat Shalom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also, Barbra Paskin's version of these events as they are being seen in the United States.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolyne Davis gives a full report on the situation Israeli society has really ripped itself apart this week, culminating with the burning of an Arab village in revenge for the killing of two brothers, who were sat in their car and shot at point blank range. This month alone, 14 Israelis have lost their lives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-from-israel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}