Hebron Was Once Again A Center of Clashes, This Time Between Soldiers and Israeli Human Rights Activists: Two Israeli soldiers were filmed while aggressively assaulting Israeli human-rights activists who came to express their solidarity with the Palestinian residents of the Israeli controlled part of the Palestinian town Hebron. The activists wanted to pay a visit to the Palestinian families who were under a lot of pressure two weeks ago when tens of thousands of Jews were celebrating in the city. Some of them physically attacked Palestinians. While the activists were walking in the streets that are controlled by Israeli defense force soldiers, the soldiers wanted to limit their ability to go around them.
The soldiers then tried to push the activists away. An enraged soldier caught an activist, threw him to the ground, punched him with his fist and broke a bone in his face. Another soldier was caught on camera saying to the activists: “Your time has come, now Ben Gvir will show you what is going to happen.” He was referring to Itamar Ben Gvir, an extreme right-wing politician, a settler in Hebron, a Jewish supremacist supporter, who is destined to be the minister of national security.
Soon after, the IDF Chief of Staff decided to suspend the two soldiers from duty. One of them had already been sentenced in a military court to ten days in a military prison. The other is still waiting for the end of the investigation.
Meanwhile Itamar Ben-Gvir, who will soon be a minister, directly attacked the decision to suspend the soldiers and press charges against them. A public debate has developed between the Chief of Staff and the politician who demands that the soldiers be given unconditional support.
Hebron is considered to be one of the cities in which the tension between the Palestinian residents under occupation and the Jewish-Israeli settlers is very intense resulting in many clashes. This is the only city in which Jewish-Israeli settlers and Palestinians under occupation live together in the same place.
Some Progress in The Political Arena and in the Act of Assembling the New Government: Netanyahu reached an agreement with Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power, a faction of Religious Zionism party) and Itamar Ben Gvir. Ben Gvir will be the minister of national security, in charge of the police, the border police and other security agencies. His nomination has already resulted in many negative reactions in Israel and in the international community. Ben Gvir will also receive a few more ministries. Netanyahu has also reached agreement with another faction of the religious zionists party, Noam, and its leader Avi Maoz will be a deputy minister in charge of “Jewish Identity” and of the relations with civil society organizations. Maoz is known for his homophobic views and the LGBTQ community has already issued a statement, warning Netanyahu against changing the status quo regarding their civil rights.
The third faction in the Religious Zionists party is led by Bezalel Smotrich who will probably be Treasury Minister with power over and control of the Jewish-Israeli settlements mainly in the West Bank. He is also known for supporting Jewish supremacy and has many times expressed his anti-Arab views. The Religious Zionism party will also be given, among other portfolios, control of the Finance Ministry.
Netanyahu still has to finalize a deal with the two orthodox parties: Shas, which represents orthodox Sephardic Jews and Yahadut Hatora, which represents orthodox Ashkenazi Jews.
The first policy decision from the new government will be to enable Shas leader, Aryeh Deri to be a minister although he was convicted twice, once for bribery and breach of trust for which he was sentenced to prison for 22 months, and recently he was convicted for significant tax related and other offenses. In his plea deal he announced that he will resign from any public office. Now they will have to change the current law so he can be sworn into office as a minister. The current Basic Law on Government bars a convicted criminal from serving as a minister in the government.
The coalition assembly process has already resulted in a lot of criticism, especially for nominating such extremists to senior positions and for the plans to make dramatic changes to the legal system.
In an interview for the Bari Weiss podcast, Netanyahu promised not to turn Israel into a Talmudic state.
Screening of Jordanian Film Causes Public Uproar: Ministers of Finance and Culture call to defund a Jaffa Theatre over their intention to screen a Jordanian film at the “Al Saraya Theater” in Jaffa, which includes a 15-minutes scene of Israeli combatants killing a Palestinian family in 1948. Minister of Culture Hilik Trooper said “it is a disgrace that an Israeli (cultural) institution provides a platform for lies and libels”. Trooper also said that he has not watched the film, and his statement is based on “reports”. According to the media, the reports came from a right-wing organization that targets human rights activists and cultural institutions that provide a stage for Palestinian narratives and perspectives. In a letter to the minister of culture the organization wrote: “…the film is a quintessential blood libel against Israeli soldiers. The horrible massacre scene lasts 15 minutes and is central to the film’s plot, during which Israeli soldiers leave a baby to die”. Following Minister Trooper’s statement, minister of Finance Lieberman instructed his office to prepare to withdraw state funding from the theater over its intention to screen the film. “Farha”, a debut by Jordanian filmmaker Darin Sallam.
The film is scheduled to be released on the Netflix streaming service this week and was featured in several film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival. The director told the media that the film is based on the story of a young Palestinian girl whose family locked her in the basement of their home to protect her life during the 1948 war.
In protest against Netflix’s intention to feature the film, Israeli influencers cancelled their subscriptions and posted the confirmation of their cancellation notices on social media.
Road Rage Perpetrator Confesses to Murder of 52-year-old Hospital Employee: 22-year-old Adi Mizrahi stabbed Yuri Volkov, an employee of a major Tel-Aviv medical center, after a brief altercation at a crossroads in Holon, near Tel Aviv. Mizrahi, a scooter driver, cut off the victim’s wife while crossing at a red light leading to an argument. Mizrachi then stabbed Volkov who collapsed at the scene and died at a nearby hospital shortly after an MDA team arrived at the scene and tried to resuscitate him. The stabber fled the scene on his scooter but was later arrested by the police. The victim’s family demanded he be charged with murder, not negligent homicide, the initial charge.
The road rage killing caused a public uproar, as cases of road violence are on the rise in Israel. Hundreds attended Volkov’s funeral, including the soon to be Minister of National Security, and Prof. Gamzo, former Corona Czar, and Executive Director of Saurasky Medical Center, Volkov’s place of employment.
Court Hearing of Mutual Lawsuits Between Former MK and Son of Future PM Netanyahu Commenced: Former MK Stav Shafir (Labor and Democratic Union Party) filed a defamation lawsuit against then PM’s son, Yair Netanyahu, over disparaging and “sexually degrading” tweets published in April 2020, during the Passover COVID-19 lockdown. Yair Netanyahu also filed a defamation lawsuit over Shafir’s Twitter replies. Both are seeking damages. The toxic exchange started when Shafir posted a tweet, criticizing then PM Netanyahu for breaching lockdown regulations and hosting his other son, who was living at the PM residence at the time. Yair Netanyahu, posted a reply, alleging to Shafir’s political alliance with Ehud Barak: "Are you sure you want to talk about morality in light of the failed project you tried to establish with a pedophile enthusiast and regular visitor to Epstein's pedophile island? Ugly outside and inside. Find yourself an Arab husband who will not dump you, go to some village, convert to Islam and leave us alone."
Just last week, the supreme court rejected Yair Netanyahu’s appeal to overturn a lower court ruling in another defamation lawsuit against him, by former editor of a major news website, which stipulated damages of more than $100,000.
Yair Netanyahu was removed from the courtroom by the presiding judge for disrupting the hearing and making comments about Shafir’s financial wealth, following her recent marriage to the son of millionaire and amateur space pilot Eitan Stiva. The media reported that Yair Netanyahu’s behavior in the courtroom was disrespectful and that he cursed Shafir before leaving the courtroom.
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