ANARCHISTS AND OTHERS

I’m sure you are familiar with most of topics in this week’s post.

Just the same, I’ve included them for the purpose of sharing some of my personal opinions with you.

It has been a particularly bad week! It began with the murder of Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, two brothers aged 22 and 20, who were shot at point-blank range by a Palestinian terrorist as they drove through Huwara on Sunday morning.

An intensive manhunt is being conducted to track down the terrorist who killed them.

Speaking at her sons’ funeral Esti Yaniv made a heartfelt appeal addressed to the whole nation – “People, we are brothers, we love the country, we love the army and we want security. The army belongs to everyone and we shouldn’t use it for political purposes.”

Shimon Naumberg, the murdered boys’ uncle, said they were “the salt of the earth.”

A phrase I would use to describe the wonderful Yaniv family, despite the fact that it is borrowed from the Sermon on the Mount.

Huwara lies in the northern part of the West Bank on the north-south route 60.

News of the murder spread quickly and scores of settlers began marching from neighbouring settlements toward Huwara, calling and chanting for revenge. Arriving at the village, they set fire to homes and cars venting their rage.

Commanding Officer Central Command, Major General Yehuda Fuchs said vigilante settlers rampaging through Huwara on Sunday night carried out a “pogrom.”

Admitting his miscalculation, Fuchs said the IDF units deployed in the area were prepared for small-scale disturbances expecting groups of settlers to protest at road junctions and throw stones at Palestinian motorists. Fuchs repeated the term “pogrom” to describe the rampaging at Hawara. Israeli newsmedia commentators were quick to adopt it.

The following day Elan Ganeles, a 27year-old American-Israeli, was shot dead by a terrorist on route 90, between Jericho and the Dead Sea, north of the Beit Ha’Arava Junction.

Ganeles was visiting Israel for a friend’s wedding and was due to return to his home and family in West Hartford, Connecticut. 

An Israeli special forces unit arrested three Palestinians in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp near Jericho on Wednesday. All three are suspected of involvement in Elan Ganeles’ murder. A fourth suspect shot while fleeing the scene, succumbed to his wounds later in the day.

On Sunday Jordan hosted a “political-security” meeting between Israel and the Palestinians to try and restore calm to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the recent flareup.

The meeting took place in Aqaba and was attended by representatives from the United States and Egypt. Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar also attended the meeting. Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister and PLO Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh and other PA officials attended the Aqaba session.

Al-Sheikh and Hanegbi established a covert line of communication, at a time when formal contacts between Jerusalem and Ramallah came to a grinding halt.

Despite the hardline nature of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, Abbas dispatched al-Sheikh to create a backchannel with Jerusalem that would be used to maintain contact and prevent further deterioration.

Police clash with demonstrators in Tel Aviv, March 1, 2003. 

Yesterday, demonstrators blocked highways nationwide in what protest organisers called a "Day of National Disruption."

"We will disrupt public order in the face of a government that is trying to disrupt the democratic order," an unnamed spokesperson announced, "Tens of thousands will demonstrate all over the country, in an effort to stop the regime coup, which has no support among the people."

 At breakfast in the kibbutz dining room, I asked some of my better-informed friends, “Who are the organisers?” Protesters in their hundreds and thousands carrying banners, flags and other paraphernalia have been demonstrating all over the country. It takes a lot more than spontaneous gut-motivation to bring them out. It requires logistics, money and leadership. As far as I know politicians are not at the helm. Admittedly, they have joined the demonstrators and have spoken at several demonstrations, but they are not leading this massive outcry. It has been suggested that other concerned people who prefer to remain anonymous are providing logistic support. Maybe people from tech-companies, venture capital businesses and the like are giving a helping hand. I’ve heard of a number of private donations made to support the demonstrations.

I asked one of our daughters for her opinion.  She is more demonstration-savvy than I am. “Most of the people usually demonstrate close to their own familiar turf,” she said. “They probably take a coffee break for refreshments and use the toilet facilities in the coffee shop.” She added in her own inimitable down to earth way.

To the best of my knowledge the demonstrators are not paid to demonstrate, but transportation is organised in some places.

I have noticed a change in the rhetoric used by government ministers and ordinary Knesset members criticising the demonstrations.

Initially, they labelled all the protestors ‘left-wingers’. One angry cabinet minister even called them ‘Bolsheviks’. However, it’s clear that some Likud party supporters, Orthodox Jews, youths and senior citizens are swelling the ranks of the  demonstrators. Cognisant of the fact that the people demonstrating against the judicial overhaul can no longer be lumped together as ‘leftists’, Prime Minister Netanyahu has resorted to calling them ‘anarchists.’

On Wednesday, protesters blocked highways and major intersections in Tel Aviv and massed outside the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem. For the first time since protests began two months ago, the scene on the streets turned violent after Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to take tougher action against demonstrators he claimed were “anarchists.”

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv blocked some streets, and police used stun grenades and   a water cannon to turn them back. When that failed to stop them, mounted police were deployed to control the crowd. According to an official police report 39 people were detained for "allegedly rioting and not obeying police instructions,” A number of demonstrators were treated for burns and abrasions at a nearby hospital.

Earlier the same day President Isaac Herzog called on the government and the opposition to meet and calm the situation. National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz called on Netanyahu to meet and discuss the political impasse. "Close the Knesset plenum now and don't open it until we reach an accord. Stop everything and we'll drive from here to the President’s Residence."

The prime minister agreed to meet, but not to halt the judicial overhaul legislation.

Consequently, no compromise was reached. 

Wednesday’s events reached a crescendo outside a ritzy north Tel Aviv salon where the prime minister’s wife was getting her hair done.

Moshe Butbul, a hair stylist from the salon, told a Ynet correspondent that another client posted a selfie with Sara Netanyahu. He claimed that “within minutes thousands of demonstrators arrived in front of the salon.” judging by videos posted online the actual number of protesters was a lot less.

Reporters at the scene said the crowd kept its distance and did not attempt to break into the salon. However, some in the front line shouted something that sounded like, ” Sarah you should be ashamed, the country is going up in flames while you come to Tel Aviv to get your hair done.” Ben-Gvir then dispatched large numbers of security forces to the salon, saying on Twitter that he had ordered police to “save her life” from the demonstrators “besieging” the salon.

Hundreds of police officers, including mounted police, broke a path through the demonstration to let an SUV approach. Protected by a phalanx of police, Sara Netanyahu was escorted out of the salon and into the vehicle, which drove off under heavy police escort. According to another version Mrs. Netanyahu left quietly through a back door.

At this juncture let’s consider the logistics required for Mrs. Netanyahu’s coiffure or whatever she went to the Tel Aviv hair salon for. Her entourage in the drive from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv included bodyguards and other security personnel. I heard from a reliable source that a helicopter also provided support for the journey.

Galit Distel Atbaryan, Israel’s public diplomacy minister, called the incident “three hours of terror in which one woman was besieged by an incited mob.” Another Likud lawmaker wrote on Twitter that the prime minister’s wife “was rescued from a lynch” by a mob of “anarchists.”

In retrospect, maybe the protest at the hair salon was an invasion of privacy. However, Sarah Netanyahu is very much involved in Israel’s inner political machinations.

Anyway, a number of foreign news outlets considered the ‘siege at the salon’ very newsworthy, Al-Jazeera among them.

The Netanyahus have been criticised for being out of touch with ordinary Israelis and living a lavish lifestyle at the taxpayers’ expense. Last week, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved new funding for Netanyahu and his family.

Even a casual observer would notice that Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government lacks cohesion. Some political analysts believe it is about to implode, while others claim that talk of a near demise is more wishful thinking than sound analysis.

Nevertheless, Channel 12 TV reported major tensions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin over the judicial overhaul and intimated that Levin is trying to overthrow the premier. The report was strenuously denied by a Likud party spokesperson.

The report quoted sources close to both leaders saying that Netanyahu wants some sort of compromise over the government’s judicial overhaul, whereas Levin is refusing to budge.

The report says there is a rift between the two and that Levin has told Netanyahu directly he will quit and bring down the coalition if forced to give up core elements of the overhaul package.

“Yariv Levin is pushing this to the extreme for political reasons. There’s no doubt that he’ll be the direct beneficiary if the Attorney General orders Netanyahu’s disqualification (for breaching her caution regarding a conflict-of-interest agreement).” The report quoted a Netanyahu aide as the source of the information.

“Netanyahu has lost faith (in Levin) and is trying to lead the judicial reform process himself, but the attorney general is preventing him from doing so,” the aide claimed.

However, TV Channel 12 also noted that Netanyahu has made publicly clear he is in favour of the reform and appointed Levin, knowing his position.

A Likud party member lambasted the report calling it “absolute fake news and baseless malicious lies. Nonetheless, TV Channel 12 says it stands by the report.

I’m sorry to say I don’t have any good news this week.

 Never mind, next week we celebrate Purim, I’m sure I’ll have something good to write about.

 

Beni,   2^nd of March, 2023.