Israel Weekly News Roundup Sep. 1 2023
5 Things you need to know
1. Security Situation Tense as Talk of Normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel Unfolds
One soldier was killed, and eleven soldiers and civilians injured in three separate attacks: a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s light train, a truck ramming attack at Maccabim check point near the city of Modi’in, and an improvised explosive device near Joseph’s tomb in Nablus, the West Bank.
PM Netanyahu convened a security briefing meeting considering the recent attacks.
The escalation of violence in an already highly tense period, comes together with media reports of possible progress in efforts to normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, brokered by the Biden administration. The media reported that Saudi Arabia is to renew funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA), frozen in 2016, due to allegations of corruption. Renewed funding is designed to gain public support for normalization among pro-Palestinian Saudis, as well as from the PA President, Mahmoud Abbass.
Earlier this week, an Air Seychelles flight en route to Ben Gurion airport, with many Israeli passengers on board, made an emergency stop at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia, due to a technical failure. The Israeli foreign ministry was in touch with the passengers who spent the night in Jeddah, until a replacement plane arrived the following morning. The Israeli passengers said they were treated warmly by the Saudis
2. A Diplomatic Blunder Resulted in a Threat to the Life of the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs
Earlier this week, Israel minister of foreign affairs, Elli Cohen, publicized that he had an historic meeting with the Libyan minister of foreign affairs in Italy. That announcement caused a domino effect. The Libyan minister Najla Mangoush, had to flee Libya and found refuge in Turkey. Thousands of Libyans protested all over the country, accusing her of treason, claiming that a meeting with a representative of the “Zionist Entity” (as Israel is called by its’ enemies) is a betrayal of the Palestinian cause, and that she should be punished.
The meeting between the two ministers took place in Italy, and was known to the prime minister of Libya, and the PM of Israel. But the fact that the Israeli minister publicized the meeting caused the chain negative effect and put Najla Mangoush’s life in jeopardy. It is not clear whether PM Netanyahu knew that the minister of foreign affairs was going to publicize the meeting. It is important to say that there are no diplomatic relations between Libya and Israel.
3. School Year to Start:
More than 2.5 million toddlers, children and youth will begin the country wide school year after a two-month summer vacation. This includes pre-school, elementary, junior-high and high-school frameworks. The threat of a strike in high schools was removed at the last minute, as the ministry of finance and the teachers’ organization reached an agreement to increase teachers’ salaries by ₪2,000 (US$526), in return for a commitment to refrain from making additional claims for six and a half years.
64% of the school pupils, including Jewish secular and traditional students, and Arab students, will attend state public state schools, fifteen percent of the pupils will attend public religious schools and another fifteen percent will attend Haredi schools. According to the media, although most of the pupils attend non-religious public schools, these frameworks are underfunded in comparison with religious Orthodox public schools and recognized and informal Haredi ones. Religious schools enjoy additional funding for gender-segregated classes and religious studies, while secular schools are often overcrowded, and teachers are under scrutiny for addressing political controversial issues in class.
As anti-judicial overhaul protests continue, parents, educators and principals in public education are organizing to reclaim the autonomy of secular public education and end discrimination in government allocations.
4. A Direct Threat to the Independence of the Supreme Court
One of the Supreme Court judges, Yosef Elron, announced that he sees himself as a candidate for chief justice, when the current chief justice, Esther Hyatt, retires at the end of October this year. According to Israeli labor law, judges retire at the age of 70. The tradition in Israel is that the most senior judge becomes chief justice when the previous one retires. That mechanism prevents judges from running a political campaign among politicians who are members of the committee to nominate judges. The composition of that committee is at the center of the judicial overhaul, led by minister of justice, Yariv Levin. Levin is trying to promote legislation that will give the coalition full control over the committee and enable them to nominate only judges that align with their right-wing ideology. Nominations of judges in Israel is historically apolitical. The current seniority mechanism prevents making the decision political, and has been the tradition for chief justices to be nominated since the state was established 75 years ago.
The declaration from justice Elron, may change the game.
The committee to nominate judges has not been convened by the minister of justice, who refuses to convene the committee with its current composition. Levin also doesn’t want the current senior Justice to become the chief justice based on seniority because he is considered a liberal.
This may create a real threat to the independence of the court.
5. Cost of Living in Israel is the Highest among OECD Countries:
The cost of living in Israel was one of the the top issues in the general election campaign, back in November last year, led by now PM Netanyahu, his party Likud and his parter parties in the right-wing and extreme right-wing camp. All of them accused the previous government of responsibility for the high cost of living, but since they were elected and established their government led by PM Netanyahu, the cost of living spiked even higher. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, representing the most economically developed countries in the world, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
For Further Reading:
Supreme Court: Here, here, here
Israel & Libya: Here, here, here