The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.

Ayalon reopens as police clear out protesters, but leave water cannon in place

Northbound lanes of the Ayalon Freeway begin moving once again after police clear protesters off the roadway, using mounted officers and a water cannon. Southbound lanes long ago re-opened, along with a section of Highway 4 that had been blocked near Ra’anana.

Though most protesters are making their way home, police are leaving the water cannon in place out of concern that hardcore protesters may remain and attempt to block the Tel Aviv artery again, Channel 12 news reports.

The Ynet news site tweets that one of its photographers was injured in the back by a cavalry officer clearing the roadway.

Police arrest 7 protesters blocking Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv

Israelis protest the government's judicial overhaul plans in Tel Aviv, on July 20, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Israelis protest the government's judicial overhaul plans in Tel Aviv, on July 20, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Tel Aviv police say they have arrested 7 protesters in Tel Aviv amid a clash with police on the Ayalon Highway.

According to police, six activists were arrested for disturbing public order, and an additional protester was detained for allegedly attacking police officers.

Protesters successfully blocked off the major Ayalon highway — a repeated target of anti-overhaul activists — with police bringing in water cannons and mounted police to disperse them. Some protesters have lit a fire on the northbound portion of the highway.

8 protesters arrested in clashes with police in Ra’anana

Ra'anana junction is blocked by protesters, July 20, 2023. (Tiffany Viner)
Ra'anana junction is blocked by protesters, July 20, 2023. (Tiffany Viner)

The Israel Police say that eight protesters have been arrested for “disturbing public order” at the Ra’anana junction.

Police say that protesters were given several warnings to clear out of the road and stop blocking traffic, and eight who ignored the directive were detained, allowing normal traffic to resume.

Protests have intensified tonight following a speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he lashed out at the opposition and vowed to push ahead with the judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu to meet Erdogan in Turkey next week, first such visit in 15 years

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Ronen Zvulun and Ozan Kose/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Ronen Zvulun and Ozan Kose/AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head to Turkey for an official visit where he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next week, his office says.

The Prime Minister’s Office says Netanyahu will depart on July 28.

On July 25, Erdogan is slated to host Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

An Israeli prime minister has not visited Turkey since Ehud Olmert in 2008, although President Isaac Herzog paid a visit there last year, and then-prime minister Yair Lapid met with Erdogan in New York in the fall.

White House spokesman: Biden won’t give Netanyahu ultimatum regarding overhaul

File: White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
File: White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby tells Channel 12 that Tom Friedman’s recent New York Times column on US President Joe Biden’s attitude to the judicial overhaul “accurately reflected where the president’s head is” and “the messages that the president has delivered to Israeli leaders as well as publicly. ”

Asked what will happen if the coalition pushes through the overhaul, Kirby says he won’t get into hypotheticals.

“You don’t give ultimatums to your friends, and Israel is a very, very good, dear and deep friend of the United States,” he says in answer to a question.

Asked for specifics regarding the two leaders’ discussion about a face-to-face meeting, Kirby says: “They talked about the potential for getting together at some point in the future somewhere in the United States.”

He is asked whether this is to be at the White House.

“We still have to work through some of those details,” he says.

Police face off against anti-overhaul protesters at Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway

Protesters on the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, July 20, 2023. (Tali Melamed)
Protesters on the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, July 20, 2023. (Tali Melamed)

Anti-overhaul protesters have marched from Habima Square in Tel Aviv — where thousands gathered — to the Ayalon Highway, and mounted police have deployed to try to prevent them from blocking the highway.

Channel 12 reports that the southern lanes of the highway were briefly blocked a little earlier before the police arrived.

A police water cannon is spraying protesters at the side of the highway, trying to prevent them from descending into the road.

Anti-overhaul protesters march in Tel Aviv, July 20, 2023. (Roni Levinson)

Protests, which had begun before Netanyahu’s speech to the nation, are also gathering momentum at numerous places nationwide, including in Jerusalem and Modi’in.

In Ra’anana and Ramat Hasharon, protesters have gathered to block junctions.

Ra’anana junction is blocked by protesters, July 20, 2023. (Tiffany Viner)

Hundreds have blocked Ra’anana junction, Army Radio reports, with police not immediately intervening. Subsequently, the police deploy to clear the junction, pushing protesters out of the road.

Prisons Service chief says she’ll step down in January, blames Ben Gvir’s conduct

Israel Prison Service Commissioner Katy Perry arrives for her testimony at the government committee probing the escape of the security prisoners from the Gilboa prison, in Modi'in, March 7, 2022. (Flash90)
Israel Prison Service Commissioner Katy Perry arrives for her testimony at the government committee probing the escape of the security prisoners from the Gilboa prison, in Modi'in, March 7, 2022. (Flash90)

Katy Perry, the head of the Israel Prisons Service, announces that she will step down at the end of her current term in January, with her associates putting the blame on the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

“There was blatant conduct by the minister in a way no minister has intervened in the past,” the unnamed associates are quoted by multiple Hebrew media outlets as saying, adding that he intervened in appointments and refused to adhere to professionals’ advice.

“Katy is a very strong woman. and if she decided to step aside, this isn’t to be taken lightly,” they added.

Perry wasn’t expected to get a second term anyway, following a series of mishaps that led to six Palestinian terror convicts briefly escaping the high-security Gilboa Prison in 2021, which caused an embarrassment to the force.

Ben Gvir’s associates are quoted by Hebrew media as saying the minister “made it clear” to Perry that “the cover ups, the nepotism and the shirking of responsibility are over.” They claim that Ben Gvir today refused to oust the Prison Service’s legal adviser, which Perry is trying to fire “because she claimed he testified against her in the commission of inquiry for the escape of the prisoners from Gilboa Prison.”

Algeria: Israel backing Morocco sovereignty over Western Sahara ‘illegal’

Algeria on Thursday denounced Israel’s backing of Morocco’s “claimed sovereignty” over the disputed Western Sahara region as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

The Western Sahara conflict pits Morocco against Sahrawi separatists of the Algiers-backed Polisario Front. The dispute dates back to 1975, when colonial ruler Spain withdrew from the territory, sparking a 15-year war between Morocco and the Polisario which seeks the territory’s independence.

On Monday, the royal cabinet in Rabat said Israel had decided to “recognize Morocco’s sovereignty” over the mineral-rich desert region, citing a letter from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government later confirmed the information.

The decision “constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, UN Security Council decisions and General Assembly resolutions on the Western Sahara question,” the foreign ministry in Algiers says in a statement.

It “shows agreement between the occupiers’ policies and their complicity in violating international law,” and encroaches upon the “legitimate right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with Al-Quds [Jerusalem] as its capital and of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.”

Ex-Mossad chief Pardo says Netanyahu should be put on trial if legal overhaul passes

Ex-Mossad director Tamir Pardo speaks at the Herzliya Conference, on May 22, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Ex-Mossad director Tamir Pardo speaks at the Herzliya Conference, on May 22, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be put on trial for carrying out a “coup” with his judicial overhaul legislation.

Speaking to Channel 12 news, Pardo comments on growing threats by reserve pilots and other servicepeople to stop their volunteer duty if the bill passes, saying “everyone needs to make their own decision” and that “I greatly admire” those who have announced they will not serve.

“The person tearing apart the people’s army is the prime minister of Israel,” Pardo adds. “He has no right to do so… He is carrying out a coup, with all the elements of a coup that all the history books record. That’s what he’s doing, and for this, I hope that one day he will be brought to justice in a court of law.”

“When a prime minister turns a democratic state into a dictatorship, he should be brought to justice,” he says. “He received a mandate for a legitimate government whose task is to govern. Not for a government whose task or purpose is to change the nature of the regime in Israel.”

Anti-overhaul marchers to Jerusalem reach Kibbutz Nahshon, stage ‘festival of democracy’

Anti-overhaul demonstrators marching toward Kibbutz Nahshon on Highway 3 on July 20, 2023, blocking half of the road. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Anti-overhaul demonstrators marching toward Kibbutz Nahshon on Highway 3 on July 20, 2023, blocking half of the road. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Anti-overhaul protesters staging a days-long march to Jerusalem reach Kibbutz Nahshon, near the capital, after two and a half hours of marching from Lehi Forest.

The group, which reached 10,000 people at its peak, is met with cheers from organizers who set up tables of food before the marchers’ arrival to the vast field in the kibbutz center, where they are staging a “festival of democracy.”

Small tents for those staying at the kibbutz overnight are lined up one by one on the grass.

Although the march began in Tel Aviv and will end in Jerusalem this Saturday night, those protesting come from across the country, many of them bringing their children along.

The march received very little opposition during today’s procession, with the exception of a few disgruntled drivers who passed by the demonstration on the other side of Highway 3.

An encampment at Kibbutz Nahshon at the end of day 3 of an anti-overhaul march to Jerusalem, leading into a ‘Festival of Democracy’ celebration featuring food and music, July 20, 2023. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Opposition, protesters castigate Netanyahu speech: ‘Full of lies and incitement’

Opposition parties slam Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s televised address, with Benny Gantz’s National Unity saying the premier is bringing Israel to the “brink of civil war.”

“Netanyahu is talking about the need to unify the nation, and in effect is pushing us to an unprecedented historic crisis, on the brink of civil war,” the party says.

“We again call on Netanyahu to accept Gantz’s offer and to return to an outline of broad agreements that will stop the chaos and put Israel back on track to deal with the immense challenges it faces. History won’t forgive someone who chooses petty politics over the benefit of the State of Israel.

Unnamed National Unity sources cited by the Walla news site deny Netanyahu’s claims of talks for agreement on the coalition’s “reasonableness” bill, saying they’re unaware of any such talks with the coalition in recent days.

Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman says Netanyahu’s address was “spin aimed at conning the public and misdirecting the opposition and the protesters.” He says it’s an attempt to buy time and calm the anger at the government until he can pass the rest of the overhaul, saying the only solution is to “replace this Messianic government” and establish a constitution.

Protest organizers call it “a speech full of lies and incitement,” arguing that Netanyahu, “rather than keeping the country intact, is choosing dictatorship.

“This is the citizens’ time to go out and resist.”

Netanyahu says ‘reasonableness’ bill will boost democracy; efforts still being made for agreement on it

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives an address from the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, July 20, 2023. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives an address from the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, July 20, 2023. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a televised press address, defending his coalition’s move to bar Israel’s judges from using the judicial test of “reasonableness” for government and ministerial decisions and saying it won’t threaten democracy, but adds that efforts are being made to reach broad agreement on it.

The “reasonableness” bill is set to be voted into law early next week.

Netanyahu begins by hailing the country’s unity, saying that “we all want a Jewish and democratic state, we all want a strong IDF, and we all understand that we only have one country.” He adds that there are “naturally” disagreements.

“Many believe the balance of powers has been upended in recent decades and want it restored… so that the democratic choice of the people will be expressed by the government,” Netanyahu says, adding that others are legitimately concerned about the ramifications [of the planned judicial reform] and others still “want to topple the democratically elected government without any connection to the reform.”

In any case, the premier states, “Israel will stay a democracy, will remain a liberal state. It won’t become a halachic state and it will protect individual rights for all.”

But that also means there won’t be some people above the law — people who “block roads, set fires, block trains, block ambulances, endanger lives.”

He says his government wants consensus and therefore held compromise talks with the opposition for three months, arguing that the opposition rejected all coalition’s offers, and suggesting this may have been due to pressure from “extremists in the leadership of the protests who openly say they don’t want any compromise, but who seek solely to create chaos in order to topple the government without connection to the reform.”

He says the coalition nonetheless watered down the planned sweeping judicial reform package, it canceled the sweeping “override” proposal and is only currently advancing the “necessary” reasonableness bill.

“This is an attempt to scare you without reason,” he says, arguing that the bill won’t endanger, much less destroy, Israeli democracy.

He refers to comments from the opposition’s Yair Lapid and Gideon Sa’ar in favor of what he says are more radical changes to the use of reasonableness than those about to be legislated and says former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak said in 2019 that he was prepared to consider canceling “reasonableness” altogether.

“All this talk of [the bill] destroying democracy is absurd,” he says, “and has no basis in reality.” The bill “will strengthen democracy,” he says.

What will endanger democracy, he adds, is refusal to show up for reserve military duty, as many have threatened if the bill passes. “Refusal to serve threatens the security of all Israelis.”

“In a democracy, the military is subordinate to the army, it doesn’t subordinate the government. When military elements attempt to dictate government policy via threats, that is illegitimate in any democracy. And if they succeed… that is the end of democracy.”

“No responsible government, no responsible state, can agree to that and every citizen must oppose it with full force. In a proper democracy, it is not the hand holding the weapon that determines what happens, but the hand that puts the voting slip into the ballot box.”

“Refusal from one side will inevitably lead to refusal from the other, and where will that end?”

He compares the overhaul to controversial moves by previous governments — citing the Oslo accords, the uprooting of Gaza Strip settlements, and the establishment of [the previous] government dependent on the support of anti-Zionist elements (a reference to the Ra’am party) — and says that even though some saw these as threats to Israel’s existence, nobody threatened refusal to serve.

He laments that former prime ministers and IDF chiefs are among the “prime inciters of widespread refusal to serve” — even though they recognize how refusal to serve is seen by Israel’s enemies.

“In my 16 years as prime minister, I’ve always seen myself as prime minister of all of you,” he says.

He says there are efforts for an agreement on the reasonableness bill, even though it’s due to pass into law at the beginning of next week.

“Even in these very moments, I want to tell you, efforts are being made to reach agreement on the ‘reasonableness’ doctrine. I greatly hope these efforts will succeed. But even if they do not, the coalition’s door will always remain open to you, the people of Israel, and also to the opposition. Because even in the stormiest says, we remember, I always remember one thing: we are one nation, with one destiny, we have no other country, we are brothers.”

IDF names dead officer as Lidar Peretz, 21

A handout photo of Lidar Peretz, who died after she was crushed by a container on July 20, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

An Israel Defense Forces officer crushed to death by a container in an accident at the Tzeelim base earlier today is named as Lt. Lidar Peretz, 21, from the central city of Or Yehuda.

Peretz, who served as a logistics officer in the 7th Armored Brigade, is posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.

The IDF says the head of the Logistics Directorate, Maj. Gen. Mishel Yanko, and the head of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, have appointed a senior logistics officer, Col. Moshe Artzi, to lead a panel of experts to investigate the incident.

Man stabbed to death in Ashdod; suspect arrested

A man aged around 25 has died after being stabbed on Ibn Gabirol Street in Ashdod, according to Magen David Adom and police.

The city’s Assuta hospital says the man has succumbed to his serious injuries.

Police have arrested a man suspected of murder.

Head of country’s largest mall chain opposes unilateral overhaul push, urges dialogue

Danna Azrieli, daughter of the Canadian builder, designer, architect and developer, David Azrieli, June 7 2010. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
Danna Azrieli, daughter of the Canadian builder, designer, architect and developer, David Azrieli, June 7 2010. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

The head of Israel’s largest shopping mall chain comes out against the government’s unilateral push of judicial overhaul legislation.

Danna Azrieli, head of the Azrieli group, tells Channel 12 news the coalition and opposition “have to stop and speak — that’s my only message today.”

“I believe consensus can be reached,” Azrieli says. “I respect the people leading the country.”

Canada’s Trudeau ‘very concerned’ about overhaul, urges Netanyahu to seek consensus

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, and Moroccan King Mohammed VI, in Paris, November 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, Pool)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, and Moroccan King Mohammed VI, in Paris, November 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, Pool)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voices deep concern over Israel’s judicial overhaul plan during a televised news conference.

“We’re also very concerned about the judicial reforms that the Israeli government is determined to move forward with,” Trudeau says, according to Reuters.

“I’m going to continue to encourage Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to look for greater consensus as they look at judicial reforms,” he adds.

Contrary to reports in some Hebrew media outlets about a phone call today between the leaders, Netanyahu’s office says no such conversation has taken place.

Man stabbed, seriously hurt in possible brawl in East Jerusalem; probe ongoing

The scene of a stabbing in the Gilo neighborhood in East Jerusalem, July 20, 2023. (Israel Police)
The scene of a stabbing in the Gilo neighborhood in East Jerusalem, July 20, 2023. (Israel Police)

A man in his 30s is seriously injured in a stabbing in the Gilo neighborhood in East Jerusalem, with authorities not determining yet if the incident is criminal or terror-related.

According to Hebrew media reports, the Shin Bet is involved in the investigation. Large police forces are searching for suspects after two knives were found at the scene, one of which was used in the stabbing.

The Walla news site cites eyewitnesses as saying it was a brawl between Jews and Arabs.

Levin says government will form inquiry into alleged illicit police use of spyware

Justice Minister Yariv Levin arrives at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Justice Minister Yariv Levin arrives at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin announces that he will set up an official commission of inquiry that will probe the alleged illicit use of cyber-surveillance tools and spyware by law enforcement bodies against citizens, including the deployment by police of the powerful, Israeli-made Pegasus tool that enables access to cells phones, including covertly listening in on conversations.

The commission will have investigative powers “to review the conduct of the police, the State Attorney’s office and their supervisory systems, in all matters relating to the procurement, monitoring and collection of information using cybernetics tools against citizens and office holders,” Levin’s office says in a press announcement.

The intent, according to the statement, is to implement “comprehensive regulation and provide a normative infrastructure for the use of advanced technological tools” to shore up public trust in law enforcement following the 2022 Pegasus affair, while balancing “the need to protect the right to privacy on the one hand, and to give enforcement agencies effective tools to fight crime and corruption on the other hand.”

Levin says Israeli citizens are “entitled to privacy and to the fact that any investigative procedure will be conducted in accordance with the law, while respecting the rights” of suspects under interrogation, witnesses and others.

The commission will be headed by retired judge Moshe Drori, a former vice president of the Jerusalem District Court and a vocal critic of the State Attorney’s Office.

Drori is a staunch supporter of the government’s plan to overhaul the justice system and previously voiced strong criticism of former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit.

Air Force chief: Attacks on pilots, others have caused harm that’ll take years to fix

Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar speaks at an event in honor of the 75th anniversary of the IAF's first-ever strike mission 75 years ago, at the Ad Halom Park near Ashdod, May 29, 2023. (Flash90)
Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar speaks at an event in honor of the 75th anniversary of the IAF's first-ever strike mission 75 years ago, at the Ad Halom Park near Ashdod, May 29, 2023. (Flash90)

The chief of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, says his force continues to operate as usual despite calls by reservists to not show up for volunteer duty in protest of the judicial overhaul, but adds that the current discourse is causing great damage that will take “years to fix.”

“I feel a heavy responsibility on my shoulders,” says Bar in remarks provided by the military. “My interest is in the competence and cohesion of the [Air Force] and managing to carry out the heavy tasks assigned to it.”

“In the last few weeks and days, the [Air Force] continues to operate in all arenas and in highly significant operational incidents,” says Bar.

“The harsh statements that have been made toward the army and the Air Force, standing and reserves, in recent days, have no place in society and they have caused great damage to the cohesion of the force. I strongly condemn them,” he says.

“I continue to stand by the principle of continuing to show up for duty and will continue to stand by it. The [Air Force] has many challenges, and we do not have the right not to complete them,” he adds.

“The service model in the Air Force has worked excellently for 75 years. This model enables the aerial safety net for our citizens’ security. If we continue harming that — it will take years to fix this.”

Two men shot dead at entrance to Arab town in north

Two men have been shot dead at the entrance to Kafr Bara in northern Israel, in the latest incident of deadly violence in the Arab community.

According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, medics tried to treat the two victims, both in their 30s, but end up pronouncing them dead at the scene.

Media reports indicate one of them was in a car when shot while the second was next to the vehicle.

Anticipating attempted disruptions, Knesset to restrict visitor access on Sunday

Access to the Knesset building on Sunday will be prohibited to visitors unless they have a permanent entry permit, the parliament’s sergeant at arms, Yuval Chen, announces.

The move comes amid indications that protesters will try and enter the building to disrupt the expected final votes on the coalition’s controversial “reasonableness” bill.

Anti-overhaul protesters continue march to Jerusalem for third day

Anti-overhaul protesters march along Highway 424 toward Kibbutz Nahshon on third day of a march to Jerusalem, July 20, 2023. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Anti-overhaul protesters march along Highway 424 toward Kibbutz Nahshon on third day of a march to Jerusalem, July 20, 2023. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Hundreds of protesters against the government’s judicial overhaul plan are taking part in the third day of the self-styled “pilgrimage” to Jerusalem — in temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) — which began in Tel Aviv.

Participants, who gathered earlier at the Lehi Forest outside the capital, are currently marching 6.5 kilometers (four miles) along Highway 424 to Kibbutz Nahshon, where they will have a “Festival of Democracy” before settling down to stay the night.

Many of the demonstrators arrived to the march by car and will not be spending the night outdoors with the protest’s core group.

The march will culminate on Saturday outside the Knesset, where organizers plan to set up tents and stay put for an indefinite amount of time, as the coalition readies to pass into law the first overhaul bill, which would curtail judicial use of the “reasonableness” test to evaluate politicians’ decisions.

“The nation of Israel is making a pilgrimage in the hundreds of thousands,” says Moshe Radman, one of the protest organizers, to kick off the march.

Anti-overhaul protest organizer Moshe Radman at the outset of the third day of a march to Jerusalem, at Lehi Forest, July 20, 2023. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Netanyahu to deliver primetime address tonight

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a primetime address this evening at 8:10 p.m., his office says.

Some Hebrew media outlets speculated earlier that Netanyahu could be announcing a watering-down of the coalition’s controversial “reasonableness” bill, but many outlets later cite sources saying that isn’t expected to happen.

Gallant condemns ‘contemptible’ pilots clip shared and defended by Ben Gvir

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during an event marking 50 years since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, July 11, 2023. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during an event marking 50 years since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, July 11, 2023. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant condemns a clip — shared by some of his fellow ministers — depicting a scripted scenario of Air Force pilots refusing to help ground troops who back the government’s judicial overhaul.

“The viral video is a contemptible video that won’t achieve its goal,” Gallant says of the clip, which National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has defended and refused to delete from his Facebook page, while Culture Minister Miki Zohar deleted it and apologized.

“The IDF is an army that keeps our enemies far away but brings the nation’s sectors closer together,” he says. “Even if I don’t agree with a soldier or an officer, I repeat — they are our soldiers.”

The video was slammed earlier by IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, saying it encourages “internal incitement” and pits soldiers against one another.

Russia seeks 20 years in jail for Kremlin opponent Navalny — allies

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a video screen set up at Moscow City Court, on May 24, 2022. (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service via AP)
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a video screen set up at Moscow City Court, on May 24, 2022. (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service via AP)

Russian prosecutors have requested a jail term of 20 years for the already imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as he faces charges of “extremism,” his allies say.

They say the court will announce its verdict on August 4, following a closed-door trial held in the maximum-security prison where Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence on charges his supporters see as punishment for his political work.

Court bans Western Wall bag searches for Torah scrolls, in limited victory for Women of the Wall

Women of the Wall executive director Yochi Rappeport holds a Torah scroll during the group's monthly prayer services at the Western Wall. (Courtesy)
Women of the Wall executive director Yochi Rappeport holds a Torah scroll during the group's monthly prayer services at the Western Wall. (Courtesy)

Guards at the Western Wall will now not be authorized to search for Torah scrolls or books in the belongings of visitors entering the holy site, but orderlies will be able continue to enforce rules against unauthorized use of scripture, according to a ruling by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

The ruling means that the Women of the Wall group will now be allowed to bring Torah scrolls into the women section as part of their monthly prayers — but that officials could intervene once the Torah scroll is taken out of their bags.

Yesterday’s ruling — on a lawsuit filed in 2021 by activists for the rights of non-Orthodox Jews — says that security guards may only search the belongings of visitors for objects that jeopardize public safety.

But the ruling also states that the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which is responsible for running the site, may intervene to enforce its regulations, which prohibit certain uses of scripture because they do not conform with Orthodox Jewish practices.

The reading of the Torah aloud by women is at the center of the lawsuit, filed in 2021 by Anat Hoffman, the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, or IRAC, which is the legal arm of the Reform movement in Israel, and by Tamar Gottlieb, vice chair of the Women of the Wall egalitarian prayer group.

Women of the Wall activists and others routinely attempt to bring in Torah scrolls for public Torah readings by women at the Western Wall. Orthodox rabbis object to women’s singing and reading at the Western Wall, citing interpretations of Jewish law that deem this immodest.

Women of the Wall often try to have a Torah scroll brought in by MK Gilad Kariv, using his immunity, but Haredi men at the site sometimes manage to prevent him from managing to pass it to the women’s section.

IRAC calls the ruling a significant legal victory for groups seeking to liberalize Jewish worship at the site. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation also says the ruling vindicates its practices, which it says in a statement conform to the law.

France told FM Cohen it’ll pass Israeli messages to Hezbollah to ease tensions — source

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna meets with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Paris on July 19, 2023. (Alan Azaria/Israeli Embassy in France)
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna meets with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Paris on July 19, 2023. (Alan Azaria/Israeli Embassy in France)

In her meeting with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Paris yesterday, France’s top diplomat Catherine Colonna committed to passing messages to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government in an attempt to calm tensions on Israel’s northern border, a French diplomatic source tells the Times of Israel.

Colonna stressed the “French availability to calm everyone down,” says the source. “We would pass messages to Hezbollah and other actors to moderate their positions.”

Colonna also told Cohen that France would “stand their firm ground” on Iran’s nuclear program. “We will keep a strong position in this regard,” says the diplomatic source.

According to the source, Israel’s judicial overhaul was not discussed. “It’s still an internal matter. It’s still in drafts mode,” says the source, noting that Paris does not want to interfere in Israel’s domestic issues.

Cohen also reassured his French counterpart that the the status quo will be preserved in the Tomb of the Kings in East Jerusalem. France is concerned that right-wing Jewish activists are pushing Israel to take possession of the site.

High Court issues injunction against law benefiting Deri associate in mayoral race

The High Court of Justice issues an injunction against coalition legislation passed earlier this month voiding a requirement for caretaker mayors to take a break before running for election, which has been seen as aimed at benefiting an associate of Shas party leader Aryeh Deri.

The legislation does away with a one-term cooling-off period for acting mayors and other local officials appointed to fill roles before they can run for the office. The measure had been introduced in 2008 to keep unelected officials from enjoying the advantages of an incumbent.

Sponsored by Likud MK Amit Halevi, the law is seen as personally tailored to aid Boaz Yosef, the acting mayor of Tiberias, who would otherwise be barred from running in an upcoming contest for the post.

Yosef has served as Tiberias’s acting mayor since 2020, when he was appointed by Deri, then interior minister, after mayor Ron Kobi was removed from office.

A petition was filed against the law by Yosef’s rival in the Tiberias race, Shani Illouz, as well as several other organizations.

Following that petition, the High Court issues a temporary injunction and will discuss the matter on July 30.

Government panel on cost of living advances the easing of import regulations

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosts the fourth meeting of a government panel established to combat Israel’s rising cost of living.

The Ministerial Committee on Fighting the Cost of Living decides to increase the number of foreign workers permitted in Israel, in order to meet the labor demand in certain industries, and will bring that decision to the broader cabinet meeting on Sunday .

The committee also discusses measures to ease or set aside certain import regulations, so that products meeting European standards could be easily sold in the Israeli market, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Man stomps on Quran in Sweden, doesn’t burn it; Iraq expels Swedish envoy

A man stomps on a copy of the Quran outside Iraq’s embassy in Stockholm but does not ignite the book, hours after protesters stormed Sweden’s embassy  in Baghdad over a possible burning of the Muslim holy book.

Salwan Momika, 37, stomps and kicks the Quran but leaves the protest without burning pages of the book — as he did less than a month ago at a similar protest outside Stockholm’s main mosque.

In reaction, Iraq’s government says it has ordered the Swedish ambassador to leave and decided to withdraw its envoy from Stockholm for permitting the Quran-burning protest.

Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani “instructed the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory,” his office says in a statement.

It says the decision has been “prompted by the Swedish government’s repeated permission for the burning of the holy Quran, insulting Islamic sanctities and the burning of the Iraqi flag.”

IDF: Officer was crushed to death by container this morning, in apparent accident

An Israel Defense Forces officer was killed this morning after being crushed by a container in an apparent work accident at an army base in southern Israel.

In a statement, the IDF confirms that the female officer was declared dead at the scene and a male soldier was lightly hurt “by a heavy object” at the Tzeelim training facility in the Negev desert.

The military did not immediately permit publication of the incident until the officer’s family had been notified.

The soldier who was lightly hurt was taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

Details surrounding the circumstances of the apparent accident are not immediately clear.

The IDF says the incident is being investigated.

Ben Gvir refuses to delete staged clip of pilots not helping troops who back overhaul

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks during a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 5, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks during a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 5, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he won’t delete a video posted on his Facebook page showing Air Force pilots refusing to give air support to soldiers who back the government’s judicial overhaul, a clip that was denounced by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit as creating “incitement” and pitting soldiers against each other.

“I don’t intend to delete the video, which illustrates well the danger of [reserve duty] refusal,” Ben Gvir says in a statement, referring to the threat by many reserve pilots to stop their volunteer duty if the overhaul continues to be advanced.

“The video in question is meant to illustrate the concrete danger in the attempt by a tiny minority to refuse and to incite to refusal to serve. Anyone who refuses to show up due to the reform, whether from the Air Force or another corps, endangers Israel’s security,” he says.

NYT’s Friedman says he thinks Biden’s warning was made in call with Netanyahu

Thomas Friedman in 2019 (YouTube screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Thomas Friedman in 2019 (YouTube screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist who was recently told by US President Joe Biden that the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul efforts could harm the countries’ “special relationship,” says his impression during his talk with Biden is that the president made these remarks during his phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Friedman’s remarks to Israel’s Army Radio contradict what Netanyahu and his affiliates have been arguing — that the call was a warm one and that the issue of the overhaul barely came up.

Hebrew-language news site Walla has reported that the Biden administration was displeased with how Netanyahu’s office portrayed their Monday conversation and wanted to “correct” some of the impressions from the Israeli readout.

Friedman also says that according to his understanding from his conversations with Biden, the latter’s purported invitation for Netanyahu to visit did not mention the meeting being held in the White House. Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi has claimed that the invite was to the White House.

Former AG: Coalition’s bill is a ‘coup,’ would ‘crush’ judiciary and cause ‘tyranny’

Former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit attends a conference organized by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), in Tel Aviv, on December 28, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit attends a conference organized by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), in Tel Aviv, on December 28, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit says the coalition’s bill to cancel the judicial “reasonableness” test for politicians’ decisions, if passed, would “crush” the country’s top court and constitute “a full-blown regime coup.”

At an “emergency conference” held by the Israel Bar Association, Mandelblit says the bill’s “purpose is to crush the independence of the entire justice system,” apparently meaning it will be followed by other overhaul bills.

But even on its own, he argues, the reasonableness bill “will crush Israeli democracy’s last line of defense — the Supreme Court.”

He says this “could lead to tyranny, without any balance or defense, and therefore this in itself is a full-blown regime coup.”

Knesset Health Committee chief rebukes doctors union over anti-overhaul strike

Knesset Health Committee chair MK Uriel Busso makes a point during deliberations over health insurance reform on May 14, 2023. (Noam Moshkovitz/Knesset Spokesperson's Office)
Knesset Health Committee chair MK Uriel Busso makes a point during deliberations over health insurance reform on May 14, 2023. (Noam Moshkovitz/Knesset Spokesperson's Office)

Amid discussions at the Knesset’s Health Committee, committee chair Uriel Busso lashes into the Israel Medical Association for opposing the coalition’s “reasonableness” bill, which is scheduled for second and third votes in the Knesset next week.

Physicians and other medical staff have participated in pro-democracy demonstrations for the last six months. More recently, the IMA, with the support of many of its member and partner organizations, has officially expressed its stance against the coalition’s actions.

Yesterday, doctors rallied nationwide and held a two-hour hospital “warning strike,” threatening a full or longer-term healthcare system strike if the government does not change course. The medical community warns that the impending legislation will harm the delivery of healthcare and the rights of patients.

“As someone who has volunteered many years in rescue organizations, and as an elected official and head of the Health Committee, I am shocked by the reality in which doctors and physicians’ organizations, who are supposed to be advancing doctors and medicine in Israel, are doing things completely opposed to the values that undergird medicine and humane morality: the saving of life, compassion, mercy and mutual help,” Busso says.

Busso adds that he has informed the IMA that it will not be given the “special status that it wants and is used to.”

“If it is going to turn itself into a political organization, then we will treat it like any political organization, and not as a professional medical one,” he says.

Health Minister Moshe Arbel has also criticized the strike, saying at a Health Ministry conference yesterday that “the public healthcare system must not become involved in the political divisiveness.

“The protests should be held outside or in the streets, but not inside the hospitals and not at the expense of patients’ health,” Arbel said, adding that it is nevertheless “important and appropriate to enable criticism of the government.”

Hezbollah-affiliated reporter publishes clip of IDF chief touring the border

A reporter affiliated with the Hezbollah terror group publishes a clip showing the chief of the Israel Defense Forces during a tour of the Lebanon border earlier this week.

In the video, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is seen with Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin and a group of soldiers, across from the Lebanese village of Houla.

The IDF on Tuesday announced that Halevi toured the area. The video published by Ali Shoeib today is believed to be part of a Hezbollah propaganda effort.

IDF pans staged clip shared by ministers showing pilots refusing to help overhaul-backing troops

Screenshot from a video shared July 20, 2023, on coalition members' social media. (Courtesy; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Screenshot from a video shared July 20, 2023, on coalition members' social media. (Courtesy; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari slams a produced video circulating online, and shared by coalition members, showing a scripted scenario of Israeli Air Force pilots refusing to help ground troops attacked by enemy forces due to the formers’ perceived support for the judicial overhaul.

Hagari in a statement says the video aims to cause “internal incitement” within the Israel Defense Forces, and should be condemned.

The video, which was shared by Culture Minister Miki Zohar on Twitter and by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Facebook, shows ground forces fighting in a war and asking for aerial support. Pilots in the video in response ask if the ground forces support the controversial judicial overhaul or not, before explosions are seen. A dying soldier then says: “My brothers, from right and left, don’t put politics in the army.”

Hagari says that the IDF “completely rejects all statements against the commanders and fighters of the standing and reserve Air Force. These are the best fighters and commanders in the IDF, who risk their lives night after night.”

“The camaraderie and putting one’s life at risk occur in every operational activity between the aerial fighters and the ground troops, who act as one army for the security of the State of Israel,” he adds.

Culture and Sport Miki Zohar at the ministry offices in Jerusalem, January 2, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Zohar then deletes the video — which had racked up more than 45,000 views — tweeting that he came across “a clip that tried to convey a unifying message in a thoughtful way” and shared it “to echo the message that we are brothers.”

“Unfortunately, a media outlet decided to take it out of context and present it as offensive toward some corps. This obviously wasn’t the goal and therefore I’ve deleted [the video],” Zohar adds.

Ben Gvir has not deleted his video, which has similarly gotten around 45,000 views.

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