Israel Weekly News Roundup, July 7 2023
5 Things you need to know
More Than Ten Palestinians and One Israeli Soldier Were Killed During an Intense Military Operation in Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank: Israeli military forces entered Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank early Monday morning, targeting terrorist sites in the camp. The Israeli army was equipped with a D9 bulldozer that dug up the main street of the camp to look for mines and other explosives. Many residents of the camp fled their homes, and were accompanied by IDF soldiers. The Palestinian operators went into hiding. The military operation lasted 48 hours, and on the way back out of the camp, an Israeli soldier was killed, most probably by another Israeli unit (“friendly fire”).
PM Netanyahu decided to start this military operation without the cabinet, and consulted only with the minister of defense, and heads of security agencies.
A few weeks ago, after a terrorist attack executed by a Palestinian which killed Israelis, the extreme right-wing party, Otsma Yehudit (Jewish Power) led by Itamar Ben Gvir, called on PM Netanyahu to initiate a major military operation in the Jenin refugee camp. PM Netanyahu denied that this was the trigger for the operation.
All security analysts agree that this operation, massive as it was, will neither eliminate the will nor the ability of the Palestinians to keep on fighting against the occupation and execute other terrorists attacks in the future.
It is important to say in this context that Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, was not involved, and apart from one rocket that was shot toward southern Israel, they were out of the picture.
An Israeli Citizen, Elizabeth Tsurkov, was Kidnapped by an Extremist Militia Group in Iraq: Tsurkov is a Ph.d student at Princeton University in the US, and is an expert on Syria and Islamic militias in the Middle East. She was conducting field research for her dissertation, and often goes to the area, using her Russian passport. She speaks fluent Arabic, and is considered brilliant and knowledgeable.
She was kidnapped, probably on March 26, by a group that is affiliated with Iran. The Israelis knew about the kidnapping, but concealed it from the public with military censorship and a gag order. It was published on Wednesday due to the fact that a foreign news site published the story. Israeli officials announced that they know she is alive and they will do all they can to free her.
Tsurkov has severely criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it is unlikely that Russia will make an effort to help in her release. On the other hand she is known as a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, and in the past she worked at Gisha, a pro-Palestinian organization that helps residents of Gaza to move out of there for all kinds of reasons.
Escalation in the Protest Against the Judicial Coup: Wednesday night tens of thousands of people blocked one of Israeli most heavily used highways, the Ayalon, in Tel Aviv for five hours. This demonstration was a spontaneous call that brought tens of thousands of people out to the streets all over the country. The main demonstration was in Tel Aviv. The immediate cause was the dismissal of the Tel Aviv district chief of police, by the minister of national security Itamar Ben Gvir. Ben Gvir, the head of the extremist party Otsma Yehudit (Jewish Power) did not like the fact that the police contain the demonstrations in Tel Aviv and don’t use force to disperse the people. It is important to say that the demonstrations against the judicial coup are not violent at all.
On Thursday evening, thousands of protesters were demonstrating in front of the homes of elected personalities from the coalition. Some were detained by police, who treated the demonstrators with violence.
Earlier this week, tens of thousands of demonstrators packed Ben Gurion international airport, causing chaos in the area. But all flights departed as usual, although there was a lot of inconvenience to the travelers.
Meanwhile, PM Netanyahu’s coalition is advancing bills that target the core of democracy in Israel.
Terror Attack in Tel Aviv: eight people were wounded in a stabbing and ramming terror attack in Tel Aviv earlier this week. Two women who were severely wounded are still sedated and intubated, and one of them, who was pregnant, lost her baby. The attacker, a 20-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank who was working in Israel illegally, was shot and killed on the scene by a civilian.
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir (Jewish Power) visited the scene of the attack, praised the civilian passerby who shot and killed the attacker and told the media that the case justifies his call for more civilians to carry firearms. Opposition leaders condemned the attack, and joined in the praise for the armed passerby who shot the attacker.
While according to security sources the attacker did not have a previous record of involvement in terror, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassemi claimed that he was indeed a member of the organization and praised the attack, saying that "The heroic attack in Tel Aviv is the first response to the occupation's crimes."
Another Israeli citizen was killed in a Palestinian terrorist attack in the northern West Bank on Thursday afternoon.
Coalition Accelerates Judicial Overhaul Legislation Before End of Knesset Summer Session: with three weeks left before the the current Knesset session recesses till fall, the coalition is pushing to advance several bills and amendments. First, the highly controversial repeal of the “reasonableness test”, designed to protect government decisions from judicial review and scrutiny. The proposed legislation was approved by the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee after several heated discussions over the past nine days. It is scheduled to come up for three readings at the Knesset plenum early next week. Members of the opposition harshly criticized the committee chair, MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) and called him a ‘dictator’, for fiercely pushing to advance the hardline version of the law to repeal the reasonableness test and for ignoring expert opinions.
Second, after suffering a bitter defeat in the election for Chair of the Israeli Bar Association, the coalition is determined to present a bill designed to dissolve the current bar association and establish a “lawyers council” appointed by politicians, rather than democratically elected by members of the bar.
And finally, the media reported that several ministers and members of the coalition are seeking to promote legislation that would make it virtually impossible for future governments to overturn judicial overhaul laws. This, by raising the threshold for the number of votes required to repeal these laws.
For further reading:
Elizabeth Tsurkov: Here, here, here
Protest: Here, here, here, here
Terror Attack: Here, here, here, here