Israel Weekly News Roundup - June 28, 2024
Five things you need to know
Israel at War - Day 266
1. Israel Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant Tries to Reconcile Disputes With USA While US Makes Efforts to Avoid Regional War
Yoav Gallant, Israel's minister of defense met with senior officials in Washington DC this week in an attempt to calm the heated dispute between Israel's PM, Netanyahu, and the Biden Administration. Gallant met with US defense secretary Loyd Austin who promised that the US would stand by and support Israel with their security challenges, including the already tense situation with Hizbollah in Lebanon. His visit comes in the context of the short video that PM Netanyahu posted last week, in which he accused the Biden administration of preventing shipments of ammunition to Israel. That video exacerbated the dispute between the two leaders, President Biden and PM Netanyahu. President Biden accused PM Netanyahu of jeopardizing the hostage deal, and that his policy endangers the hostages.
During Gallant’s visit, the US expressed deep concern over the already very heated situation between Israel and Hizbollah and especially emphasized the fear that a regional war would drag the US in. The US is investigating numerous efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement between the parties that will avoid war, restore security to the northern border of Israel, and allow the displaced communities to return home and feel safe.
The dispute between Israel and the US was not resolved. PM Netanyahu continues to argue that the US is holding back military support, while the US argues that all shipments were sent to the Middle East, except for one weapons shipment, which included 1,800 2,000-lb. bombs and 1,700 500-lb. bombs.
Meanwhile, it was exposed that Hizbollah is stockpiling tons of ammunition at Beirut International Airport. Hizbollah denies that accusation. A few countries called for their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country in fear of a coming war, Germany, Canada, Macedonia, and the Netherlands. The US warned its citizens against travel to Lebanon.
The Financial Times in the UK reported that Israel has already created a safe zone inside southern Lebanon, in an attempt to distance Hizbollah forces away from the border with Israel, deeper into Lebanon.
2. PM Netanyahu Puts Hostage Deal in Jeopardy
For months PM Netanyahu avoided any interviews in Hebrew with Israeli media outlets. This week he broke his silence and granted his first interview to what is considered to be his most supportive outlet, TV Channel 14. In an almost one-hour live studio interview, PM Netanyahu addressed the burning issue of the hostage deal. 120 Israeli hostages are still held captive by Hamas in Gaza since October 7th. The terms of the deal were revealed by President Biden a few weeks ago and included two phases in general. The first phase includes the humanitarian release of women, the elderly, and ill hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. The second phase includes all the remaining hostages: men, dead bodies, and in return the end of the war and the withdrawal of Israeli military forces back to Israeli territory. PM Netanyahu indicated that he would agree only to the first phase and that he would not agree to end the war and withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is eliminated and Israel reaches a total victory. The announcement shook the families of the hostages. A day later PM Netanyahu had to explain himself. In a speech at the Knesset, he stressed that he is dedicated to the release of all hostages, alive and dead.
In addition, the PM's wife, Ms. Sara Netanyahu was recorded as saying in a meeting with a few families of the hostages, that she is sure that the army chief of staff is conspiring against her husband, PM Netanyahu.
Earlier this week, Hamas released a short video depicting the kidnapping of three of the hostages from the Nova music festival on October 7th. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eliya Cohen, and Or Levy are shown as wounded, being dragged to a pick-up truck and taken to Gaza. Their families agreed to distribute the footage, to raise awareness of their son's situation worldwide among more people.
Meanwhile the military campaign in Gaza continues. In an attack in southern Gaza, it was reported that the sister of Ismail Haniyeh, one of Hamas's most senior leaders, was killed together with nine other family members. Haniye had already lost his children in previous attacks in Gaza.
3. High Court in Dramatic Ruling: Military Must Draft Ultra-Orthodox Men
Earlier this week, a bench of nine Supreme Court justices ruled unanimously that the temporary order exempting Ultra-Orthodox men from military service was illegal and that the Israeli military must begin drafting them for compulsory service. The ruling also stipulates that the state should cut public funding to Ultra-Orthodox yeshivot (Ultra-Orthodox institutions of religious studies) whose students are not exempt from military service. Currently the state pays a living stipend to every student of approximately US $380 a month.
This ruling may well put an end to a decades-old system that discriminated between ultra-Orthodox men, who were broadly exempt from military service, and secular and non-Haredi Israeli men and women who are subject to conscription. The public debate and rift over the broad exemption for Haredi men was exacerbated during the ongoing war in Gaza and the ensuing tensions on the northern border, as IDF senior officers repeatedly warned that the military needs additional recruits and the burden on those serving in mandatory and reserve service has become even heavier.
Haredi lawmakers and ministers responded to the ruling with open anger, saying that the ruling will not change the decades-long tradition of Torah learning. An Ultra-Orthodox minister said it will “lead to two states, one is the state that is run as is, and another state in which the yeshiva students will continue to study Torah, as they used to do in the state that Ben-Gurion declared”, referring to the historical agreement between Israel’s first Prime Minister Ben Gurion and the Haredi parties. Haredi media outlets said that the court ruling is “a sword over the Torah study hall”. Haredi men demonstrated and blocked a main highway protesting the courts decision.
Analysts claim that the ruling could lead to the collapse of PM Netanyahu’s far-right governing coalition. PM Netanyahu himself said, in response to the court’s landmark ruling that “it’s absurd what the High Court, which has refrained for 76 years to use a ruling to enforce the enlistment of yeshiva students, is doing right now – when the government is on the eve of completing a historic enlistment law.”
4. Sharp Rise in West Nile Virus Infections
This summer has seen a spike in the number of people infected with West Nile Fever as compared to the last year. According to the Ministry of Health, two women in their eighties died from the virus last weekend, seventeen people were hospitalized and more than thirty-two, as compared to six last year, were diagnosed as infected.
The deasease is transmitted by female mosquitos and has no specific treatment. Elderly people are more likely to develop severe symptoms.
5. Biden-Trump Debate Sparks Interest in Israeli Media
Israeli media, and the public, are closely following the presidential election campaign in the U.S, especially since the Israel-Hamas war and the rising tensions between pro-Palestinians and pro-Israelis in campuses around the US became such a centerpiece of the public debates between the two candidates.
The interest is further enhanced by PM Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the U.S. and his scheduled speech to Congress in July. The Israeli media has extensively covered the tensions between President Biden and PM Netanyahu, especially in recent weeks, over arms shipments and military aid from the U.S. to Israel. PM Netanyahu and his supporters demonstrated support for Trump. Major media outlets in Israel showed the first presidential debate late Thursday night in a live broadcast.
To our readers: Please note that we embed links to further details/articles behind the summaries for each item. You can see the links by their blue color and, if you are interested in further details, you can click on the link to access the relevant article/s.