“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Netanyahu fires Aryeh Deri 'with a heavy heart'

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Shas chairman Aryeh Deri as Interior and Health Minister Sunday afternoon, four days after Deri was disqualified from serving as a minister by the Supreme Court.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu read the dismissal letter: "As you know, I decided to appoint you as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Health with the approval of the majority of Knesset members due to the fact that I see you as an anchor of experience, wisdom and responsibility that are important to the State of Israel at all times, and especially at this time."

"Yes, I thought it was important for you to serve the State of Israel as a member of the security-political cabinet in my government, where you could influence your many years of experience as a cabinet member in the governments of the late Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin - you rich experience that contributes to the security and resilience of the State of Israel.

"Unfortunately, despite the above, on 18.1.23 the Supreme Court decided ... that I have an obligation to remove you from your position as Minister of the Interior and Health. This unfortunate decision ignores the will of the people, as reflected in the great trust that the public gave to the representatives of the people and their elected officials in my government, when it was clear to everyone that you would serve in the government as a senior minister.

Is Netanyahu seeking to bring Lapid, Gantz into government ?

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to bring either the Yesh Atid or National Unity parties into his government, a senior political official told Ynet.

According to the official, Netanyahu has not reined in the 'extremists' in his government in order to create the condition for Yair Lapid or Benny Gantz to join the government in the next few months to serve as a counterbalance to the far right.

According to the source, Netanyahu is expected to tell Lapid or Gantz to work with him to restore 'sanity' to the political scene.

The Religious Zionism party is threatening to boycott votes in the Knesset tomorrow in addition to the Cabinet meeting today in protest against the government's dismantling of an outpost erected in memory of Rabbi Chaim Druckman.

Reshet Bet reported that the party has accused Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is preventing the transfer of powers to Religious Zionism party chairman Bezalel Smotrich, including the establishment of the administration that is supposed to nationalize the Civil Administration.

Religious Zionism party officials even issued a threat to Likud members and stated that "if there is no progress in resolving the crisis, we will consider absenting ourselves from the Knesset votes on Monday."

This morning (Sunday) party ministers will be absent from the cabinet meeting in protest of what they called "the violation of the coalition agreement to evacuate the Or Haim outpost on Friday without coordination and contrary to Smotrich's directive to the civil administration."

Chareidie Jews in England Shout "Free Palestine" and "Down with the Terrorist State"

 




Wall Street Journal Says that Israel Needs Judicial Reform Says "Supreme Court the way its now Is ‘Threat To Democracy’ In answer to Thomas Friedman

 


After New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman called Tuesday for President Biden to intervene in Israel’s judicial reforms, claiming that they will negatively impact US regional security concerns, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial supporting exactly those reforms.

The article explained that “Israel’s Supreme Court has more power than America’s but without the democratic checks. Unbound by any constitution, and loosed from requirements of standing and justiciability, Israel’s court strikes down laws that it finds merely ‘unreasonable’ which can cover most anything. Israel’s court even has a veto on the appointment of new justices, in contrast to the U.S. where the President and Senate share the appointment power.”

The paper cited the example of the court’s revoking Deri’s appointment as minister, despite the fact that no law was cited to keep him out of the government. The tendentious claim that the appointment was “unreasonable in the extreme” was an attempt to deprive voters of their democratic rights. The article conceded that “the court may be making the sounder judgment on character, but in a democracy that decision is left to voters and the politicians they elect. By vetoing the appointment anyway, the court interferes with the power of the people to pick their leaders, via a legislature that makes the law and an executive who fills out the cabinet.”

The paper concluded that “with this action, the court has provided clear evidence of its overreach, making the best argument for the Israeli right’s judicial reforms.”

The article also cited the fear that the court “will next reject as unreasonable any reforms to the court itself,” and this could lead to a constitutional crisis in Israel but stressed that Israeli democracy is “resilient” and would know how to attenuate the court’s overweening power.

Friday, January 20, 2023

Zera Shimshon Parshas Ve'Eirah

 


The unhinged reaction to the new Israeli government

 


The unhinged reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government represents a crisis for the Jewish people both in Israel and in the Diaspora.

This crisis is not principally over the divisions that have obviously opened up within the Jewish world. It is over the fact that so many Israelis and Diaspora Jews have now shown that they have only the shallowest understanding of what being the Jewish people actually means.

The histrionics of this reaction defy belief. Words and phrases like “criminal,” “authoritarian,” “morally corrupt” and “fascist” are being bandied about to describe the new government, even though it has done nothing criminal, authoritarian, corrupt or fascist. Indeed, it has hardly done anything at all yet, since it only came into existence three weeks ago.

One of the most imbecilic poses being struck, by no less than former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, among others, is telling the public to overturn the government to save Israeli democracy. But the only people threatening democracy are those inciting civil war to overturn a government that has been democratically elected by the people.

Boruch Taub and Binyamin Chafetz both residents of Cleveland, tragically killed in plane crash near the Westchester County Airport

 

The Jewish community in Cleveland was plunged into mourning Thursday night as word spread of a horrific tragedy which took the lives of two of its well-known Baalei Chesed.

Boruch Taub Z”L and Binyamin Chafetz Z”L, both residents of Cleveland, were tragically killed in a plane crash near the Westchester County Airport

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a Beechcraft A36 being piloted by Boruch Taub Z”L reported engine troubles at about 5:25pm local time when it was about one mile from the Westchester County Airport. A call was then made to report low oil pressure and an emergency was declared a few minutes later. A “MAYDAY” was heard over air traffic control minutes later, after which no contact was made with the aircraft.

The plane had departed from JFK Airport to Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio and had diverted to Westchester County Airport to attempt an emergency landing, but sadly never made it there.

Search and rescue teams combed the area for hours, locating the wreckage just before 11:00pm. Sources say that the plane was found in the trees on a small island on a reservoir just near Westchester County Airport.

Misaskim and Rockland Chaveirim were on the scene around an hour after the incident, and are working closely with NTSB and other Federal, State and Local authorities to ensure proper Kavod Hames.