Ambassador: Tel Aviv Supports Ethiopian Interests

29 Aug, 2021, No comments

I did an interview on Friday with the Ambassador of Israel to Ethiopia, Burundi and Chad - H.E. Aleligne Admasu.

Aleligne Admasu who himself was born in Ethiopia in 1961 and moved to Israel in 1983 strongly believes that Israel’s bright future depends largely on its relations with African countries.

“Since its establishment as a state in 1948, Israel has placed great importance on foreign policy. This is because it had been under a political and economic boycott by surrounding Arab countries. As a result, Israel pursued reliable political allies and trading partners in order to bring stability and support for itself” Said the Ambassador.

As of Israel’s relations with African countries in recent years he continued, “Netanyahu visited sub-Saharan Africa in July 2016. He carefully chose Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Ethiopia and Kenya had close ties with Israel in the past. And they were engaged in security cooperation against the threat of Islamist terrorism and were sympathetic to Israel’s goal of achieving African Union observer status. Also, in 2019 we re-established relations with Chad, which had been broken off in 1972.”

Admasu is very optimistic regarding Israel’s current relations with Ethiopia and thinks that this good relationship will help Israel to have the upper hand with regards to some of its neighboring countries, “Good relations with Ethiopia is not only necessary to make Ethiopian Jews closer to Israel but it is also important because of its geopolitical stance. For instance, they had water and electricity problems that we were able to solve and at the same time we had Egypt beside us that was not only a rival but also considered potentially as an enemy and we had to figure out a solution to their hostility towards us. We knew that their country relies on the Nile River but the water had to pass Ethiopia first in order to reach their country. So, by solving Ethiopia’s electricity and water problems, by building the Al-Nahda dam we would kill two birds with one stone.”

The ambassador emphasized “If Ethiopia fills the reservoir between a 5-to-7-year period, then Egypt’s water share will be decreased by somewhere from 12 to 25 percent during the filling period. So, it would be much better for the Egyptians that the reservoir be filled over a more extended period of time. But I think Ethiopia has the right to fill the dam by the end of 2023 in order to answer the needs of its people. Ethiopia doesn’t have enough food to feed its people.”

When I asked him about the apparent consequences of filling the dam and the fear that a drought will occur during the filling period, he said “The dam will hold a lot of silt behind it, and also some types of fish will totally disappear. This will have a negative economic and social impact on fishing and agriculture in Egypt and Sudan. Egypt, on the other hand, has a strong agricultural sector. Egypt could offer Ethiopia agricultural investment projects and ask for a share of the electricity that the dam will produce.”

I told Admasu that most of the internationally known environmental institutions have stated that the construction and filing of the dam, will be followed by severe droughts that will hit downstream countries like Sudan and Egypt. Therefore, they have suggested the establishment of a joint commission to control the amount of water behind the dam to prevent such disasters. The Egyptian government also believes that the Nile River has been a part of Egypt history and they have a legal right to it.

“Joint commissions will be meaningful after Egypt and Sudan recognize Addis Ababa’s ownership of the water sources. Israel’s stance is clear, these countries must stop bullying Ethiopia and they have to become rational. Regarding the second part of your question, Ethiopia prefers to have the flexibility to make decisions on how to deal with droughts. Egypt should abandon continued references to its so-called natural historical rights.” The ambassador noted.

When I asked him if he anticipates a conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt or Sudan. He replied, “The support of various countries for Ethiopia will not allow Egypt and Sudan to do so.”

Finally, the ambassador noted that Israeli companies are ready to provide Egypt with the necessary technology to supply the drinking water it needs from the Mediterranean Sea.

Nevzlin mulls joining crowded field of Jewish Agency candidates

29 Aug, 2021, No comments

Irina Nevzlin, chairwoman board of the Museum of the Jewish People, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday night that she was seriously considering putting forward her candidacy for the chairmanship of the Jewish Agency.

Nevzlin has received international acclaim for her rebuilding and rebranding of the Tel Aviv museum that tells the ongoing story of the Jewish people. If chosen for the post, she would be the first woman to head the agency.

“I have great respect for this important role,” Nevzlin told The Post. “That is why this is such a serious decision.”

Nevzlin was approached by senior officials at the agency, who urged her to run. She has good ties with many of the members of the selection committee, as does her husband, Likud MK and former Diaspora affairs minister, Yuli Edelstein.

“Yuli knows the voters, and he wouldn’t encourage her to run if he didn’t make sure she had enough support to win,” a source at the agency said.

A 10-member selection committee comprised of five representatives of the World Zionist Organization, three of the Jewish Federations of North America and two of Keren Hayesod-United Jewish Appeal, representing world Jewry outside the US, will pick the new agency head in October. The support of nine members of the committee out of 10 is required for a candidate to be chosen.

Intelligence Services Minister Elazar Stern is considered the front-runner for the post but he could be blocked by World Zionist Organization chairman Yaakov Hagoel (Likud), who supports former minister Danny Danon, and by WZO board member Racheli Baratz-Rix (Blue and White), whose party leader, Benny Gantz, has urged her to support former Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich.

Other candidates include Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan Nahoum and former ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor. Former ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, is also considering a bid.

Another new candidate joined the race two weeks ago: Former Likud MK, national security adviser and IDF deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan.

“I am running to chair the Jewish Agency, because I care about the Jewish people,” Dayan said on Sunday night. “Cohesion of Israel and the Diaspora is a strategic asset. There is plenty to do to strengthen that connection.

Dayan speaks annually on Rosh Hashanah at a Conservative synagogue in Kohav Yair, but when asked if he backs religious pluralism, he would only say “I am in favor of the Jews. I am Jewish, then Israeli. Israel is the state of the Jewish people.”

He is the nephew of storied IDF general and senior politician Moshe Dayan, grandson of MK Shmuel Dayan and cousin of celebrated singer Yehonatan Geffen.

Two weeks ago, Dayan met with President Isaac Herzog, who left his post as agency chairman last month. Both Dayan and Herzog denied a report that the president told Dayan he would support his candidacy.

“The president didn’t tell him to run or not, that he supported him or not,” a source close to Herzog said. “The report is false.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/nevzlin-mulls-joining-crowded-field-of-jewish-agency-candidates-678048

Netanyahu dines with state's witness against him in Hawaii

29 Aug, 2021, No comments

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had dinner last week with Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is a state’s witness against him in his corruption cases, Channel 13 reported on Sunday.

According to the report, Netanyahu and Ellison were seen eating together at Nobu Lanai, a very expensive restaurant on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, where the Netanyahu family has been vacationing at the Four Seasons Hotel, one of the most expensive hotels in the world.

The Likud responded that the witness list includes hundreds of people, including MKs and his own staff, and there is no prohibition to speak to them.

Netanyahu himself has not reacted to Friday’s meeting of his successor, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, with US President Joe Biden, following the tradition that the opposition does not criticize a prime minister when he is abroad.

But his Likud party, MKs close to him, and his son Yair have all fiercely criticized Bennett.

“For a picture at the White House, Bennett completely folded,” the Likud said in a statement retweeted by Netanyahu. “He harmed the security of the State of Israel when he promised not to publicly fight against Iran’s return to the nuclear deal. This is a dangerous decision that combines ineptitude, irresponsibility and bad leadership.”

Likud MK Ofir Akunis called it “humiliating” and “a complete failure” that Biden gave Bennett less than half an hour of his time.

Yair Netanyahu repeatedly retweeted pictures and reports that indicated incorrectly that Biden had fallen asleep during the meeting. He posted pictures of his father being received at the White House for the Abraham Accords, and said “this is how a real leader is received. Bennett the charlatan, I am happy you received an inconsequential selfie with Biden. It cost the public millions and resulted in not reacting to the shooting of an IDF soldier on the Gaza border.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/netanyahu-dines-with-states-witness-against-him-in-hawaii-678055

Netanyahu's trial as opposition leader begins with Biden - analysis

29 Aug, 2021, No comments

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu went to England for six days to help with Israel’s public-relations efforts.

He was interviewed day and night and spoke to more than 1,000 people at London’s Kinloss Synagogue. While that visit is remembered by Israelis more for the £1,000 a night that a well-meaning Manchester philanthropist paid for his stay at the posh Connaught Hotel, Londoners recall that Netanyahu helped defend Israel tremendously during the war, and then-prime minister Ehud Olmert appreciated it, too.

Fast-forward 15 years, and Netanyahu is reportedly staying at a much more expensive hotel, the Four Seasons on Hawaii’s Lanai Island, where a penthouse suite costs $21,000 per night. He was seen doing Pilates in a photograph revealed by Haaretz political correspondent Michael Hauser-Tov.

But Netanyahu has found time during his vacation to criticize Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He has tweeted that Bennett’s failures fighting the coronavirus have cost lives, retweeted articles about the number of new cases in Israel approaching 10,000 a day and tweeted and then deleted the word “shameful” about Bennett confusing the name of soldier Bar-el Shmueli, who was wounded on the Gaza border.

The former prime minister retweeted a post from 103FM about Shmueli’s mother saying Netanyahu had called and cried with her on the phone, and Bennett called 10 and a half hours later but did not even know her son’s name or where he is hospitalized.

There is nothing wrong with working on vacation, even in Hawaii. With so many potential replacements in Likud hoping he decides to stay there, it is understandable that Netanyahu would want to make sure his presence is felt.

But the next three days will be a test for Netanyahu, or to use a word more associated with him in recent years – a trial period.

It is traditional in Israel that when a prime minister goes abroad, the opposition does not criticize him. Bennett left on Tuesday for Washington, where he will meet on Thursday with US President Joe Biden.

Regardless of political views, it is obviously critical for Israel that the meeting goes well – much better than the first meeting in the White House between Netanyahu and then-president Barack Obama.

Will Netanyahu support Bennett, as he did as opposition leader for Olmert? Or will he give in to the natural temptation to tweet against him?

To prove his statesmanship, Netanyahu could order his Likud Party and its MKs to not tweet anything at all. He could even go further and tell the same to his son Yair, who tweeted from the hotel that Bennett is “the peak of human ugliness, inside and outside.”

If he does that, it would send a message that Netanyahu remains prime ministerial even as the leader of the opposition.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/netanyahus-trial-as-opposition-leader-begins-with-biden-analysis-677593

Religious Zionist Party to have membership drive in English

29 Aug, 2021, No comments

The Religious Zionist Party’s central committee passed a new constitution at a meeting in Neot Kedumim on Sunday night that includes holding a mass membership drive and then party primaries for its Knesset candidates.

The goal of the party is to reunite religious Zionists from across the political spectrum who voted in the past for Likud, Yamina and New Hope, as well as those who agree with the party's views but are not religious.

To that end, the membership drive will have forms not only in Hebrew, but also in English, French, Russian and Amharic.

The central committee was widened to include many religious-Zionist celebrities, including Rabbi Haim Druckman. The minimum age to be a member will be 17, and the minimum age to run, 21.

Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich vowed before the March election to open up the party and hold primaries.

“This is a night that will be remembered for making history,” Smotrich told party activists. “This is a night of change, correction and repentance, a night when the Religious Zionist Party became the home of religious Zionism and the entire Right.”

The Likud is completing its membership drive on August 31. Nobel Prize-winning mathematician Prof. Robert Israel Aumann joined Likud in order to back former MK Uzi Dayan.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/netanyahus-trial-as-opposition-leader-begins-with-biden-analysis-677593

Gantz's political capital is leverage, will it get him to the top? - analysis

29 Aug, 2021, No comments

After three days of headlines about opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu mulling an offer of a four-year premiership to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, the defense minister could have nicked the reports in the bud when interviewed during Channel 13’s prime-time newscast on Saturday night. But that is far from what he did.

The reports said Netanyahu would propose a constructive vote of no-confidence in the government with Gantz as the candidate for prime minister for the rest of the current Knesset term, which is set to end in November 2025.

Netanyahu himself would suffice with being alternate prime minister, a more symbolic title, or foreign minister if the law preventing those under indictment from serving as a minister would be changed.

Gantz could have told interviewer Ayala Hasson that he has no interest in bringing the Likud back to government, that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is his leader and that the current coalition would complete its term, period. He could have ruled out any future cooperation with Netanyahu.

But he didn’t.

“I still see myself on the path to be prime minister,” Gantz said. “But I work for the current government. It is important that as long as it serves the interests of the citizens, we have an interest in remaining in it.”

That statement leaves a lot to analyze.

First of all, by saying he retains his aspiration to be prime minister, Gantz is insisting on remaining a player for the premiership in future elections and is refusing to abdicate the leadership of his political camp to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid or anyone else.

He referred to “the current government” in a way that made it sound temporary.

And last but not least, he conditioned his party’s support for the government on an amorphous condition about “serving the citizens’ interests,” as he will define them in the future.

When politicians with a solid right-wing or left-wing agenda, a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) or anti-haredi leader, or an Arab MK makes such a statement, it is easier to understand what that means. With Gantz, who knows?

The answer is no one knows, including Gantz himself, who cannot predict how he will feel in the future.

Meanwhile, the reports and his response to them give Gantz a valuable commodity in politics: Leverage.

Gantz can try to use that leverage to obtain whatever he wants, from massive pensions for IDF officers, to drafting yeshiva students, to his confidante Omer Yankelevich becoming the first-ever chairwoman of the Jewish Agency.

Without leverage, Gantz would be very limited in what he could do. Bennett, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman and, worst of all, Lapid would be able to trample him.

That is Gantz’s game. The months ahead will determine whether he emerges victorious.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/gantzs-political-capital-is-leverage-will-it-get-him-to-the-top-analysis-677440

Israel to Use Electronic Tracking Bracelet to Enforce Security Measures at Expo

13 Aug, 2021, No comments

Israeli SuperCom company will use electronic tracking bracelets to enforce security measures for Muslim attendants at the Expo held in the UAE.

pilot program expressed "very positive”. Credit: Ofer Vaknin

On Sunday morning I was invited to meet Ordan Trabelsi, SuperCom’s president and CEO. SuperCom is an Israeli company that has been a global leading provider of traditional and digital identity solutions, providing advanced safety, identification, and security products and solutions to governments as well as private and public organizations around the world.

In this meeting we discussed the economic aspects of the Abraham Accords and the opportunities that it presents to the Israeli privet sector.

As expected, a new stage of relations awaited the Abraham Accords. Trabelsi’s company announced on Saturday that they have reached an agreement with the UAE’s Ministry of Economy to provide and ensure the security of the Expo, as "the world’s greatest show", the exhibition will begin on October 1, 2021, and end on March 31, 2022. Pavilions from 191 countries will be set up at the site.

Trabelsi said, "According to the deal reached with the ministry, anyone who enters the UAE from South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Indonesia is obligated to wear an electronic monitoring device, to ensure security measures."

He continued, "Our bracelet will monitor the wearers' location via Bluetooth and GPS technology and is linked to the users' cell phone. These steps are taken to prevent or minimize criminal acts, espionage, terrorism or sabotage."

"In our negotiations with the minister of economy Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, it was decided that the UAE government give us the information of the travelers who are obligated to use SuperCom’s bracelets. For those who are going to stay at a hotel, the number of hotels that they can chose from are limited so that we can have our equipment settled there.”

Trabelsi believes that as a result of this deal, SuperCom will be able to draw the attention of other governments that want to hold similar events in their countries. “I believe that this event will be a big success, it will open a new chapter of relations with the UAE not only for our company but also for other Israeli companies. I personally see a big potential here for Israeli cyber security companies. You can feel the lack of cyber security here and I think we can fill this void for them.”

Passenger entry from 16 destinations, including India, Pakistan, South Africa and Indonesia to the UAE, were suspended according to the previous notice. But according to the new deal, the circumstances have changed.

Israeli Politicians Milk Ben & Jerry's Scandal While Others Were Iced

2 Aug, 2021, No comments

The decision by Ben & Jerry's in the United States to end its contract with its Israeli licensee over its refusal to stop selling ice cream over Israel's pre-1967 border gave some Israeli politicians sweet political points and others a brain freeze.

It all depended on whether the politicians got the right scoop on who were the good and bad guys in the story and who got spoon-fed incorrect information.

Soon after the news broke, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is Israel's best-known ice cream consumer, proudly tweeted that he would boycott all of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

"Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy," Netanyahu tweeted, along with an Israeli flag and a muscular arm emoji.

Netanyahu apparently did not get the news before he tweeted that the Israeli licensee of Ben & Jerry's had fought for years to continue to sell the product throughout the country. Had he known, perhaps he would have tweeted the flag and the muscular arm emoji with a statement about continuing to buy the ice cream in Israel while boycotting it abroad.

He was not the only one misinformed. Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) posted a picture of himself on Facebook eating an ice cream cone that he said was not only tastier than Ben & Jerry's but that also does not boycott.

"Even with ice cream, the fate of [his West Bank settlement] Nokdim will be the same as the fate of Tel Aviv," posted Liberman, who as finance minister should know better about how an Israeli company works.

Former Likud minister Ofir Akumis similarly announced on Facebook that he would "stop buying Ben & Jerry's in Judea and Samaria and everywhere else in the world," without differentiating between the Israeli company that has fought to keep its ice cream on the shelves in Efrat and Neve Aliza and the products by the same name sold globally.

But the tip of the ice cream cone belonged to Israel's economy minister, Orna Barbivay (Yesh Atid), who humiliated herself on TikTok by posting a video of herself getting home from work and immediately throwing in the trash what appeared to be a full pint of Dulche De Leche, one of Ben & Jerry's best flavors.

Ben & Jerry's licensee Avi Zinger, who brought the ice cream to Israel three decades ago, said Barbivay's decision hurt him almost as much as the decision made in Vermont.

While those Israeli politicians were left out in the cold, there were also plenty who hit a sweet spot in their responses.

The first current MK who responded was Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist Party, who immediately urged Israelis to continue eating Israeli-made Ben & Jerry's and tweeted that the Israeli licensee deserved credit for fighting against a boycott of Judea and Samaria.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) urged Israelis on social media to differentiate between Ben & Jerry's in Israel and abroad.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) decided to take practical steps along with his tweet that "Ben & Jerry’s decision represents shameful surrender to antisemitism, to BDS and to all that is wrong with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse."

He said he would work to enforce anti-Israel boycott laws passed in more than 30 American states. By the morning, Israel's outgoing ambassador to the US Gilad Erdan, who is in Israel, had already written to the governors of 35 states, demanding they enforce sanctions against the American company.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (Yamina) also took action by speaking to Alan Jope, the CEO of Unilever, Ben & Jerry's parent company.

Time will tell if the efforts of Bennett, Lapid, Shaked and Rothman will result in the decision being overturned – or at least stop the sale of Ben & Jerry's in Israel from being frozen.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/israeli-politicians-milk-ben-and-jerrys-scandal-while-others-were-iced-674397

Tal Brody on The Olympic Spirit and Ben & Jerry's Boycott

1 Aug, 2021, No comments

Gil Hoffman talks to Israeli basketball legend Tal Brody about Israel's chances for more Olympic medals and how much Ben & Jerry's boycott matters.

In 1977, Brody helped lead Maccabi Tel Aviv to the FIBA European Champions Cup championship, defeating the Soviet Red Army team, CSKA Moscow.

"We are on the map! And we are staying on the map – not only in sports, but in everything," Brody said back then, in a quote that became part of Israeli lore.

Hoffman asks Brody if Israel is still on the map, if it has only won ten medals in all the Olympics since 1952.

Brody compares the impact of winning medals and international boycotts on Israel's image.

They speak about their internal divides as citizens of both Israel and the US, watching Friday's Olympic baseball game between Israel and the US.

Hoffman ventures a prediction: "A team with at least blue and white in their flag will win the game."

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/tal-brody-on-the-olympic-spirit-and-ben-and-jerrys-boycott-675329

Will The Bennett-Lapid Prime Minister Rotation Happen?

1 Aug, 2021, No comments

When the Knesset was about to vote on the Likud’s bill calling for Israel to apply sovereignty to every Jewish community in Judea and Samaria on Wednesday, Yamina MK Yomtov Kalfon could not be found.

Kalfon, who made aliyah from France at age 18, is a strong proponent of keeping every inch of the Land of Israel. He wanted to vote in favor of the bill, or at least not vote against it.

So he hid in the men’s bathroom, in an effort to avoid the vote.

But Yamina faction chairman Nir Orbach and others succeeded in bringing Kalfon in for the vote on the bill, which the coalition defeated 64 to 50.

The coalition won every vote this week, except for the final readings of New Hope faction chairwoman Sharren Haskel’s cannabis decriminalization bill, which she raised knowing it would be defeated, in an effort to shame Likud supporters of the bill.

The fact that the coalition emerged relatively unscathed despite a 35-hour Likud filibuster was seen as a good omen for the staying power of the current government. So was the wide margin in defeating the annexation bill, which not only Kalfon but Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and other right-wingers voted against.

The most important vote for the coalition this week was on an amendment to Basic Law: The Government, which legislated the rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office. It set August 27, 2023, as the date when Bennett will be replaced by Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, whose term is set to end on November 11, 2025.

If the 2023 state budget does not pass or MKs rebel and vote to disperse the Knesset, the changeover can happen earlier. But in a display of trust, a clause that would make Lapid prime minister if Bennett tried to join a government led by another MK was removed.

Lapid also won’t come to power automatically if the two-year budget that will come to its first vote in the cabinet on Sunday does not pass into law by its November 4 deadline. Such a scenario was initially part of the coalition agreement, because former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu used that loophole to initiate an election and prevent then-alternate prime minister Benny Gantz from taking power. That, too, was removed from the agreement, because of that rare commodity in Israeli politics known as trust.

So is Lapid, whose name means torch, right to put so much trust in Bennett to pass him the torch and enable him to become prime minister? There are plenty of reasons to suggest he could be making a mistake.

The following are several possibilities for the rotation that may or may not happen in 25 months.

Running with rotation

Let’s start with Lapid’s best-case scenario of the rotation taking place as planned. For this to happen, the most important factor is that Netanyahu will have to still remain the main alternative in the opposition.

He is the glue that built the most diverse government in Israel’s history, and he remains the glue keeping it together.

Bennett and Lapid meet every week to ensure they are fully coordinated, which never happened with Netanyahu and Gantz. A source close to Bennett said that whenever Ayelet Shaked or anyone else in his party wants to act independently, Bennett tells them – in English, of course: “A deal’s a deal.”

What could guarantee the rotation is successfully wooing four Likud rebels to defect and join the coalition. But this became harder this week, when a portfolio was given away to pacify renegade Yisrael Beytenu MK Eli Avidar.

Rotation ruined by retirement

The rotation is built on trust between Lapid and Bennett, not with Shaked, Kalfon or anyone else in Yamina. Shaked is set to become justice minister under Lapid for the second half of the term, but she and the rest of the Yamina MKs would prefer a right-wing prime minister when Bennett’s term ends.

What happens if Bennett decides after two years as prime minister to not take the Interior portfolio that the coalition agreement gives him and instead decides to go back to hi-tech, making millions and raising his kids?

All Shaked would need is to persuade two MKs from New Hope to follow her into a right-wing government with the Likud. New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar may have turned off Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton and Haskel by not completely supporting the controversial moves they made this week on COVID-19 and cannabis.

Shaked would redeem herself with the Right for her decision to enable the current government and could be rewarded with the premiership herself, perhaps in a rotation with Netanyahu, splitting the remaining two years of the current Knesset.

Bennett brings back Bibi

Despite all the trust between Bennett and Lapid, there is the quote attributed to US president Harry S. Truman: “You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.”

Bennett has a dog in Ra’anana named Lychee. Shortly before his term is set to end, Bennett could decide to keep Lychee, split with Lapid and prevent the Yesh Atid leader from getting a crack at the premiership.

Again, two MKs in New Hope would be needed. So would an excuse to break the bond with Lapid other than the budget. That could be easy in such a diverse coalition, with no shortage of issues to argue about.

Ra’am (United Arab List), for instance, finds a new excuse to rebel every week. Haskel, whose cannabis bill was stopped by Mansour Abbas’s party, and plenty of other current coalition MKs are sick and tired of partnering with the party.

Gantz gets his government

The tragic figure of the current government is Gantz, who could have become prime minister on November 17 had Netanyahu honored their agreement. Likud MKs are trying to woo him back and offering him the premiership, with a coalition of the Likud, Religious Zionist Party, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Blue and White and Yamina renegade MK Amichai Chikli.

Likud leaders have cited Gantz’s decision to remain an MK when 20 ministers and deputy ministers have quit via the Norwegian Law as proof that he could break up the current coalition and head a rotation government with the Likud without initiating an election. A prime minister must be a member of Knesset.

But Gantz’s associates said the truth is actually the opposite. They said Netanyahu’s decision to violate his rotation agreement with Gantz traumatized the Blue and White leader, who no longer trusts even his political partners and feels the need to stay in the Knesset to monitor the situation.

They have ruled out the possibility of Gantz cooperating with Netanyahu again, but what would happen if someone else would lead Likud?

Likud leaps to new leader

There may have never been a greater gap between how Israeli politicians speak publicly and privately than current Likud MKs about Netanyahu. In public, they sing his praises, but in private, they say the time has come for him to go.

They did not take steps to oust Netanyahu before Bennett formed a government, in part because they thought it wouldn’t happen until it already did. But ahead of the rotation with Lapid, pressure will mount on Netanyahu to go.

A Likud primary could be held, and anything could happen. A new Likud leader, like Nir Barkat or Yuli Edelstein, who is not hated as much as Netanyahu by his former colleagues, could bring back New Hope and Yamina and form a stable, right-wing government.

The pace of Netanyahu’s criminal trial could also have an impact. But so far, it is moving extremely slowly.

Elections... again

The least likely scenario is that Israeli politicians prove Einstein’s theory of insanity yet again by doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again and expecting a different result.

It is much more likely that an upheaval would happen in the current Knesset without going back to the polls.

No current party wants elections, with the exception of the Religious Zionist Party, whose leaders believe they can double their support after Bennett betrayed the Right in the eyes of many of the prime minister’s voters. Likud MKs do not want elections, which would put their jobs in jeopardy, except for Netanyahu.

If a vote would be held to disperse the current Knesset and go to elections, don’t be surprised if more than one MK decides to avoid voting and try to hide.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/will-the-bennett-lapid-prime-minister-rotation-happen-675326

Poll: Public Prefers Netanyahu's Handling of COVID-19

1 Aug, 2021, No comments

Twice as many Israelis prefer how former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu handled corona as compared with those who prefer Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, according to a Channel 12 poll on Thursday night.

The poll found 43% preferred how Netanyahu dealt with corona, 21% prefer Bennett, and the rest said neither, the same, or declined to respond to the question.

Netanyahu criticized Bennett on Thursday for not bringing more vaccines to Israel sooner, and waiting too long to initiate a booster shot for the elderly.

“The government wasted dear time,” Netanyahu said. “I called on them to bring to Israel the vaccines that were ordered six weeks ago. For too many long weeks, they didn’t do anything. This is a blunder that will cost lives.”

Fifty-two percent said the government was handling the crisis poorly, while 39% said it was running it well. A poll taken for the television channel a month ago had opposite numbers.

Among those who fared poorly was Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope), who received an unfavorable rating from 49% of respondents and a positive grade from 34%.

New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar did not completely support Shasha-Biton in an interview on Thursday with KAN Radio.

“I don’t see eye to eye with her on everything,” he said. “We don’t have to agree on everything.”

Sources close to him said he was also critical of New Hope faction head Sharren Haskel, who brought her cannabis decriminalization bill to a vote on Wednesday, knowing that she did not have a majority and the bill would be defeated.

“She did it on her own,” a Sa’ar associate said. “He told her it was wrong.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/poll-public-prefers-netanyahu-handling-of-covid-19-675318

Cannabis Decriminalization Bill Fails to Get Knesset Majority

1 Aug, 2021, No comments

The coalition suffered a major defeat on Wednesday, when a draft bill to decriminalize the recreational use of up to 50 grams of cannabis for personal use and up to 15 seeds, while also reclassifying CBD as a food additive, failed to get a majority in the Knesset after the Ra’am Party decided to vote against the bill.

The bill’s failure to pass means that the coalition would have to wait another six months until it could attempt to bring it to the Knesset plenum for a vote again.

The bill, which was put forth by New Hope MK Sharren Haskel, lost with 52 votes in favor and 55 against, with the rest of the coalition voting in favor of the bill, and the entire opposition voting against, alongside Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am (United Arab List) Party.

The votes against the bill included the Likud Party, which had previously backed the bill, and whose MK Yoav Kisch even attempted to put forth for a vote a draft bill identical to Haskel’s earlier on Wednesday morning.

The Likud – after voting unanimously to block the bill that it had unanimously passed a little over one year ago – blamed the bill’s failure to pass on Ra’am, saying that the party’s leader, Mansour Abbas, was the “de facto prime minister.”

In a statement, Likud faction chairman Yariv Levin celebrated the law’s failure to pass, calling it a “great achievement for the opposition,” and saying that it will “do everything” to take down the new coalition, which he referred to as a “government of hate.”

Following the vote, Haskel blamed her former Likud Party colleagues for turning their backs on their duties to their electorate, saying that “just as when, in the previous Knesset, Yesh Atid decided to help and pass the bill from the opposition, it was appropriate for the Likud to mobilize for something they promised voters before the election.”

She continued, saying: “To the Likud members who are now certainly happy for this misfortune – because for you there is no greater joy than the joy of watching others’ misfortune – take a look at the eyes of your electorate, and explain to them why you helped continue to inflict injustice on more than a million citizens in Israel, and tens of thousands more medical cannabis patients, children sitting at home today with life-threatening seizures and no medicine because of you.

“In recent weeks,” Haskel said, “I have negotiated with you, you have been offered far-reaching proposals for cooperation on legislative issues and even roles chairing Knesset committees, but you have preferred personal political considerations over the public good and over a law that you yourselves believe is necessary.

“You achieved a small political victory, but you caused a great injustice,” Haskel concluded, adding that she plans to continue the fight for personal freedoms – especially those related to cannabis – by both parliamentary and non-parliamentary means.”

Sources in the coalition criticized Haskel for bringing the bill to a vote when she did not have a majority and making the coalition look bad. There will be an attempt to pass another cannabis bill that would legalize it completely.

PRIOR TO the defeat, the coalition managed to get a decisive win on Wednesday, when the Knesset voted 64 to 50 against a bill calling for the government to express its sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria.

The coalition of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett opposed the bill, which was sponsored by Likud MKs Miki Zohar and Shlomo Karhi. Karhi said the vote proved that Bennett’s government is “left-wing and bad.”

Abbas mocked Zohar, saying: “You also oppose the bill. You were in office for 12 years and did nothing about this.”

Also on Wednesday, three MKs submitted their candidacies to serve on the judicial selection committee which is set to select six supreme court judges over the next four years.

Labor MK Efrat Rayten will be the sole coalition candidate, while MKs Keren Barak (Likud), Orly Levy (Likud), Simcha Rotman (Religious Zionist Party), Orit Struck (Religiois Zionist Party) and Itamar Ben-Gvir (Religious Zionist Party) submitted their candidacies on behalf of the opposition.

There are two MKs on the committee, one from the coalition and one from the opposition. A vote will be held in the Knesset next week to select them.

There are also two ministers on the committee, who will be Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/cannabis-decriminalization-draft-bill-fails-to-get-knesset-majority-675182

90 Knesset Members Send Petition to Ben & Jerry's Opposing Boycott

1 Aug, 2021, No comments

Three-quarters of the Knesset, 90 MKs from across the political spectrum, sent a letter to Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever on Wednesday complaining about its decision to boycott Judea and Samaria.

The letter, initiated by MK Merav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid), was sent to the CEO of Unilever international, Alan Jope.

“This decision to boycott towns and cities in Israel, as well as the company’s attempt to force this boycott practice immediately on the Israeli manufacturer, is an immoral and regrettable decision that harms all residents of Judea and Samaria, as well as hundreds of Israeli workers, Jews and Arabs alike,” the MKs wrote in the letter.

The letter was signed by five Labor MKs, six Blue and White MKs and Yair Golan of Meretz. No Arab MKs signed it, but a Druze MK did. It says that the Ben & Jerry’s boycott violates the laws of the State of Israel.

“We urge you to rethink this decision and to amend this injustice,” the MKs wrote.

The leadership of the Israeli Ben & Jerry’s licensee, which vigorously opposes the boycott, wrote Ben-Ari thanking her and the other MKs for the letter.

“We at Ben & Jerry’s Israel will continue to sell throughout the country and to all Israelis!” Ben & Jerry’s Israel tweeted.

Golan and the five Labor MKs later rescinded their signatures, because Ben-Ari added a line about Judea and Samaria in the English version of the letter that was not in the Hebrew version they signed.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/90-members-of-knesset-send-petition-to-ben-and-jerrys-675134

Coalition Passes Amendment to Basic Law That Guarantees PM Rotation

1 Aug, 2021, No comments

Following a 27-hour filibuster, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s governing coalition succeeded in passing an amendment to Basic Law: The Government that guarantees a rotation in the Prime Minister's Office.

The law now sets August 27, 2023, as the date when Bennett will be replaced by Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, whose term is set to end on November 11, 2025.

The legislation sets rules to ensure parity between the right- and left-wing blocs in the coalition.

If the state budget does not pass or MKs rebel and vote to disperse the Knesset, the changeover can happen earlier. But in a display of trust, a clause that would make Lapid prime minister if Bennett tried to join a government led by another MK was removed.

The law also permits Bennett to appoint a second deputy in the Prime Minister’s Office in addition to Yamina MK Abir Kara. This clause is intended for Ra’am (United Arab List) leader Mansour Abbas, but he is not expected to take the post immediately.

The opposition boycotted the final votes on clauses and amendments to protest the coalition’s initiating an additional roll-call vote in a manner the opposition considered unfair. Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) said he had the right to add more roll-call votes as long as they were balanced.

Likud MK David Amsalem accused the coalition of “bullying.” Knesset Law and Constitution Committee chairman Gilad Kariv (Labor), whose committee legislated the bill, accused the opposition of “losing its marbles.”

The final reading of the bill passed by a vote of 61-2.

New Hope MK Zvi Hauser was released from Jerusalem’s Hadassah-University Medical Center in Ein Kerem just in time to participate in the votes. He was in the hospital for a week after suffering what he called “a mild neurological incident.”

On Wednesday, the coalition will bring to a vote the final readings of a bill that would change the makeup of the Rabbinical Judges Selection Committee. The bill fell two weeks ago after Levy mistakenly and voted against it.

It will only be decided at the last minute whether to bring to a vote the cannabis decriminalization bill that was postponed two weeks ago because it lacked a majority.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz is expected to delay his departure to France until he participates in both of those votes in an effort to pass the bills.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coalition-passes-amendment-to-basic-law-that-guarantees-pm-rotation-675061