Your Weekly Israel News Roundup, July 14, 2023
5 things you need to know
PA Chair Abbas Visits Jenin for the First Time Since 2012: PA Chair Mahmoud Abbas visited Jenin refugee camp for the first time in over a decade, in an attempt to fortify his leadership against the rise of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Abbas and his delegation arrived in Jenin in two Jordanian helicopters. Abbas visited the Jenin cemetery where casualties of the recent IDF operation in Jenin are buried and met with representatives of bereaved families.
Thousands of Jenin residents took to the streets to welcome Abbas, accompanied by a heavy guard. Abbas said that Jenin was “an icon of struggle and steadfastness.” In his public address, Abbas said: “Jenin refugee camp stood firm in the face of aggression and made sacrifices for the sake of the homeland. We did not and will not forget the Nablus camps, all the camps in the homeland, and Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian people. Today we came to Jenin to continue rebuilding the camp. We will not accept aggression from anyone, and we will remain steadfast and patient”.
In his address, Abbas also sent a message to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, saying: “the hand that dares to undermine the unity of our people will be uprooted”.
Analysts claim that Abbas received a mostly warm welcome at Jenin due to the diligent work of the PA’s security forces in the refugee camp.
Another Week of Tension Between Israel and the US Administration: President Biden used harsh language in criticizing Israel’s government, over the advancement of the Judicial overhaul and over Israel’s actions in the West Bank. In an interview with CNN earlier this week, President Joe Biden said that Israel’s current government is one of the most extreme in fifty years. This was in response to a question as to why PM Netanyahu has not yet been invited to the White House. The current Israeli government’s extremism has also negatively influenced the normalizing of relationships between Israel and Saudi Arabia according to US senior officials.
This is not the first time President Biden has spoken out publicly against the far-right hard line of Israel’s current government. Yet, according to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, reassessment of U.S.-Israel ties at this point is 'Inevitable'. Friedman also wrote that the U.S. is now forced to confront the 'farce' of the judicial overhaul as Israel barrels towards the destruction of the two-state solution and the loss of U.S. support.
Friedman’s article was widely cited by Israeli media outlets while senior Israeli officials attempted to downplay Friedman’s claim, and said that US-Israel ties remain as strong as ever. Senior American officials said that while no formal process of reassessment is underway, Washington is ‘worried.’Bill to Abolish ‘Reasonableness Test” of Government Decisions Passes First Reading: the bill has yet to pass second and third readings in the Knesset plenum to become law. Should the bill pass in its current form, it will bar judicial review and criticism of politicians’ decisions, including the appointment of senior officials.
Also, this week, the Knesset elected the coalition’s representative to the judicial selection committee. In a closed-door vote, the Knesset elected far-right member of Knesset MK Yitzhak Kroizer of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) to serve on the committee, alongside lawmaker Karine Elharrar from the opposition’s Yesh Atid party.
Analysts claim that Minister of Justice Yariv Levin has no intention of convening the judicial selection committee any time soon, despite the urgent need to appoint new judges in all courts, including the supreme court. Yair Lapid, Chair of the Yesh Atid party sent a letter to PM Netanyahu and Minister of Justice Levin, demanding that the committee be convened within a fortnight, or else he will appeal to the supreme court. Civil society organizations are also likely to petition the supreme court should the minister of justice refuses to convene the committee.
Protests Erupt in Multiple Locations in Response to Accelerated Legislation: tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Tuesday, to protest the passage of the bill to abolish the “reasonableness test” in its first reading earlier this week in the Knesset. Protests started early in the morning and continued well into the night in multiple locations from North to South, including Acre, Be’er-Sheva, the Kaplan area in Tel Aviv, the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, and Ben Gurion International Airport.
120 people were detained by police during the demonstrations; most of them were released the same day after being brought in front of a circuit court judge, while thirty of them spent the night in custody.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai rejected claims that police forces used excessive force or measures against protestors. At least three protesters were injured and taken to hospital after clashes with police in Tel Aviv.
Protests continued in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem ans Cesaerea on Thursday, and the protest organizers announced that this coming Monday will also be a day of national resistance and disruption.
Coalition Promotes Legislation Designed to Curb Independence of the Authority for the Advancement of Status of Women: The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved for a preliminary reading in the Knesset a bill that aims to reorganize the official national authority for advancing gender equality. The bill, proposed by far-right Otzma Yehudit party MK Limor Son Har-Melech, stipulates the replacement of the current Authority for the Advancement of Women with a new one, directly under the minister for the advancement of the status of woman, currently Likud’s May Golan.
Members of the opposition and leading women’s rights groups criticized the bill and warned that it would curb the independent and professional operation of the current authority and instead create one subject to the political whims of the current ruling coalition.
Also, this week, the Commissioner of Civil Service, responsible for the employment policies of Israel’s public sector announced that the commission will forego the use of gender inclusive language in all public tenders and will resume the use of masculine singular form, while stating that tenders are open to both men and women. Women’s rights advocates and members of the Knesset said in response that the commissioner’s decision is taking Israel backwards as far as gender equality is concerned.
Labor party leader Merav Michaeli, a leading proponent of gender equality in the Knesset, said, “This is exactly how the exclusion of over 50% of the population looks.”
For further reading:
US-Israel: Here, here, here, here