Haredim

37 Israeli ‘Top Guns’ Boycott Training to Protest Gutting of Courts; Most El Al Pilots decline to fly PM to Italy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli Air Force, like its other armed forces, heavily depends on reservists. That was why Egypt was able to surprise Israel in the 1973 War, which they launched on the holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when reservists were with their families. The reservists are required […]

Featured

250,000 Israelis Rally against Netanyahu, Warn of Dictatorship and ‘No Liberty in an Occupation State’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – WAFA reports that on Saturday evening some 250,000 Israelis are estimated to have come out in numerous cities to protest plans of the government of Binyamin Netanyahu to gut the judiciary. It is the ninth week in a row that rallies have been held, and they appear to be growing […]

Haredim

Israel enters a dangerous period – public protests swell over Netanyahu’s plan to limit the power of the Israeli Supreme Court

The Conversation

By Dov Waxman, University of California, Los Angeles | – (The Conversation) – Proposals by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government to radically diminish the power and independence of Israel’s judiciary sparked demonstrations across the country starting in January 2023. An estimated 200,000 Israelis took part in protests on Feb. 11 and another 100,000 in […]

Far Right

Having brought in Disruptive Israeli Extremists, Can Netanyahu’s Government Survive?

Middle East Monitor

By Motasem A Dalloul | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Before it was formed, the new far-right Israeli government coalition has been plagued with disputes and disagreements, despite the fact that all of its members are from the right-wing parties and all of them, at least, share the same principles, although each Party […]

Far Right

Israel’s Netanyahu Crumbles before Supreme Court demand he Fire Corrupt Minister, as AG considers Banning Netanyahu Too

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Carrie Keller-Lynn at The Times of Israel reports that at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was forced to fire his minister of health and the Interior, Aryeh Makhlouf Deri, who heads up the ultra-right-wing Shas Party. The move was forced on Netanyahu by Israel’s Supreme Court, which holds Deri […]

Haredim

Israel’s new hard-line Government has made Headlines – the bigger demographic Changes that caused it, not so much

The Conversation

By Michael Brenner, American University | – Israel’s new goverment is the most right-wing and religious leadership the country has had in the 75 years of its existence, as many observers have pointed out. And this style of leadership may last because it represents the next generation of Israelis. You don’t have to look far […]

Featured

Israel Plunged into Constitutional Crisis as Supreme Court Orders Corrupt Netanyahu Cabinet Minister to Step Down and He Refuses

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel has entered a profound constitutional crisis, after the country’s Supreme Court insisted that Shas Party leader Aryeh Makhlouf Deri, a Moroccan-Israeli, not be seated as a cabinet minister in the just-formed government of Binyamin Netanyahu because he committed crimes involving moral turpitude. Dubai-based al-Arabiyyah reports that Deri and Netanyahu […]

Donald Trump

Is Israel’s Netanyahu even worse than Trump?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – The parallel trajectories of far-far right politicians accruing more power in the US and Israel is striking. Elements include similar motivations, policy actors, agenda and attempts to subvert democracy. But the dynamics differ with the roles of the two nations’ judicial systems. Far-far right wingers in Israel feel […]

Featured

Israeli Opposition Warns of “Civil War,” “End of Democracy” as 80,000 Rally against Netanyahu

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Palestinian newspaper Amad reports that tens of thousands of Israelis took part on Saturday evening in demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa protesting the new Israeli government, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu. The Hebrew press reported a massive police presence at these sites. The Israeli center-right is finding out […]