ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 424
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
WASHINGTON — Standing alongside a visiting President Isaac Herzog, US Vice President Kamala Harris announces a new joint five-year initiative between the US and Israel in which each country will invest up to $35 million “to support climate-smart agriculture through innovative technologies and improved capture, storage, use, and protection of critical water resources in the Middle East and Africa.
“This investment in innovative solutions for sustainable food production and water use augments existing cooperation between our two countries and will help build resilient food systems and address the climate crisis around the globe,” she says.
“Options for impact programming will potentially include employing these technologies alongside partners, such as Negev Forum and I2U2 participants, bringing existing technologies or techniques to scale, expanding access to certain tech tools or apps, and/or investing in training, technical assistance, and education,” a White House official said earlier.
Harris makes the comments in front of reporters ahead of her private meeting with Herzog.
The White House official said that Harris will raise in her meeting with Herzog “the climate crisis and food security, the threats posed by Iran, Israel’s normalization with countries in the region, Palestinian issues including security in the West Bank, combatting antisemitism and strengthening our democracies and democratic institutions.”
In his subsequent remarks, Herzog recalls hosting Harris in Israel when she was a US senator and predicting that she would rise the ranks in US politics.
“I’m so happy I was right,” says a smiling Herzog.
“I am too,” Harris quips in return.
The Israeli president thanks Harris and her husband Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff for their efforts to combat antisemitism.
He adds that “Israel’s hand is extended and our hearts are open to any partner in peace near and far.”
Herzog emphasizes his support for regional and global cooperation to combat climate change, noting his own efforts to bring Israelis from across the political spectrum together to address the phenomenon.
In his meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna in Paris, Eli Cohen asks France to help prevent a dangerous escalation on the Lebanon border that could lead to war.
He also asks France — a permanent member of the UN Security Council — to use the September IAEA boards of governor’s meeting to punish Iran for advances in its nuclear program.
“France is a strategic ally for Israel, which can play a central role in expanding the Abraham Accords and bringing new countries in Africa and the Middle East into the circle of peace,” says Cohen in a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
The Likud party rejects National Unity leader Benny Gantz’s framework for renewing talks over the judicial overhaul.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party blames Gantz for the failure of the last round of judicial negotiations, and dismisses his terms for resuming them under President Isaac Herzog’s auspices.
“We expected to hear a serious offer. Unfortunately we received another dictate. If Gantz seriously wants dialogue and compromise, he’s invited to the Prime Minister’s Office this evening,” the party says in a statement.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay in Paris, and asks her to help protect Jewish sites in the West Bank.
“Jewish heritage sites in Judea and Samaria are being damaged and desecrated, and UNESCO, responsible for preserving heritage sites around the entire world, must act to prevent harm to sites that represent the history of the Jewish people,” says Cohen in a statement.
Cohen also asks Azoulay to cooperate in protecting Jewish sites around the world, and in fighting antisemitism.
Israel left UNESCO over its anti-Israel positions in 2019, and has yet to return. According to Israel, Azoulay, a French-Moroccan Jew, says she is working to depoliticize the body and sees Israel’s return as holding great importance.
WASHINGTON — While he didn’t announce a boycott ahead of time, Sen. Bernie Sanders joined six Democrat party lawmakers in staying out of the chamber for President Isaac Herzog’s speech to a joint session of Congress.
In a statement afterward, Sanders says that “it’s no great secret that I strongly oppose the policies of Israel’s right-wing, anti-Palestinian government. We provide them with $3.8 billion in aid. We have a right to demand they respect human rights.”
Other progressives were on site for the speech, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who warmly shook Herzog’s hand before he reached the podium.
Others who skipped the speech were progressive Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Nydia Velazquez, Jamaal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush.
Opposition party head MK Benny Gantz offers to enter immediate negotiations with the coalition in order to develop a consensus approach to changing the judicial “reasonableness” test, as a bill to outlaw its application to the cabinet and ministers’ decisions speeds towards passage.
Gantz says that his condition is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commit to only advancing the rest of government’s sweeping judicial reform ambitions through consensus, a condition that Netanyahu’s coalition has repeatedly rejected.
“I call on Netanyahu and all the responsible members of this house – you have a national duty to accept the proposal,” Gantz says, speaking to the press from the Knesset.
“This evening we can convene at the President’s Residence,” the site of consensus reform talks until they were frozen in June, “and discuss finding an agreed-upon framework for the reasonableness test, in a way that will not open a window to corruption and will preserve the principles of democracy,” the National Unity leader says.
His offer, he stresses, is conditional upon all future judicial changes only progressing through “consensus.”
“This is also the basic condition for dialogue – that the prime minister commit, in the presence and with the backing of the president, that if we reach agreements, from now on judicial and governance reforms will be carried out only by broad agreement, including all the legislative elements discussed at the President’s Residence,” Gantz says.
“No further legislation will be advanced without broad consensus,” he adds.
WASHINGTON — US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says Israel will announce later today a series of new policies that it will begin implementing tomorrow to ensure “ensure equal treatment for all US citizen travelers, without regard to national origin, religion or ethnicity.”
“Our understanding is that this policy will apply to all US citizens, including Palestinian Americans on the Palestinian population registry,” he says.
“We will monitor not just their implementation of these policies but their compliance with these policies and compliance or other facets of the Visa Waiver Program, and by September 30 make a decision on whether they merit admission into the program.”
Israel is slated to begin a pilot program on Thursday, which will test its preparedness for allowing Palestinian-Americans to more freely travel into Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces says it knows of several hundred reservists who have announced that they will no longer show up for volunteer reserve duty in protest of the judicial overhaul.
The military says that it is maintaining its readiness at this stage, but expects more reservists, including pilots, to announce similar moves.
The majority of the reservists who have said that they will no longer show up for volunteer duty are part of the Air Force, though not all of them are pilots.
Army officials are constantly conducting assessments on the current situation, focused largely on the “cohesion” or unity, within the military, which is expected to take a hit amid the protests.
The Knesset votes to advance a government-backed backed bill that would bar waving Palestinian flags on Israeli campuses.
Fifty-two lawmakers vote in favor, with 30 against, moving the bill past its preliminary reading. An additional three votes are required before it can become law.
The bill had been temporarily shelved by a government panel, after attracting widespread condemnation from university and rights groups and opposition by the attorney general.
Introduced by far-right Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, the bill would also institute campus bans on waving flags linked to terror organizations, as well as expressing support for terror groups, terrorism, or armed struggle by enemies of Israel.
Students caught violating the ban would be suspended for 30 days for a first violation, and then for subsequent violations would be blocked for five years from either receiving a degree in Israel or having a foreign degree recognized.
Academic institutions must also expel students who belong to terror organizations or who are convicted of terror offenses. The latter would be blocked from receiving a degree in Israel or having a foreign degree recognized for 10 years.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Morocco, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
The invitation came in a letter from the king which thanked Israel for its intention to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Such a visit will “open new opportunities for strengthening the ties between our nations,” the king wrote, according to the PMO.
Netanyahu’s office says it is working to set a date soon for his first-ever visit to the nation.
Israel Defense Forces chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi issues a new plea to reservists who are planning or have already announced that they are ending their volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul.
“These days, the IDF is dealing with preserving competence and cohesion, even when there is tension between them,” Chief of Staff Halevi says during a visit to the Tel Nof airbase.
“The IDF is based on the reserve system since its inception. These are the best people… and we cherish them. Without them, the people’s army model would not have lasted 75 years,” Halevi says.
“Calls to not show up [for duty] harm the IDF,” Halevi adds.
A few hundred protesters gather outside of the US Embassy’s Tel Aviv Branch Office, calling for American intervention against the Israeli government’s plan to increase political power over the judiciary.
A far smaller crowd than a similar protest outside the mission last evening, the group assembles while President Isaac Herzog addresses a joint session of the US Congress.
“There’s no such thing as democracy without the High Court of Justice, without equality,” they chant, while others blown horns.
Earlier, hundreds of anti-judicial overhaul protesters gathered in Tel Aviv’s HaBima square, in a protest sponsored by women’s group Building an Alternative.
Many are clad in the organization’s signature red color, and the predominantly female crowd holds signs reading “girls just want to have fun-damental rights” and one with the picture of a uterus, accompanied by the text “this machine kills fascism.”
“Do you want to fight for our rights?” a representative from Building an Alternative asks the crowd. “I know it’s hot today, but in a dictatorship it will be even hotter!” she shouts.
WASHINGTON — US Vice President Kamala Harris will announce a new joint five-year initiative between the US and Israel in which each country will invest up to $35 million “to support climate-smart agriculture through innovative technologies and improved capture, storage, use and protection of critical water resources in the Middle East and Africa,” says a senior White House official.
“This investment in innovative solutions for sustainable food production and water use augments existing cooperation between our two countries and will help build resilient food systems and address the climate crisis around the globe,” the official says.
The initiative will be announced when Harris meets with President Isaac Herzog later today following his speech to a joint session of Congress.
The official adds that Harris will raise in her meeting with Herzog “the climate crisis and food security, the threats posed by Iran, Israel’s normalization with countries in the region, Palestinian issues including security in the West Bank, combatting antisemitism and strengthening our democracies and democratic institutions.”
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress “an important speech by the country’s president…who expressed our strong and decisive position against Iran.”
“Together we will stand, together we will win,” Netanyahu tweets.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid congratulates Herzog on his speech, saying he showed “the beautiful face of democratic Israel, and stressed our shared values: equal rights, freedom of speech, separation of powers and an independent judiciary.”
Hundreds of reservists are signing a declaration near the military headquarters in Tel Aviv, announcing that they will no longer show up for volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government advancing its plans to overhaul the judiciary.
Earlier today, the Brothers in Arms protest group — representing thousands of reservists — said they were responding to the government advancing legislation aimed at preventing courts from reviewing decisions by the government and ministers based on their “reasonableness.”
“We will not serve in a dictatorship… The bill to annul the reasonableness test that is planned to be voted on in the coming days tramples the values of the Declaration of Independence and runs counter to the spirit of the IDF, which brought us up, and on which the state was founded,” Brothers in Arms says.
Separately, two senior Israeli Air Force reservists announce they are ending their volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government advancing its plans to overhaul the judiciary.
Brig. Gen. (res.) Shelly Gutman, the former commander of the Hatzerim airbase, and Brig. Gen. (res.) Amnon Ein Dar, the former head of the IAF’s Air Division, join more than 160 other senior IAF reservists who announced last night that they are suspending their volunteer reserve duty.
“I will not continue to volunteer under a regime that unilaterally changes the basic agreement between the citizens and the state,” says Gutman in a letter to IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar.
Gutman and Ein Dar and the third and fourth brigadier generals to announce they are suspending their volunteer reserve duty, as two brigadier generals are included in the letter of the 161 senior IAF reservists.
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog addresses directly the ongoing fight over the judicial overhaul in Israel during his speech to Congress, calling it “the clearest tribute to the fortitude of Israel’s democracy.”
He says that Israel’s democracy “has always been based on free and fair elections, on honoring the people’s choice, on safeguarding minority rights, on protection of human and civil liberties, and on a strong and independent judiciary.”
Herzog argues that democracy is also reflected in the massive protests against the judicial overhaul.
“I am well aware of the imperfections of Israeli democracy, and I am conscious of the questions posed by our greatest of friends,” he says. “The momentous debate in Israel is painful, and deeply unnerving, because it highlights the cracks within the entire whole.”
At the same time, he stresses that he has “great confidence” in Israel’s democracy: “Israel has democracy in its DNA.”
“As a nation, we must find the way to talk to each other no matter how long it takes,” he says. “As head of state, I will continue doing everything to reach broad public consensus, and to preserve, protect and defend the State of Israel’s democracy.”
Israel and the US will inevitably disagree on many matters, he admits.
“But we will always remain family,” he says to applause. “Our evolutionary societies have so much to give to the world, and so much to learn from each other. Our bond may be challenged at times, but it is absolutely unbreakable.”
“God Bless the State of Israel, God Bless the United States of America!” Herzog concludes.
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog speaks at length about the values Israel and the US share.
“It is not dependent upon operating in harmony, but on the history we share, on the truths we cherish, on the values we embody,” he says. “This partnership is based also on the similarities and the affinity between our peoples, the courageous immigrants, and the trailblazing pioneers. It is rooted deep in our respective declarations of independence.”
“Israel and the United States stand — and indeed, have always stood for the same values,” he says. “Our two nations are both diverse, life-affirming societies that stand for liberty, equality, and freedom. At our core, both our peoples seek to repair the cracks in our world.”
Herzog recognizes that the new generation which does not remember Israel’s formative years, may take the relationship for granted.
“We are provided the opportunity to reaffirm and redefine the future of our relationship,” he says. “Each of us here has a decisive role in the future we are building.”
He says that the two countries face similar threats, and must seek out solutions together.
“To us, it is clear that America is irreplaceable to Israel, and Israel is irreplaceable to America. It is time to design the next stage of our evolving friendship and our growing partnership together.”
The president says he recognizes that some Congress members have criticism of Israel.
“I respect criticism, especially from friends, although one does not always have to accept it,” he says, to chuckles from the audience and applause.
“But criticism of Israel must not cross the line into negation of the State of Israel’s right to exist,” he adds, to loud and extended applause. “Questioning the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, is not legitimate diplomacy, it is antisemitism.”
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog mentions the Abraham Accords, first noting the older treaties with Egypt and Jordan.
“This is a peace anchored in trust, hope and prosperity,” he says of the Abraham Accords. “A true game changer. Each of these historic agreements, which have altered the trajectory of the Middle East, was facilitated by our greatest friend the United States of America.”
He calls Saudi Arabia a leading nation in the region and the Muslim world, and thanks the US for working for a peace agreement with Israel.
“We pray for this moment to come,” he says to applause. “This would be a huge sea change in the course of history in the Middle East and the world at large.”
Herzog also speaks about peace with the Palestinians, calling it his “deep yearning,” to extended applause. He says that Israel has offered far-reaching proposals to the Palestinians.
He then says terrorism undermines any possibility for peace: “Israelis are targeted while waiting for buses, while taking a stroll on the promenade, while spending time with their family. At the same time, successful terror attacks are celebrated, terrorists are glorified, and their families are financially rewarded for every Israeli they attack. This is inconceivable. It is a moral disgrace.”
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog turns to the Iran threat, calling it the greatest challenge the US and Israel face.
“Iran does not strive to attain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran is building nuclear capabilities that pose a threat to the stability of the Middle East and beyond.”
He adds that Iran is spreading beyond the Middle East, “adding fuel to the disastrous fire and suffering in Ukraine.”
He says that allowing Iran to become a nuclear threshold state is unacceptable.
“The world cannot remain indifferent to the Iranian regime’s call to wipe Israel off the map. Tolerating this call and Iran’s measures to realize it is an inexcusable moral collapse.”
He calls on Israel and the US to “forcefully” act together to stop Iran: “The State of Israel is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapon capabilities.”
WASHINGTON — With the White House having repeatedly expressed concern over the direction of Israel’s democracy, and the Netanyahu government working to limit the Supreme Court’s power, President Isaac Herzog stresses to Congress that Israel is “a country which takes pride in its vibrant democracy, its protection of minorities, human rights and civil liberties, as laid down by its parliament, the Knesset, and safeguarded by its strong Supreme Court and independent judiciary.”
He emphasizes that Israel is a “state founded on complete equality of social and political rights for all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or gender – as stipulated explicitly in Israel’s Declaration of Independence,” comments met by thunderous applause.
WASHINGTON — With US president Harry Truman’s grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel, in the audience, President Isaac Herzog recalls Truman meeting his grandfather, chief rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog, in 1949.
“Rabbi Herzog thanked him for being the first world leader to officially recognize the State of Israel, 11 minutes after its foundation. He spoke of the divine providence that destined president Truman to help bring about the rebirth of Israel, after 2,000 years of exile. Witnesses of the encounter recalled tears running down President Truman’s cheeks.”
Herzog turns to Israel’s diversity and innovative culture.
“Against all odds, the Jewish people returned home and built a national home, which became a beautiful Israeli democracy, a mosaic of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians, secular, traditional and Orthodox, of all denominations, and all possible views and lifestyles,” he says.
“A land which welcomed the ingathering of exiles from one hundred different countries. A land which became the Startup Nation – a bustling hub of innovation and creativity, social action and intellectual discovery, spiritual awakening and business ventures, scientific ingenuity and lifesaving medical breakthroughs.”
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog opens his address to Congress by reflecting on his time living in New York City, where he discovered the depth of the “bond forged between the people of the United States and the people of Israel.”
“How the nations we built overcame loss. How deeply our stories complement each other’s. How far we have all come, together,” says Herzog.
Turning to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Herzog says his address to the Knesset in May “honored the Israeli people,” adding: “Your sincere expression of friendship on behalf of the United States of America truly resonated with the Israelis,” says Herzog.
He also thanks Vice President Kamala Harris: “Your stirring remarks at the Israeli Embassy’s Independence Day reception a few weeks ago reflect both yours and President Biden’s decades-long, ironclad friendship with Israel.” He then expresses thanks to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
Herzog says his “soul is overflowing with pride and joy. The people of Israel are grateful to no end for the ancient promise fulfilled and for the friendship we have formed.”
Herzog entered the chamber to rapturous applause as legislators rise. Accompanied by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, he shook hands as he moved toward the dais.
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are streaming into the chamber ahead of President Isaac Herzog’s address, standing and chatting amicably with one another. The hall is buzzing as members shake hands and slap backs in the center aisle.
The balcony is also filled to capacity with guests.
The chamber is called to order, and the members take their seats and quiet down.
Several demonstrations against the government’s plan to upend judicial power are scheduled for this evening in Tel Aviv.
A women’s protest is currently taking place at HaBima Square in Tel Aviv.
At 6:30 p.m., protesters are expected to demonstrate outside of the US Embassy Branch Office in the city, for the second evening in a row.
At 8:30 p.m., demonstrators are set to converge upon Kaplan Street, considered the flagship site of the six-month-old protest movement.
WASHINGTON — Some 200 Israeli expats gather outside the Capitol building in Washington to protest the judicial overhaul being advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government ahead of President Isaac Herzog’s speech to a joint session of Congress set to begin in an hour.
Another two buses of protesters from New York and New Jersey are slated to arrive shortly. As they do in Tel Aviv protest hub Kaplan Square, protesters wave Israeli flags chant “De-mo-cra-cy” and other Hebrew slogans.
However, protest leader Shany Granot tells demonstrators not to chant “shame” since she doesn’t want them to be seen as criticizing “Biden or Herzog who have been doing such a great job for Israeli democracy.”
Addressing the protesters, UnXeptable leader Offir Gutelzon thanks “President Biden for not only securing Israel’s security but also its democracy.”
Herzog and his wife, Michal, arrive at the US Capitol ahead of his address to meet with congressional leaders from both parties.
The opposition is currently using a packed legislative agenda as a filibuster, to delay final preparations required to bring to a vote on Sunday the coalition’s controversial bill to outlaw judicial review over the “reasonableness” of administrative decisions by the cabinet or ministers.
Dozens of bills are scheduled for today’s ongoing plenum session, with opposition sources saying that their plan is to drag the plenum into tomorrow “at least.”
Knesset committees — including the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee currently plowing towards approving the “reasonableness” test bill — are generally forced to pause their activities while the plenum is in session.
By keeping the plenum full with a stacked agenda, the opposition is attempting to delay the Constitution Committee’s vote to approve the bill for its second and third — final — readings, currently slated for Sunday.
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog will be accompanied at his speech to Congress by guests that emphasize the depth of the US-Israel relationship, Israel’s connection with all of America’s Jewish communities, and the diversity of Israel’s society.
He will be joined by Clifton Truman Daniels, grandson of Harry Truman, the US president, who recognized Israel in 1948. American academic Susannah Heschel, daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel – who famously marched with Dr. Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement — will attend as well.
Herzog is also joined by Leah Goldin, whose son Hadar was killed in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. His body is still being held by Hamas. During his speech, Herzog will mention the two Israeli civilians and two bodies of IDF soldiers being held in Gaza.
To showcase Israel’s diversity, Herzog also invited two female regional Jewish agency representatives – Sigal Kanotopsky, who immigrated from Ethiopia, and Gadeer Kamel-Mreeh, a Druze former MK who now represents the agency in Washington.
Herzog also invited the heads of the Reform and Conservative movements, as well as the Orthodox Union.
Some 300 reservists in the Israel Defense Forces’ Medical Corps announce that they are suspending their voluntary reserve duty in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul.
At a press conference outside the Tel Hashomer military base in Ramat Gan, representatives of the doctors, paramedics and other medical staff present letters they will later give to the head of the IDF Medical Corps, Brig. Gen. Prof. Elon Glassberg, in which they say they will no longer show up for volunteer reserve duty.
אנשי רפואה מוסרים מכתבי אי התייצבות לקצין רפואה ראשית בבסיס תל השומר. מסרבים לשרת דיקטטורה! pic.twitter.com/X0GsEdZO2i
— Idan Dorfman עידן דורפמן (@IdanDorfman) July 19, 2023
“This year I’m closing 30 years of combat service as a fighter and as a combat medic, but I will never serve an undemocratic regime. This is not how I wanted to end my military service, but the government forced this terrible decision on me,” Dr. Or Goren, the manager of the Ichilov Hospital’s operating room, is cited by the Haaretz daily as saying at the press conference.
In recent weeks, hundreds of IDF Medical Corps reservists have issued letters threatening to not show up for volunteer reserve duty in protest of the judicial overhaul.
The medical reservists’ letters officially suspending their service comes after over 160 Israeli Air Force reservists made a similar move last night.
Later today, an unknown number of reservists will also sign similar letters outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, announcing the suspension of their volunteer reserve duty, according to the large Brothers in Arms protest group.
The High Court of Justice sets an initial hearing for September 12 over a petition calling for the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly flouting the conflict of interest agreement he signed amid his ongoing corruption trial.
A three-justice panel requests that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara provide the court by August 20 with an explanation of her earlier statement that her office is dealing with the issue and therefore there is no reason to hold a court hearing.
The conflict of interest agreement, which Netanyahu signed with former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, requires him to avoid involvement in judicial legislation that could affect the outcome of his cases. Petitioners argue that he has violated the deal with his involvement in the government’s plan to radically overhaul the judicial system.
Wrapping up proceedings in the Jerusalem District Court today, the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now heading for a recess of more than a month.
Hearings in the trial, which has been going on for more than three years, are slated to resume in early September.
Today, former Walla editor Yinon Magal — who later briefly became an MK and is now an anchor on Channel 14 — testified about attempted intervention in the site’s coverage by Netanyahu and other politicians.
A Christian abbot is asked by an official at Jerusalem’s Western Wall to hide his cross while accompanying Germany’s education minister, in the latest incident of Jewish-Christian tensions in the capital’s Old City. The incident drew a rebuke and an apology followed.
The incident, which took place outside the prayer area of the Jewish holy site, is filmed and posted online by a reporter for German news outlet Der Spiegel. Nikodemus Schnabel, the abbot of the Old City’s Dormition Abbey, is stopped by a woman said to be an employee of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, a Haredi-dominated body that administers the site.
Forschungsministerin @starkwatzinger erlebt am Mittwochmorgen in Jerusalem mit, wie Abt @PaterNikodemus auf dem Platz vor der Klagemauer (außerhalb der Gebetszone) aufgefordert wird, sein Kreuz abzunehmen. Die Offizielle sagt, es handele sich um eine neue Regelung. @derspiegel pic.twitter.com/Zy1GxBVCRP
— Christoph Schult (@schultchristoph) July 19, 2023
As Germany’s Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger stands by, the footage shows the woman telling Schnabel the pectoral cross he is wearing is “really big and inappropriate for this place” and asking him to stow it away.
“This is very harsh, you’re not respecting my religion. You’re hindering me from my human right,” Schnabel says. “This is not a provocation, I am an abbot. This is my dress… the cross is part of my dress code. I’m a Roman Catholic abbot. You want me to not dress as my faith, that is reality.”
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation issued a statement apologizing “for the distress that was caused,” adding: “The Western Wall is open to anyone. It should be noted that there are no rules or regulations on this issue in the Western Wall plaza.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week amid increasing threats by reservist soldiers to refuse to show up for duty in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry says Gallant and Halevi briefed Netanyahu on the “security situation and the competence of the IDF.”
The ministry does not elaborate further on the meeting, or when it took place.
Defense officials and politicians on both sides of the aisle have been warning that mass refusals could make Israel more vulnerable to outside threats and harm the competence of the military.
On Sunday, following an emergency meeting, Gallant and Halevi reportedly agreed to relay the concerns over the potential negative impact on military readiness to Netanyahu.
WASHINGTON — President Isaac Herzog holds a breakfast meeting at his hotel in Washington with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Herzog will soon head to the Capitol to deliver his much anticipated address in English to a joint session of both houses of Congress.
Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem calls Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara the most dangerous person in the State of Israel.
“In my opinion, she is the most dangerous person in the country today,” Amsalem says in a speech to the Knesset plenum. “There is in practice a revolt going on in the IDF, and the AG doesn’t see, doesn’t hear.”
Amsalem also points to widespread chaos yesterday when anti-overhaul protesters blocked roads and disrupted train services, and then to the attorney general “doesn’t see anything,” he claims.
“We should have already ousted [Baharav-Miara] yesterday,” Amsalem adds. “This is damaging to security. In my opinion, that lady poses a real danger to the stability of a democratic Israel. Get her out, and suddenly you’ll see that everyone who breaks the law is punished according to the law.”
Members of the opposition immediately slam Amsalem for his comments, with National Unity chief Benny Gantz calling on him to resign.
Cyprus firm EuroAsia Interconnector says it has awarded French company Nexans a 1.43 billion euro contract for a submarine electricity cable to connect the grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel.
The EU-backed high-voltage “electricity highway” is set to run for 1,208 kilometers (751 miles) along the Mediterranean sea floor at depth of more than 3,000 meters (9,850 feet).
Billed as the world’s longest and deepest interconnector project, it aims to “end the energy isolation” of Cyprus and Israel and connect both to the European mainland via the Greek island of Crete. It will have the capacity to supply over three million homes with electricity.
Cyprus, located in the eastern Mediterranean, now relies heavily on fossil fuel imports for energy but has vast potential to step up solar power production for eventual export.
“The world’s longest and deepest subsea HVDC electricity interconnector built by Nexans will put Cyprus on the world energy map, ending the energy isolation of Cyprus, the last non-interconnected EU member state, and Israel,” says Nasos Ktorides, CEO of EuroAsia Interconnector.
Israel is sending two Elad firefighting planes in order to assist Greece in battling a series of large blazes, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
The planes are slated to depart early tomorrow morning, following a consultation between the national security minister, defense minister and foreign minister.
The Prime Minister’s Office says Israel “will stand with Greece in battling its huge fires, and appreciates Greece’s contribution to fighting fires in Israel over the past decade.”
The Knesset House Committee approves the coalition’s scheduled plan to pass the “reasonableness” bill into law before the Knesset breaks for the summer at the end of the month.
According to the schedule, the Knesset plenum will open on Sunday, when it does not usually convene, and Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee chair MK Simcha Rothman will present the legislation. Objections and debate on the bill will continue until noon on Monday, after which the vote will begin.
The House Committee limits the number of votes on such objections to 140, with chairman Likud MK Ofir Katz accusing the opposition of “negatively exploiting the tool of using objections.”
