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| Prime Minister Netanyahu |
That being said, there are all kinds of interesting things going on here in Israel and I thought I would take this opportunity to write about a few of them.
Netanyahu Pardon Request
As you might have read earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu submitted an official request for a pardon to circumvent the conclusion of his trial. This is being viewed in Israel as a "legal earthquake," especially by his supporters - who have been towing Netanyahu's line that the case against him has been "falling apart" and he is about to be exonerated. In fact, the submission is carefully worded by Netanyahu so that he does not directly say he is asking for a "pardon." He states that for the sake of the country, he is willing to "end the trial and bring about unity in the country" (with all charges dropped and no admission of guilt).
I thought I would provide some added colour and commentary to this. First of all, for those of you who have read my blog sections dealing with the Netanyahu trial in the past, the evidence against Netanyahu is overwhelming (in at least in two out of the three cases). This blog has stated all along that this case would never wind up with a verdict. It would either end with a plea bargain deal, a pardon - or worst case (from a procedural point of view) some type of legislated end to the trial. I came to the these conclusions because the State had to demonstrate a very high likelihood of getting a guilty verdict before proceeding with the trial and the State, in this case, went through three different preliminary inquiries to do that. Netanyahu's legal team has tried every trick in the book to delay the trial and especially his cross-examination. During the actual cross examination sittings, he has had to leave early for every type of reason ranging from urgent State meetings - to - yes - a dental hygienist appointment. But now that the war is on a much slower burner, the Court has asked to run the trial three days a week and get it finished. It is nearing conclusion.
Netanyahu's best chance for a favourable plea bargain deal was earlier on - before his cross- examination. His lawyers apparently submitted a request to open discussions with the State prosecutor's office - but the parties could not agree on terms. The State wanted to insist that any plea bargain deal include a term that Netanyahu be convicted of offences including Moral Turpitude (like a felony conviction). This would preclude Netanyahu from running again for office. He was unwilling to agree.
Now the trial is getting closer to a conclusion. Netanyahu's cross-examination is close to ending. Once it is over, there will be reply evidence from the State - and then closing argument. Although Netanyahu's team says that the trial would otherwise continue for "years" - this simply does not seem to be the case. The end is nigh as they say.
So, to use a football analogy - Netanyahu's team decided now was the right time to throw a "hail Mary" - or since it is Israel - let's call it a "Hail Miriam." Of course, he sprinkled his request with language that he would rather continue on with the trial until the end and that this is really for the good of the state. But c'mon - we can easily look past that language. This is clearly a very desperate move. Elections are coming up before the end of 2026, Netanyahu's trial is still ongoing - and he and his team know or suspect that they have a very small chance of winning the trial.
As you may recall, President Trump has become involved personally - by requesting a pardon for Netanyahu on several occasions ("Believe me, I know all about the importance of pardons for innocent, unfairly framed public figures and politicians...")(Okay, he didn't really say that...). Trump's involvement included the unprecedented step of sending a formal letter from the White House to the State of Israel asking for a pardon. ("I am asking for a friend...."). The response from the President of Israel was two fold - (1) In Israel - the person seeking the pardon has to submit it themselves; and (2) unlike the U.S. you cannot get a blanket pardon in Israel - you can only get a pardon where there has been a conviction and/or an admission of guilt. The Presidential pardon powers in Israel are much more limited than in the U.S. (I won't get into this at any length now but I will say that anyone with money who always wanted a pardon in the U.S., even a prospective one, probably has the best chance of getting it now under the current administration.....so start setting up those "GoFundMe" pages if you haven't done so yet...). Although in fairness, Presidents Obama and Biden also handed out pardons like Halloween candies....
So Netanyahu was left with three choices. One was to legislate his trial away. While some of his partners might have supported this - some wouldn't and it is doubtful he could get a majority in the Knesset for that - even with his "totally right wing" government. The second choice was to cut a soft plea bargain deal - but the State is not prepared to go along. He has been trying to replace the Attorney General but it is a difficult process in Israel since there are procedural hurdles to follow. A friendly AG might be more inclined to give him a better deal. For the now the State still wants there to be a significant conviction as part of any deal. The third alternative is a pardon. Generally, under Israeli law, Netanyahu would need to agree or be convicted of some offences to then get a pardon. So this might form part of a three -way negotiation with the State prosecutor and the President - whereby there would be a conviction and a pardon all as part of a package.
Should be very interesting But I continue to maintain that there will never be an actual verdict in this trail - other than a negotiated one. And I do now say that the end of this trial, one way or the other, will come before the next election, scheduled for October 2026.
Ultra Religious Military Exemption
As the next election approaches, the ultra-religious have been clamouring to take advantage of their current position in government - and get a law that exempts most if not all of the ultra-religious from the army. This has been a major issues for quite some time in Israel. I am not going to get into extensive detail - perhaps that is for another blog.
In short, together with the founding of the State, Israel's first Prime Minister Ben Gurion entered into an agreement that a small number (I think it was 15,000) of the most committed ultra-orthodox students would be granted a military exemption to continue their studies for the sake of Judaism and the State. Much like the state might exempt certain exceptional athletes, artists, musicians or other incredibly talented people in different disciplines (even though these people generally still serve in the army). However, over the years - the numbers exploded and the ultra-orthodox came to view the deal as meaning that none of them are obligated to go to army. Their numbers have climbed disproportionately and the army needs manpower (and womanpower). And other Orthodox Jews serve in the army - even claiming that they are required to do so by Jewish religious law - to defend themselves.
The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled on several occasions that the State cannot exempt all the ultra-religious as this would be unfair - to the rest of Israelis.
This whole issue has been a hot potato since the ultra-religious form a significant part of Netanyahu's coalition and are demanding a new exemption bill as a condition of supporting Netanyahu.
So this week, one of Netanyahu's Ministers, Boaz Bismuth, presented a "Draft Bill" that more or less makes it possible for most ultra-religious to avoid army service. The problem is that even Netanyahu's own Likud members do not seem willing to support the bill, let alone some of the other coalition partners. It may be that the whole government will collapse over this issue - and this will send the country to the polls ahead of schedule. Perhaps this is how Netanyahu would like things to happen - so that he can partially run against the exemption bill - even though his own government is proposing it. Or perhaps he will run and say that he tried to pass it but needs even more right wing support from the Haredim to be able to do so. Hard to say.
War Picture
Although things in Israel are on a "slow burn" in terms of all of the conflicts, nothing is really settled. Hezbollah is trying to rearm and rebuild in the North while Israel is trying to help the Lebanese establish a government without Hezbollah and with some level of stability. There have been skirmishes in the north and things could develop into more significant fighting at any time.
Likewise, Syria is very unstable. They are not in any position to open large scale fighting with Israel (unless backed by Turkey or Iran) but the instability may well lead to hostility. Israel is very much hoping that Syria can reach some level of stability and then perhaps everyone can try to move to a deal whereby Syria joins the Abraham accords. I am not sure whether this is a fantasy at this point in time but let's hope that it is something possible that is getting closer.
Iran is "rebuilding" and hoping to rearm and making threats to "completely destroy Israel" the next time around. So until the Iranian regime falls and is replaced by something that actually cares for its citizenry, Iran is likely to be an ongoing threat to Israel and to the rest of the word.
Gaza
Reports from earlier today state that Hamas is consolidating its power over many areas of Gaza, collecting taxes and reestablishing its authority. Part of the Trump deal was that Hamas would not run Gaza and that international authorities would ensure that this was the case. But no international bodies are coming forward and Hamas is trying to rearm. Some voices in Israel are stating that Israel may have to completely occupy Gaza in order to replace Hamas with an authority that can run the strip in a way that is conducive to a long term peace arrangement.
Judea and Samaria
Meanwhile, there are reports of quite a bit of unprovoked violence by residents of Judea and Samaria (referred to by some as the "West Bank."). My blog is not part of "hasbara" and I call a spade a spade. Those who are launching unprovoked attacks against Palestinian residents in Judea and Samaria - are basically Jewish terrorists. Sorry if you don't like the language. In my view, they should be arrested immediately and subject to the full weight of the law. Perhaps it is not surprising that these things are taking place since the current Minister for Police Affairs - Itamir Ben Gvir - is himself an extremist who was deemed unfit for military service. It may only be that with a change in government - the State will take proper action to stop these attacks.
Increasing Tourism
Since the end of the war (or the pause in the war, if you prefer), more and more airlines have resumed flights to Israel and more and more tourists are arriving. We had an incredibly warm November - with temperatures in the range of 28c (83F) through most of the month. Apparently, many tourists arrived, which was great for the economy and for the mood in the country. I hope that we will be able to continue with this relatively stable situation and that more and more tourists will arrive - and enjoy the many wonderful things that there are to see and do here.
Direct Flights
Air Canada has now been flying direct between Tel-Aviv and Toronto and will soon expand to include Montreal. I will be taking advantage of one of those flights tomorrow on my way back to Toronto. Interestingly it is now 12 hours and 10 minutes from Tel Aviv to Toronto. I am quite sure that it was closer to 11 hours 30 minutes when the Dreamliners first started flying from Tel-Aviv to Toronto. Not sure why it is longer now but I'm fairly sure that I remember correctly.
As you may have heard, Air Canada is changing its Aeroplan system effective January 1, 2026, and making it much more difficult for many people to gain frequent flyer status. Essentially, they are moving to a system that will be based almost exclusively on dollars spent rather than miles flown. So for those of us who mainly fly back and forth between Toronto and Tel-Aviv - or other similar long distance commuting trips - it will be very difficult to get the same status.
I am hoping that I will make Air Canada's "Super-Elite" status by December this year - but that will probably be the last year I can do it - unless there is some other dramatic change. Unfortunately, there are no better options - since El Al is not flying direct to Toronto and I would prefer to avoid transferring if I can. I have had no choice since October 2023 but I am now thrilled to have an option to fly direct, even if it is a bit more expensive.
Worldwide Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Activism
Given that there are only about 15-16 million Jews in the world and more than a billion Muslims, it is perhaps not surprising that the Jewish State of Israel is very unpopular around the world. That is not to say that Israel does not have Muslim friends - in fact the Abraham accords have demonstrated that several Muslim countries are happy to be friendly with Israel - and we hope that will be the case for more and more of the Muslim world.
But there are certainly a percentage of Muslims that fall into the extremist camp - and many of those seem to have emigrated to various countries around the world and are now supporting and advocating for anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel policies.
Since October 2023 - Toronto has seen all kinds of outrageous anti-Jewish acts including attacks and vandalism on schools, synagogues, Jewish owned stores, restaurants and businesses - and demonstrators in Jewish residential neighbourhoods - and all kinds of other actions including "encampments" at universities. Generally, this has all been met with silence by anti-Israel Mayor Chow (who just last week raised a Palestinian flag at City Hall - but refuses to attend the annual Walk for Israel event).
Much of this has also taken place all over the U.S. and in many other countries. It's astounding that New York City, the city with one of the world's largest Jewish populations (think Warsaw before World War II) has now elected a pro-BDS, anti-Israel mayor. Frightening.
While it is easy enough to blame Israel and its current government, I don't think that "blaming the victim" is the proper approach to dealing with extremists. These "demonstrators" who cover their faces and shout violent slogans, take over universities and other public property - should be arrested and punished. The constitutional right to protest does not include the right to harass, to advocate violence or to "occupy" public and private places and certainly does not include the right to commit acts of vandalism and violence. At a minimum any "encampments" or "demonstrations" in inappropriate places should immediately be broken up and cleared - wherever they occur.
Chanuka Coming - Donuts Are Here
As I have written in some past blogs - the big sign of Chanuka approaching is the sudden appearance of every possible kind of donut across the country. Donuts with every possible topping, filling and colour. We don't really have any Chanuka decorations and certainly no "Chanuka bushes" (I think that is mostly limited to the U.S.) but we have donuts everywhere.
Interestingly, potato latkes (which always represented Chanuka for me as I was growing up) are not nearly as ubiquitous as donuts. I guess neither of them are particularly healthy - but I have always had a soft spot for fresh latkes. Both of my grandmothers (z"l) used to spoil me (and my siblings) whenever they had the chance by whipping up a batch - seemingly an unlimited quantity. My mother also knew how much we loved them and would make them from time to time - especially during Chanuka. Maybe I will get a chance to make some for my parents while I am in Toronto this time (I tend to make a bit of a mess but my cooking is pretty decent).
Here in Israel, it falls on me and my wife to make them now - which we enjoy doing once or twice a year. One batch of spicy Yemenite latkes with hot peppers and "hawaij" a curry type mixture - and one batch Ashkenazi style with matza meal, salt, pepper and maybe a bit of sugar and baking powder.
We will probably buy a few donuts since neither of us feel like deep frying a batch of donuts.
Recommendation of the Day for those Visiting Israel
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| Hula Valley Nature Reserve |
The sanctuary offers a special mini-bus tour that holds about 40 people per bus, booked in advance, and takes place starting about an hour before sunset. (There is also a sunrise tour - but I haven't been on that one). The bus is cut in half so that all forty people are facing one side. The tour takes people behind the scenes to areas where the public is generally not allowed. You are able to see thousands of birds arriving in the area for the evening. It is an amazing spectacle. We have had the good fortune of doing this twice - including once in November 2025. Both times, I can only say that it has been awesome and I am ready to go again any time. (Including with visitors - we will be happy to take you if you would like to join us).
I appreciate that there are many more things to write about, especially since I haven't been writing as often. But I am going to call it a day for now and say that I hope to see many of you soon - whether in Toronto, Israel or elsewhere in the world.
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