Hamas Launches Surprise War on Israel from Gaza

It is very difficult to write anything today but I think it is important to provide some kind of update from my perspective, here in Israel.  There is still a great deal of uncertainty - about everything that happened yesterday, about what is happening today and what is going to happen in the coming days, weeks and even months.  I am not going to be able to address much of that uncertainty but here are a few of my comments.  Whatever I am writing now is based on information as of Sunday morning, October 8, 2023 at  noon - or 5 a.m. EST.  Information is likely to updated throughout the coming days and beyond.

The Hamas Surprise Attack

As you have probably heard, Hamas, the terrorist group that runs the Gaza trip, launched a major surprise attack against Israel yesterday morning.   It was Simchat Torah in Israel - the day of "Rejoicing of  the Torah" - one of the happiest days on the Jewish calendar, when observant Jews are in synagogue - singing, dancing and marking the end of the fall Holy Day period (which runs from Rosh Hashanah until the end of Sukkot).

From available information, the Hamas attack was carried out in several different ways.  One part of the attack was to launch thousands of missiles directed at civilian areas across the country.  Secondly, waves of Hamas fighters broke down border fences and crossed into Israel and drove towards 22 different Israeli towns and small cities surrounding or nearby Gaza. Other Hamas groups used paragliders and landed in different locations from the air.  Still others arrived from the sea.

The goal of these attacks was to target civilians primarily and to kill or take hostage as many people as possible.

Some groups of  these Hamas terrorists arrived at a "Nature Party" where hundreds of young Israelis were our partying.  Mostly  teenagers and others in their early 20s.  The terrorists opened fire on these unarmed kids and killed many of them.  Several were injured, many severely.  Some were taken captive by Hamas and apparently brought back to Gaza.  There is video footage of some of the murders, some of the hostage taking - posted by Hamas personnel.  We don't yet know exactly how many people were killed at this gathering, how many were taken hostage and how many are still in the hospital. Many are missing - and their parents, family members and friends are doing everything possible to try and find them. (Since the time I started writing this, a group of these people was found hiding - more than 30 - who were thought to have been killed or taken hostage - they seem to be fine, physically.  Most of them are apparently foreign workers from Thailand).

Other  Hamas groups went to most of the 22 different towns and cities and began going from door to door, breaking in to homes and killing civilians.  In some of these towns, police and reserve soldiers grabbed their weapons fought back. In one case, a father grabbed his weapon (he was a reserve duty soldier) and killed two terrorists in his living room).  Many police officers were killed in these exchanges. Some people went and locked themselves in their bomb shelters - which have extremely thick,  inside-locking  doors.  Many civilians were killed as well as some soldiers and police officers.  A large number were also taken hostage, again, apparently brought to Gaza.

Some Hamas groups attacked certain military bases - including, in particular, one training base, where several military personnel were killed including at least one new recruit.   

Other terrorists may have hidden themselves somewhere.  We still don't know exactly how many entered Israel,  how many are still here, or what else they have planned.  Israeli official reports indicate that more than 250 terrorists have been killed and many more captured.

As of now, Israeli reports indicate that between 400 and 450 Israelis have been killed, the vast majority civilians. More than 2000 people have been injured, many of whom are still in serious or critical condition. At least 100 Israelis have been taken hostage and brought back to Gaza.

There were three different hostage situations within Israel that took all day to resolve - including one where more then 50 people were being held in a Kibbutz  dining hall.  In another situation, terrorists had occupied and were holding the Sderot police station.  According to reports this morning, all three of those situations were resolved and the hostages were released.

For Israel, this was one of the harshest days Israel has had to deal with in its history.  Some 50 years ago, Israel faced a surprise attack on Yom Kippur.  It was devastating and it was an existential fight for the country.  At the time, Israelis were genuinely worried about being  overrun completely.  The fighting, however, in that war, primarily involved Israeli soldiers fighting against  Syrian and Egyptian soldiers.  Ultimately, in that war, the army prevented large scale attacks against civilians.

In 1948, Israeli also grappled with  an  extremely harsh and difficult situation,  which was also genuinely  existential  - and included attacks on and massacres of civilians.

Yesterday's attack was quite different from those situations.  For one thing, so far, the primary target, initially, has been civilians.  The attack was intended to show Israelis that the army cannot protect them from Hamas terrorists.  Although Hamas  "declared war" on Israel yesterday in an "official statement" - it has no illusions that it can pose an existential threat to Israel.  However, it can and did cause severe damage to civilians, to morale and to Israel's military "deterrence."  

Hamas leaders, over the past few months, apparently met with Hezbollah and Iranian leaders. It may be that Hamas is hoping that this war will be expanded and that Hezbollah and Lebanon from the north will get involved - and perhaps even Iran.  So far that is not the case, but Hezbollah has a vast array of sophisticated missiles waiting in Lebanon and if Hezbollah becomes involved, with the backing of Iran, Israel will face an unprecedented type of war.

How Did this Happen?

Hamas carried out a well planned surprise attack.  However, it would seem that Israeli forces are generally geared up to prevent exactly this type of attack.  There are drone and  satellite patrols along the border fence with Gaza.  There are constant marine patrols in the water aided by satellite and drones. And there is constant monitoring of the airspace.

Moreover, there are countless military bases nearby with soldiers ready to spring into  action. 

One rumour making the rounds alleges that Iran launched a cyber attack and shut down our military intelligence systems at the time of the attack yesterday morning.  I have seen  nothing to corroborate these claims.  In any case, cell phones and other communication systems were apparently still working.

I still do not understand how the army was not able to deploy large numbers of troops, immediately, to the cities and towns that were being attacked. For hours, residents of many of these cities were making calls on their  phones, trying to get military help while hiding and trying to protect themselves from the terrorists. It took several hours for help to arrive. I am sure that this will be the subject of examination and inquiry in coming weeks, months and years.

What Next?

Israel is facing many severe  challenges. There are more than 100 captured Israelis who have been brought to Gaza - and it must be at the highest order of priorities to rescue as many of these people as possible.  They are likely to be dispersed in different places in Gaza and this will be no easy task.  

Israel is still working to ensure that all of the 22 cities that were attacked are cleared of terrorists. From reports this morning, there are still some terrorists hiding in these cities - and some who have travelled elsewhere. Finding and neutralizing all of these terrorists is another one of the highest priorities. 

A third priority is securing the land, water and air  borders with Gaza to ensure that more terrorists cannot continue to enter Israel. The security fence is being rebuilt and large numbers of troops are bolstering the  border.

Beyond  these immediate steps, Israel is dealing with a "declaration of  war" from Hamas and will need to launch a full scale offensive to defeat  Hamas. This may take some time to plan and execute, but we would have to anticipate one of the largest scale operations that Israel has ever seen - likely to be launched in the coming days or weeks, if not in the coming hours.

Loss and Tragedy

TV, radio and social media are filled with footage, photos, videos and stories of loved ones who were murdered, injured and taken prisoner.  More than 350 people have been killed  - including at least one high ranking military commander, a mayor, more than 25 police officers and many sons, daughters, spouses, parents, grandparents, and children. The grief is incalculable - as is the anger, frustration, upset and disappointment from so many Israelis. The hospitals are working around the clock to deal with overwhelming numbers of injured.  People are frantically trying to find out what has happened to loved ones who are missing - and to figure out if they have been hospitalized, taken hostage, or  murdered - or maybe they are still hiding somewhere and their phone batteries have died.

Resolve

I would like to say that we have heard or seen reassuring messages from the current Israeli leadership but generally, members of the government have gone AWOL.  There was a brief statement from Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday - but otherwise nothing. The government will need to pull itself together and show resolve and determination very quickly. Opposition leaders, including Ganz and Lapid, have offered to join a temporary "War Cabinet" with Netanyahu - however, so far nothing has come of it. There is quite a bit of concern that Netanyahu is running a government with a range of inexperienced and incapable ministers - from his own Likud party (from which many of the most experienced and capable leaders have left over the past few years) as well as  from two ultra-religious parties (with no military experience) and one ultra-nationalist party (with limited military experience).

Benny Gantz's party (sitting in opposition) includes several experienced military personnel as well as  other experienced former Likud members.  Lapid's party (also sitting in opposition) also includes several experienced personnel. For the sake of the country, it seems that it would make quite a bit of sense for Netanyahu to try and work with these experienced personnel rather put the country at the mercy of his current incompetent and extremist team, who do not seem to have the capacity or capability to manage this properly.

Personal

We were planning to go to shul yesterday for Simchat Torah.  At 6:30 a.m., we were woken up by sirens and had to go to the bomb shelter.  We don't usually open the TV on Shabbat or Holy Days but decided to do so and see what was going on.  We soon began to see the scale of the attack. The government asked people to refrain from gathering in large groups. The mayor of Ra'anana went from shul to shul, early in the  morning, letting people know about the situation. I think it is one of the only times that I have missed going to synagogue on Simchat Torah other than  due to the Covid outbreak.

A missile landed on the street where one of our family members lives. She was in a shelter and is fine but others were seriously injured and a building was destroyed. Another missile hit and destroyed an apartment where a cousin of ours used to live. The current tenant was in a shelter and is fine - but the place has been destroyed. Another family member updated us - to let us know that one of her good friends - just married last year - was killed in battle yesterday.  

Unfortunately, we are likely to hear many of these stories in the coming days.

Many airlines have announced suspension of flights to and from Israel, including Air Canada. So my status at this time is a bit up in the air. I was supposed to fly to Toronto this week but I will have to see how things develop and what if any flights are available - and whether it makes sense to go. I have some specific occasions that I am hoping to attend as well as some work that would best be done in person. But in the circumstances, my plans may have to change.

I have to add that I saw a completely obscene message from the current Mayor of Toronto, who above all referenced "Palestinian Pain and severe loss of life" in her statement about the attack yesterday. This is the type of statement she puts out on a day on which hundreds of civilians were massacred, many at point blank range, by terrorists?  By way of contrast, President Biden offered his complete support for Israel to take whatever measures necessary to deal with the situation. Prime Minister Trudeau offered a much more "lukewarm" statement condemning the attacks. Israel received more helpful messages of support from France, Germany and several other countries.

Despite Biden's reassuring words, there is quite a bit of concern that the ongoing  arrangements between the U.S. and Iran, including the recent release of large amounts of money, have emboldened Iran to ramp up its support for Hamas and Hezbollah.  We may hear more about this down the road but a policy of isolating Iran and boycotting it  would  be much better for the worldwide fight against terrorism than a policy which in any way bolsters and emboldens this extremist Iranian regime.

I'm not going to add comments about other events and stories at this time as it just wouldn't be fitting. Instead I am simply going to add that we are hoping  and praying for the safety of our soldiers, our security forces - and everyone else - as we head into a very uncertain and challenging period that we have now entered.   

After Yom Kippur 2023 - 5784

Shana Tova and "almost Chag Sameach."  Yom Kippur has come and gone and we are now gearing up for the holiday of Sukkot, which starts on Friday night. I didn't get a chance to write a blog before Yom Kippur - and much has happened since then - so I thought I would put this together and  cover  off a variety  of topics.

Yom Kippur in Israel

I suppose we are not supposed to think of Yom Kippur as a "fun" holiday - after all how much fun can it be to  fast (no food or water) for 26 hours while spending 7-8 hours in Synagogue (even more  for  some), much of that standing up?  But Yom Kippur is really a special day - wherever we might be observing it - and all the more so here in Israel.  Here in Israel, pretty much all traffic stops  across the country, other than emergency vehicles and  some non-conformists (it is not "illegal" to  drive).   The airports are closed - and just about everything else is closed.

For the past  15 years or so, we have been participating  in a small community service.  It has been held, at different times, at different people's homes, at a shul we have rented out (that shul itself rents out a school gym because it has too many people to fit in its building).  Usually it is a five or ten minute walk from our place in Ra'anana.  This year, that meant spending  about 10 minutes each way 6 times, in 31-34c heat - with high humidity.  As we were walking through the streets, we passed by many different people on their way to shul, many dressed all in white, from head to toe.  Very few actually wearing suits, which is a good thing in light of the heat.  

Of course we also saw  hundreds of kids with their bicycles, some  accompanied by parents or other adults, many on their own, taking advantage of the car-free streets to ride around the city - or even to go and ride on empty highways.  For those who are observing Yom Kippur in a religious way and  for those  who "observe" in a non-religious way -  it is a special day for all.

For Israel, our service is somewhat unique.   Although we cover most of the traditional  liturgy, including the Torah readings, haftarah readings and different prayer services, using traditional tunes ("nusach") our service is a fully egalitarian, Conservative ("Masorti") service.  While egalitarian is the norm in most Conservative and Reform congregations in the U.S. and Canada, it only represents a small minority of  the shul-going public in Israel.  Here the vast majority of synagogues follow Orthodox traditions and are decidedly non-egalitarian.

With the higher than normal heat, an outdoor service - and the fact that I was the one leading Kol Nidrei and Neilah this year - as well as as assisting with the morning services,  I have to say that I was a bit thirstier than usual this year.  But we made it through, I was able to get a reasonably decent sound from our Shofar at the end - and we enjoyed a tasty community break-fast with our fellow congregants.

As we were walking home, we could already hear the sounds of clanging metal bars as people were starting to assemble their Sukkot -  temporary booths for the festival of Sukkot which starts only four days after Yom Kippur.

Now on a side note - even though I should have been all "shul-ed out" by this point - I decided to turn on the Park Avenue Synagogue stream and watch the PAS Neilah service.  (Sorry to my Toronto Beth Tikvah community...).  That was about 12:30 a.m.  at night here - well after the holy day had ended in Israel.  Although musical instruments in a shul are not necessarily my thing (I don't really know of many, if any other conservative shuls that use them other than PAS), I have to say that it is a real pleasure to watch Hazan Azi Schwartz.  It was really a musical treat.

In addition, Rabbi Cosgrove ran a flawless service.  I was particularly moved by his near closing discussion of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, which forms part of the Musaf service in the morning of  Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.   Unetanah Tokef is the "centrepiece" of the Yom Kippur Musaf service -  and, among other things, the source for Leonard Cohen's "who by fire."  In very short - I think you could probably still watch the service on the PAS site if interested - Cosgrove - explained that the final lines of the prayer "Prayer, Repentance and  Acts of Charity can cancel the harshness of the decree" is intended to mean that by doing great things with the time we have in this world - we can lessen the harshness of the reality that  our time is limited and there is a great deal of uncertainty - even if we can't change those facts themselves.  I hope that does some justice to Rabbi Cosgrove - but I thought it was really a wonderful and meaningful discussion near the very end of Yom Kippur.

Some Current Events

As  usual, there is a great deal going on here in Israel, and I will just comment on a few things.

Tel Aviv Yom Kippur Incident

I could write a whole blog about this one but here is my very short version.  A group called "Rosh Yehudi" - the Jewish Head (Probably taken from a Yiddishe Kop ) - announced that it wanted to run an Orthodox prayer service in Dizengoff Square.  The Tel-Aviv City council authorized the service provided that there was no mehitzah put up - i.e. that there was no physical barrier erected between men and women - which is a normal feature in an Orthodox shul.  The Tel Aviv City council noted that there are some 500 shuls in Tel-Aviv, mostly Orthodox and that the City Centre is a public place, open to all, without barriers.  Rosh Yehudi tried its luck in court and lost.  The court upheld the ban on erecting a mehitzah in a public square.  Well wouldn't you know it, Rosh Yehudi and its Rabbi (who has gotten himself  into all kinds of trouble with a torrent of homophobic comments) decided to show up and run the service with a mehitzah anyways, in Dizengoff Square - the heart of Tel-Aviv.  Many people in the square decided to sit wherever they pleased and disregard the mehitzah.  It turned chaotic and became a huge disruption.  TV and radio stations are discussing it around the clock.   And now Itamar Ben-Gvir, cabinet member from the Religious Zionist party (and current Minister of National Security in the Netanyahu government) has announced that he is going to bus in hundreds of worshippers and run a service with a mehitzah in Dizengoff Square  in defiance of the court order on Thursday night.  Even some of his coalition partners, including Simcha Rotman (who is fairly extreme himself) and Bezalel Smotrich (who is an off the charts fanatic) are calling Ben-Gvir's plan "provocative" and "unnecessary."  If Ben-Gvir goes ahead - things may get  completely crazy in Tel-Aviv on Thursday night.  Some Ben-Gvir supporters called "the Family" (as in the Mafia family) have announced they will come and  "participate."  Among other things, Ben-Gvir is really trying  to  ignite a religious war - there  is no other objective way to look at it.   **Breaking news update - Ben-Gvir or his spokespeople have announced that he has cancelled his proposed event for Thursday night.  I would imagine that for Ben-Gvir this amounts to a tactical delay rather than  any kind of change in policy.

US Visa Waiver Program

As you might know, Israelis have generally required visas to visit the U.S. unless they have another  passport that is part of the Visa Waiver Program.  It can be notoriously difficult for Israelis to get their U.S. visas and  can often take months if not years to set up appointments and get through the process.  Over the past few years, U.S. Ambassadors to Israel have been working with Israeli politicians including Bennett, Shaked, Lapid, and  now Netanyahu to get Israel into the VWP.  One challenge is that Israel would be  required to treat all Americans equally when they arrive in Israel - including Palestinian Americans living in the West Bank and in Gaza - even those who might be a security threat.  Nevertheless, Israeli officials announced this week - that the program will come into effect as early as October 2023 - and Israelis will no longer need visas to visit the U.S.  U.S. officials have called the announcement premature - but it looks like it is coming.  Maybe we  will now run into some  fellow  Israelis when  visiting New York City?

Israeli-Saudi Arabia Normalization

Prime Minister Netanyahu is on an all-out blitz campaign to try to bring about a  peace deal and "normalization" with Saudi Arabia - at as low a cost as possible.  Certainly, some Israelis have already been showing up in Saudi Arabia for events - and planes are flying over Saudi Arabia from Israel as we speak.  

We do not know all of the details of what is being negotiated.   But the Saudis have apparently been demanding  that Israel make significant concessions towards the  Palestinians and that the Saudis are able to develop a "peaceful" nuclear program.   Netanyahu's coalition partners  have stated quite clearly that they will oppose these concessions.  So Netanyahu is in a bit of a spot - as he tries to juggle U.S. pressure to agree to a deal with domestic pressure to get a deal without giving up anything.   I'm not convinced the deal will happen that quickly - but it would be a major foreign policy accomplishment for Netanyahu and for Biden.

Canada's Parliament Honours a Nazi War Criminal

Canada made the news around the world this week - especially in Israel (as well as Russia and Poland and other places) when the Canadian speaker of the house dredged up a Ukrainian war criminal (former member of the SS - volunteer Ukrainian brigade) and introduced him in the Parliament as a  "war hero" while President Zelensky was visiting from the Ukraine.    Quite sickening really - one would have thought somebody would do a background check. The truly sad part of the story is why Canada admitted so many war criminals after WWII and failed to prosecute them or extradite them.  Very embarrassing. And Sad.

Yom Kippur War Commemoration

As you may now, this year marked the 50th  Anniversary of the Yom Kippur war, in which Egypt and Syria launched a major surprise attack against Israel - causing massive casualties in the Israeli armed forces - and  leading Israel to fear for its existence, especially in the early days of  the war.  Only after several days of fighting, Israel managed to turn things around  in the Golan and in the Sinai.  By the end of the  war, Israel had a strong upper hand - even though the Americans and USSR stepped in and prevented Israel from inflicting serious damage to the Syrian and Egyptian armies.  Israel lost close to 2,700 soldiers in that war, its second highest total  number of  casualties - after the Israel War of Independence  in 1948.

Needless to say, there have been quite a large number of TV shows, movies, radio shows and other media discussing and analyzing different aspects of the war.  I watched one show on Monday night which was put together by Yehoram Gaon, a well  known Israeli singer.  It focused on musicians who spent the 1973 war entertaining troops near the front lines, not knowing whether the soldiers they were entertaining would ever return.  The show included footage of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen z"l, who flew to Israel when the war broke out and spent close to a month singing for soldiers during the war.  It also included footage and interviewers with a whose-who of the Israeli music industry - Gidi Gov, Shlomo Artzi, Chava Alberstein and many  others played prominent roles.   There have been many other shows - about Golda Meir and Moshe  Dayan,  about all of the losses that Israeli suffered, about the link between 1973 and the subsequent peace deal with Egypt and about many other topics.  Unfortunately, I am too busy to watch all of it - but there are some really interesting angles and discussions being presented.

Other Movies

Of course that was an intentional segue.  As you will recall if you read my last blog - I mentioned two of the "Jewish-themed" movies that were being released. I hadn't seen them at the time.

I had a chance to watch Golda late Saturday night - a day before Yom Kippur.   It is a very dark movie.  It is not a biopic about Golda.  Rather it only deals with  how she handled the Yom Kippur war in October 1973 - and how she responded to a commission of inquiry in Israel a year later.  Helen Mirren does an excellent job of bringing  Golda to life - which seemed to be quite an authentic portrayal.  

Many of the scenes show Golda Meir smoking - just about everywhere - in meetings,  in her bed, while speaking to doctors - or while receiving treatments for cancer.   There are many close ups as things seem to have been frozen in time at key parts - perhaps to emphasize the existential importance of some of the decisions Meir had to make.  I don't think it is fair to say that the movie dumps the blame for the war on Meir - certainly Moshe Dayan, and other army officials seem to have made some disastrous errors - the film suggests.  The movie also suggests that Meir laid the groundwork for a future peace deal with Sadat by insisting on recognition and face to face meetings to end the conflict.  Overall, I thought it was an interesting film, even though it has its flaws.

One criticism has been that there are scenes in the movie with background Arabic and Hebrew discussion and no sub-titles.  Maybe that will be corrected.  I understood the Hebrew but I can certainly see how that would be  frustrating.  Another criticism is that it is ultimately a war movie, but with little or  no war footage.  In any case, as a time-limited character study of Golda and how she handled a serious crisis, I thought the film did a good  job.

It would take quite a stretch to tie in this blog to the other recent movie I saw - Adam Sandler's "You are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah."  I am generally not a huge Adam  Sandler fan - and I have to admit I was tempted to turn this off after about  five minutes.  The target audience is probably 11 to 15 year old girls and I guess that is not quite my category.  But as they say, I wanted  to see what all the yichus was about - so I stuck it out and  watched the whole thing.

There are quite a number of cringey scenes, Sandler humour (often not in the best of taste - but maybe suited to 11 to 15 year-olds) - and lots of scenes of the stereotypical bar and bat mitzvah "spectacles" - of the type that one might find in some very wealthy communities particularly in the U.S.  I thought the crazy Israeli DJ - "DJ Shmuly" was a character that I have seen before at bar and bat mitzvahs while my kids were doing a version of the circuit in Toronto.  The Rabbi was also an interesting character - trying to find new and "hip" ways to appeal to the kids.   

I actually thought that the ending was fairly good, if predictable (I won't spoil anything) and the movie wound up being "not as bad as I thought it might be" at the start. Sandler himself was pretty good as a father and some of the other characters performed well.  I wouldn't really want people watching this movie as their only exposure to bar and bat mitzvahs and thinking that this is what it is all about - but the reality for many Jews  whether in North America or in Israel - is that many of these events are all  about the party.

Sports

Israel is aiming to make it into the FIFA 2024 Euro Soccer championships.  They have a reasonable  shot and play some huge games on October 12, 2023 vs  Switzerland and October 15, 2023 vs. Kosovo.  So still a few weeks to go - but these are some enormous soccer matches for Israel's national team.  

In other  interesting news, Israel has been chosen to host the World Under 19 Soccer Championship Finals in 2027.  That should be very exciting.

I have been staying up late this week watching the Blue  Jays try to secure  a spot in the MLB playoffs.  So you know where to find me at 3 a.m.  Israel time - at least for one or two more days.  Hard to watch those games here - without a proper streaming service, though I do have one that seems to work most of the time.

That's about it  for now - time to go and put up the new "downsized" sukkah - for a much smaller crowd this year.  Forecast in Israel is for some very hot weather until at least Monday or Tuesday and then some nice Sukkot rain - scheduled to start even before we say the annual "prayer for rain."   

Wishing  everyone  a joyous, fun Sukkot holiday and a Shana Tova!

Pre-Rosh Hashanah Blog 2023/5784- From Israeli Supreme Court to the Israeli National Soccer Team

There are so many things going on in Israel that it is difficult to keep up.  It would be nice to leave my law career and  become a full-time blog writer - but things are busier than ever in my real world -  so don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.  That (and maybe some travelling) explains the limited number  of articles that I have written lately.  But as Rosh Hashanah approaches - I just could not avoid writing about yesterday's Supreme Court hearing - one of Israel's most monumentous days in its 75 year history - from a legal point of view.  I will try to keep my discussion of the hearing reasonably short and touch on a  few other topics as well before wrapping up with some Rosh Hashanah thoughts.

Supreme Court of Israel Hearing on "Reasonableness"

It would probably take a 10 page blog, at least, to cover this properly but here is the relatively short version.

The Israeli Supreme Court consists of 15 judges.  In most cases, only some of the judges sit in panels for hearings.  The Chief Justice, along with other members, selects the number of judges, in odd numbers to hear cases.  Usually, it is not more than 11 judges, for very serious issues.  So for example, earlier this year, 11 judges sat together to decide whether Aryeh Deri, the thrice  convicted fraudster, could serve as a cabinet member in the  current government.  The ruling was 10-1 against Deri.

As I understand it, yesterday was the first time in Israeli history where all 15 judges took part in a hearing.  For those interested in legal issues - this was like a national championship event of Supreme Court advocacy.  Don't  worry I will  tie in the sports analogy a bit later.

As you might recall, maybe even from reading one of my previous blogs, the current Netanyahu government passed a "Basic Law Amendment" which removes the power of the Israeli Supreme Court to quash (void or nullify) government actions and decisions on the basis of extreme unreasonableness.

There is a long history about how the Supreme Court of Israel came to have this power but it has been a part of Israeli jurisprudence since  the 1950s.  As you may know, Israel does  not have a written  constitution but does have a series of "basic laws."  The short version of all of this discussion is that the Israeli Supreme Court, over time, expanded its jurisdiction to conduct "judicial review" of other legislation using the  "basic laws" which it elevated to quasi-constitutional status.  This means that the Israeli Supreme Court decided (led by then  Chief Justice Aharon Barak) that it had the power to cancel laws or decisions put forward by the Knesset if they violated the basic laws.  One of the main tests was whether the law or action proposed was "extremely unreasonable."  This has been part of the Israeli legal landscape for more than  20 years and maybe closer to 30.  The Supreme Court views this power as one of the checks on the power of a Knesset majority government - which could, otherwise, effectively enact any laws or measures, including those which might trample on the rights of minorities.

But unlike the situation in Canada, for example, where there is a written  constitution that gives the Supreme Court these  powers expressly, the Israeli Supreme Court accrued these powers over time, through precedent, or "took them" as opponents might say.

So the current Netanyahu government decided to try and "set the clock back" or, in other words, overturn 30 years of judicial precedent by enacting a law to reduce the powers of the Court.  They called it a "Basic Law Amendment" to try and give it quasi constitutional status.

Opponents of the legislation  brought a petition to the Supreme Court to strike the law.  In another  bizarre historical first, the Israeli AG is supporting the petitioners and the government retained its own private lawyers.

So yesterday, the Supreme Court conducted a marathon 13 hour session to  hear arguments about what they should do. 

As you might know from reading my blogs - this  type of constitutional, academic, political, philosophical hearing - is the type of hearing that I would have loved to watch and hear (if  not participate in) in its entirety.  Alas I was swamped with other deadlines - and could only watch and listen to parts of it.   But it was riveting!  

Some of the  questions being  discussed....

Where does the  Israeli Supreme Court derive its power to overturn government legislation?

How are the rights of minorities protected in Israel?

How can  the Basic Law be amended? 

Where is the proper balance in a modern democracy between the legislative arm and the judicial arm of government?  

If you weaken the judiciary - is it only the voters that can "oversee" the legislature?

My "short" summary is that I have no idea what the Court will do with this.  It is extremely difficult and complicated and there is no easy answer.  One popular prediction is that the Court will send it back to the Knesset with a need for "amendments" but won't strike  it out entirely.  I do think it will be a split decision and we may wind up with as many as five or six different opinions.   It is almost certain that there will be several hundred, if not thousands of pages to read. 

Apparently, we  can expect a decision within two months, so maybe I will  write  a longer blog analyzing that when in comes out.  I could go on and on about the  hearing but  it would take  me a full day and I'm not even sure you would want to read all of it.  Some of you might...

One of my "mentions of the day" which has attracted quite a great deal of press attention in Israel - is the Netanyahu government's lawyer Ilan Bombach, who asserted that Israel's "hastily drawn Constitution" does not give the Supreme Court the rights it has exercised over its history.  That led to a heated and fascinating exchange.  There is a bit of truth to what Bombach asserted but far more rhetoric, exaggeration and spin than truth, in my view.  We will see if his advocacy approach was effective.  In my  experience, one has to be cautiously assertive, even forceful, while trying to avoid insulting the judicial panel hearing the case outright - but then again, I'm not the one appearing at the Supreme Court.

Sports News

On the same day that the Supreme Court had its hands full - the Israeli National Soccer team played a huge game against Belarus - in its ongoing campaign to earn a spot in the 2024 Euro Soccer Tournament.  A few nights before, Israel had eked out a tie against Romania.  Israel still has to play four more  games - two relatively "easy" ones -  two more difficult.  Sometimes the "easy" ones are the hardest to win.  The games will be  played in October and November - and will determine whether  Israel earns a spot  in the  June 2024 tournament.  From my research, it looks like Israel has not actually played in a major world  soccer tournament since 1970.  There is still a long way to go  but Israel's late goal victory over Belarus yesterday was a huge step forward for the Israeli side.  So the Israeli soccer team was playing some of its most meaningful soccer ever while the Supreme Court was hearing one of its most consequential cases.   Did that tie it in enough?

Entertainment

I was hoping to watch the latest "Jewish Double Header" that so many people  are talking  about - "Golda" and  "You are so not invited to my Bat Mitzvah."  I wanted to include discussions  of both movies in my blog - but that will have to wait until next time.  Very different types of content, of course, - but I'll let you know if there  is a way to tie the two together - other than temporal proximity of their respective release dates and the fact that there is  some  type of Jewish theme or content to both movies.  If you have seen one or both, I welcome all comments.

Podcasts

I used my subway and airline travel time rather productively in June and  July and into  August and listened to all 70 episodes of an Israeli podcast called "The Party of Thoughts."  This is a political, philosophical podcast that addresses contemporary (and not so contemporary) issues in Israel including the nature of the country as a  Jewish and democratic country, competing philosophical ideas about modern democracy, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and many other issues. It is led by Micah Goodman, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and Efrat Rosenberg Shapiro, an excellent and very experienced moderator.  In Hebrew, it is called "Mafleget Hamachshavot" and is available on Spotify.  Goodman and Rosenberg try to  explain different sides on many different issues and try to present a wide range  of viewpoints with empathy, understanding and respect.  They are both self-described Orthodox Jews but many ideas are discussed with a very liberal  bent.  Different podcasts examine  ideas of Jewish religious leaders - from Biblical times through Rambam, Hassidic Rabbis, and more contemporary Jewish thinkers  from Rabbi Avraham Isaac Cook to modern day Rabbis.  Others deal with Israel's legal development and history including Israel's current constitutional status.   Many other issues  are addressed.

The podcast is all in Hebrew - so you should only try to tackle this if your Hebrew is up to the challenge.   If you are interested, Micah Goodman has given a number of lectures in English on YouTube and some are very good.  I wouldn't say that I agree with everything on these podcasts - but I found many of them to be thought provoking, reasonably balanced - and filled with all kinds of references and discussions - of historians,  philosophers, theologians, political scientists and others.  This is not confined to Jewish thinkers or ideas - but includes discussions of far Eastern ideas, Plato, Marx, Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke as well as many other philosophers and other thinkers.  I learned quite a bit and really enjoyed it.  Thanks to my daughter for  the suggestion.  It is apparently a very popular podcast in Israel, listened to many different people, including many on different sides of the political spectrum.

Ultimately, Goodman and Rosenberg propose various types of compromises - for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the current constitutional crisis in Israel - and other issues.  Again, I'm not saying I agree with their proposals  but they are very interesting.

Holidays

I supposed it is now time to get into High Holyday mode.  I have been a bit slow off the mark because of general busyness with my work -  and  some travel and family occasions (happy events).  I don't  have any particular role for Rosh Hashanah (in the past, I have  often read some or all of the Torah readings or lead services) - other than to make a few dishes - including a honey apple cake - thanks to Tori Avey's delicious recipe.

For the following week, I will be leading Kol Nidrei and Neilah tefillot at our community services in a friend's  backyard - so if you (or anyone you know) happen to be in Ra'anana and  would like to join an egalitarian liberal service - let me know.  

That's about it for now - I wish everyone a happy and  healthy New Year - with hopes for good health, peace, less political  tension, more moderation - and lots of laughter.  Shana Tova.

First Step in Israel's "Legal Revolution" - "Reasonableness" Bill Passes

There is much to write about today's events in Israel.  Unfortunately, none of it is good news.  The Israeli Knesset today passed the third and final reading of a bill - called the "reasonableness law."  This was the first major bill that is a part of a collection of proposed laws put together by the current Justice Minister Yariv Levin.  The laws are intended to weaken the power of the Israeli Supreme Court dramatically, reduce its independence and enable the Knesset to override decisions of the Supreme Court (even after the party in power has hand-picked the justices).  

The right in Israel calls this all "judicial reform" while everyone else, from centre-right to left calls it a "legal revolution" or even a "coup."  

I have read various articles attempting to explain away these various proposed changes.  Some commentators have used the United States as the barometer for analyzing the changes and claim that if it only moves the Israeli legal system towards the system in the U.S., it must be a good thing.  Given the recent news about influence peddling in the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the types of decisions the U.S. Court has been releasing, it seems hard to imagine that anyone who is sincerely interested in an independent and robust judiciary would be using the U.S. as a model.  Sorry to offend my U.S. readers.

Others have argued that changing Israeli judicial precedents through legislation is only a way of "restoring balance" to the system and balancing out the power of the judiciary against the power of the other branches of government.  But the Israeli Supreme  Court has actually interfered with the government on relatively few occasions.  For the most part, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the various right wing governments that he has led have enjoyed a great deal of freedom of action and have seen relatively little practical interference from the Israeli Supreme Court even though members of the current government that he leads argue that the country is "ruled" by the Supreme Court.  

But the concern in Israel - and the impetus behind the demonstrations is not one particular bill or law.  If the only law being proposed by the current government was this "reasonableness" law - (which is intended to change Israeli common law and bar judges from using "unreasonableness" or "extreme unreasonableness" as a grounds for judicial review of legislation of governmental action), then the Israeli public might not be so riled up.  

But the current government has 64 seats.  15 of those seats are from the Religious Zionist Party which is mostly made up of xenophobic, homophobic, fascists who would like turn Israel into an Iranian type regime, run according to their version of halacha - Jewish religious law.

Another 17 Knesset Members are from ultra-religious parties.  While these members are mainly interested in obtaining financial support for their religious institutions and their constituents, most of them would also like to see a State ruled by halacha.

Of the remaining 32 Likud members in the current governing coalition - there seem to be several more who are supportive of these extremists.  Yariv Levin, the current Minister of Justice, is one of these members.  His presentation in January 2023, that I have written about previously, was nothing less than a proposal to disembowel the Supreme Court of Israel and leave it with little power to serve as an independent judicial arbiter.

Just yesterday, the leader of one of the Religious Zionist parties, and the current Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir stated that this "reasonableness law" was only the first step - the appetizer - and that the whole main course was yet to be served. Last night - he said "the salad bar is open."  

Surely, of all people, Israelis know what can happen to a democracy when fascists start passing laws.  It can happen quickly and dramatically.  And a sizeable number of Israelis recognize this and are out in the streets demonstrating and protesting.  In fact, they have been demonstrating since January 2023 when Levin first announced his plans - in a press conference that reminded me of a scene from one of the Batman movies where the villain announces his plans to take over the world.

Some have characterized Prime Minister Netanyahu as the "adult in the room" and argued that he would not let Israel become undemocratic.  But Netanyahu has his own concerns.  He is in the midst of a criminal trial and looking to end these proceedings and avoid jail time.  So while some Likud members were pushing him to try and reach some kind of compromise - his right fascist flank was threatening to leave the government and cause it to fall if he were to agree to any kind of compromise.  As a result the third reading of the bill passed 64-56.  No Likud members dared dissent for fear of being the ones to bring down the government.  The opposition Knesset members boycotted the third vote and the bill passed 64-0.

Senior members of Netanyahu's government are talking about next steps.  They have many different plans.  Firing the Attorney General and other non-political office holders in Israel without any concern about judicial interference.  Dismantling the Israeli bar association.  Putting the convicted criminal Aryeh Deri back into office as the Minister of Finance.  Passing a law to allow the current government to appoint all of the judges instead of using a balanced committee.  Passing a judicial override bill to overturn any decisions of the Supreme Court by a simple majority.  And even these laws are only a few of the more than 82 laws that members of this government are proposing.  Oh I forgot the proposed "discrimination law" that allows a company or an individual to refuse to serve others (LBGTQ+? Arabs? Secular Jews? Women?) because of "religious reasons."  (Granted this type of law has been upheld twice in recent years by the current U.S. Supreme Court but I think that was related to my earlier point...)

As a result of all of this, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are protesting.  Two days ago, more than 50,000 Israelis began a two day march from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem - where they arrived in time to protest all day today in front of the Knesset along with hundreds of thousands of others.  But the bill passed anyways - and there are more bills to follow.  I anticipate that the protest movement will now ramp up the type and volume of protests.

One of the discussions has centred on military service.  Israel has a "people's army" where everyone is conscripted (even though there are many exemptions).  Afterwards, people serve in many different roles in a voluntary capacity.  Many of the volunteers, including Israeli fighter pilots and many others, have announced that they will refuse to appear for purely voluntary missions.  The number of military personnel sharing these sentiments has been growing.  The right wing response is that the army should be totally separate from politics - and that soldiers should report for duty no matter what.  In fact, some would like to pass a new law to deal with these issues and penalize those who refuse to appear for duty.  But the social contract that binds the soldiers to the state and to reporting for duty is based on their understanding that they are reporting to a democratic regime.   A large number of Israeli soldiers will refuse to report for duty if the perception is that they are serving an autocratic regime.   

How and where do we draw the line?  Israeli soldiers do not want to harm the state and want to defend it at all costs from external enemies.  But they do not want to carry out illegal orders or serve as accomplices for a regime that makes illegal or immoral decisions.  We may not be there yet - but in a government that includes 15 far right extremists, some of whom are cabinet members - soldiers are concerned that there may not be any judicial oversight to actions they are now asked to carry out.  That has already started to happen to the Israeli police forces - which are now being overseen by Ben-Gvir.

This government's short-sighted legal "revolution," enabled by Netanyahu out of fear for his own freedom, is causing economic problems as well.  Companies, including Israeli high-tech companies, are talking about leaving or reducing their investments in the country.  Individual Israelis are talking about leaving and finding work elsewhere.  The Israeli Shekel has sunk dramatically against other currencies (it fell by approximately 10% today).  There is a great deal of uncertainty and it is likely to get much worse.  Sadly, it appears that Netanyahu's legacy will be one of severe damage to Israel's unity and its fabric as a vibrant democracy - all in the interest of saving his own skin.  One commentator called it "Hanina o Heres" - "Pardon - or Destruction" meaning that Netanyahu would either get himself a pardon or he would take down the whole society with him.

All of this comes just two days before Tisha B'Av, one of the saddest days on the Jewish calendar on which we remember and commemorate the destruction of the first and second temples in Jerusalem.  The standard and traditional Jewish Rabbinical explanation - is that the Temples were destroyed (in 586 B.C.E. and then again in 70 C.E.) because of "baseless hatred" between different Jewish groups.  In an address this evening in Israel, one of the opposition leaders, Benny Gantz, warned that we must learn from the lessons of Tisha B'Av and find ways to work out our differences rather than take actions that could lead the country to an ever greater crisis.  Sadly, there is no sign, at this point, that Netanyahu's current government has any interest in approaching these matters reasonably.

I normally try to include some other comments in my blogs about different issues but I think I will leave that to my next blog.  Unfortunately, I have probably been watching and listening to far too much news and that is not giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling to end on a humorous note.

For those fasting this coming Thursday, I wish everyone a meaningful fast and I hope that Jewish people everywhere, though especially in Israel, will take the time to think about where we are today and what we need to do to stop things from deteriorating further.

Impending "Balagan" in Israel

It is Saturday night, the  8th of July - and things in Israel are heading towards a very intense week - and likely even more intense months to follow.  I haven't been writing too much lately even though there is definitely no shortage of material.  But I thought I would cover off a few topics with a bit of my usual spin.  I'll deal with the current legislation being advanced by the  Israeli government, the protests against it, Bibi's trial, Jenin and maybe some more upbeat topics...like sports, travel and whiskey...

The "Legal Revolution" or "Judicial Reforms"

As you might recall, the current Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, held a press conference in January 2023 to announce that he was going to be putting forward a series of bills in the Knesset to "overhaul" the judicial system.   I have discussed these bills previously. The short summary is that the combined effect of Levin's initiatives would be to reduce dramatically the power and independence of the Supreme Court in Israel, and the Israeli judiciary in general.  Power would be transferred, effectively, to the governing coalition which would be able to advance legislation, make appointments and take other actions without concern about judicial review or interference.  I am not going to rehash the full legal discussion here over each of the initiatives  - perhaps that is a discussion for another day - though you can find  numerous articles about the pros and cons of the different pieces  of legislation on various online  sites.  

Much of the Israeli public was shocked by Levin's  proposals.  The proposals were not a major part of the Likud platform in the election campaign and this was not an announcement to convene a committee or begin a public consultation process as to how  best to reform the judicial system. Rather it was a shot across the bow by Levin - announcing that he was simply  going to proceed to eviscerate the current Israeli  justice system.

Protests began across Israel, which ultimately led Prime Minister Netanyahu to put the Levin proposals on hold until after Pesach, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut, and other Israeli holidays and days  of observance.   Netanyahu agreed to  a proposal to hold consultations  under the  auspices of the President of Israel, Isaac  Herzog - to see if agreement could be reached on some changes to these proposals.  However, it seems apparent that Levin and his supporters had no real intention of diluting the proposals.  The "consultations" failed, as planned, and the governing coalition is now bringing the legislation back to the Knesset.

The first piece of legislation is the "reasonability law."  In Israel, judges have developed a  precedent for administrative review of legislation and/or governmental actions, where the actions taken can be challenged and overturned if they are deemed  "extremely unreasonable."  (Like the "patently unreasonable" standard for judicial review in Canada by a court in examining the decision of an administrative tribunal).  The Levin proposal is to legislate the cancellation of this line of authority and bar judges from using "reasonability" as a grounds for judicial review of governmental action or authority.  It is a major incursion into the sphere of judicial independence and it is intended to weaken the judiciary dramatically.

The other pieces of legislation are waiting in the wings.  This "reasonability law" is more or less the same bill that Levin proposed back in January - despite the "consultation" process.  

There is a great deal of opposition to this bill, which is seen by many as a major attack on the independence of the judiciary - and thus, a major attack on Israeli democracy, which, like any vibrant democracy, relies on an independent judiciary to remain democratic.  The bill is scheduled for a first reading in the Knesset on Monday July 10, 2023.  In response, the protest movement has called for massive demonstrations across the country including efforts to close highways, the airport, and other commercial activity if the bill passes its first reading.  (Like in Canada, the bill requires three readings to pass).  As of tonight, a range of companies and other organizations have started announcing that they will support the protests.  Hard to predict what is going to happen, but it looks like it is going to be very chaotic.

The Netanyahu coalition is also planning to proceed with a piece of legislation that is even more outrageous.  As you may have heard, the Israeli Bar Association recently held an election to elect its president.  A candidate supported by Bibi and his Likud party was roundly defeated by a candidate who opposes the judicial changes.  The Israeli Bar Association is the equivalent of the Law Society of Ontario (and other places) - an independent body, though a creature of enabling legislation - that governs lawyers and their conduct.  In response to the loss of the election, the governing coalition announced that it was putting forward legislation to disband the Israeli Bar Association, set up a different organization - and appoint the President.  Unfortunately, I am not making this up.   Part of the Likud justification is that the Bar Association is allowed to nominate two candidates to sit on the Judicial Appointments Committee - and Bibi and Levin would rather have pro-Bibi committee members (even though they could  not get them elected).  But disbanding the Bar Association?  Seriously?  Unfortunately, this is reminiscent of legislation that one might find in 1930s Germany.  If this bill passes a first reading in the Knesset, I would imagine that Israeli lawyers will pull out all the stops to fight this.  We might see courts shut down, lawyers on a general strike - and all kinds of  other protest measures.

Just these two pieces of proposed legislation are causing so much rancour that there is already a sense that all hell is about to  break loose.  But the  government also has a whole series of other bills that it wants to pass.  I am not going to go through all of them now - but the overall effect of the proposed legislation is odious.

The Demonstrations

Demonstrations against the current government's proposed legislation have been taking place since Levin's announcement.  The demonstrations peaked just prior to Bibi announcing a temporary freeze of the judicial overhaul.  Now that the legislation is being brought back, the demonstrations have been ramping up.

Early this year, things were almost uniformly non-violent.  The Israeli police responded in fairly mild fashion.  There were few arrests and very few incidents of violence, police brutality or major confrontations.  

Since then, the extreme right elements of the current coalition have been calling on the police to expand the use of force against protesters (even though the  protests have been non-violent).  The police chief refused to accede to these orders and resigned.  He was replaced by a police chief more sympathetic to the current government and the police have begun using water canons and greater force to disperse protests.  There have also been incidents of pro-government supporters showing up at protests and attacking protesters. There were three incidents of car rammings this week by pro-Bibi supporters attacking anti-government protestors.    Several protesters were hurt, some seriously.  So far, none of the attackers have been charged.

The former police chief warned that police escalation in the use of force would eventually bring about increasingly widespread protests - which might even become more violent.  I guess we will see what happens in the coming weeks.  If the government proceeds with its plans to enact the "reasonableness law" and disband the Israeli Bar Association, I think things here are likely to get very crazy and unpredictable.  I'm not actually convinced that even Bibi will actually proceed with all of these plans but he seems to want to get something passed to appease his far right coalition partners.

Jenin, Terrorism and Pogroms

Over the past few months, Israel has faced a dramatic rise in terrorist attacks on civilians, especially in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") but also in other areas.  Much of this violence was tied to terrorist groups based in Jenin, a city and refugee camp in the Territories.  As you may have read, Israel launched a fairly large scale military operation in Jenin last Sunday to fight back against this wave of terrorism.  It was a short operation that ended Tuesday night.  Large caches of weapons were confiscated.  Several members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed and some were arrested.  It is unclear whether this incursion will have accomplished any of its goals but Bibi's coalition  members were urging Bibi to take some  type  of action in the face of a widespread string of attacks.

Aside from Palestinian terrorism against civilians in Judea and Samaria - and in other areas in Israel, there have also been several attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.  Some of these attacks have involved looting of Palestinian villages, beatings of civilians and other violence. Many  Israelis have called these attacks "pogroms" and have urged the Israeli police to arrest and prosecute those responsible.  A small number of settlers have been arrested.  I'm not sure what charges, if any, have been formalized.

Some of Bibi's coalition members, including Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in particular, but also others, have been sympathetic to the settlers and dismissive of any attempts to punish the perpetrators.  This is also something that may escalate dramatically in the coming weeks and months - the level of violence in Judea and Samaria - going both ways.  Extremist Palestinian groups are calling for a "third intifada" and settler  groups are calling for increased use of force against Palestinians.  Let's just say I haven't heard any rosy  predictions.

Bibi's Trial

In  the midst of all of this, Netanyahu's criminal trial has been plodding along.  I have not been attending the trial and so I only have bits of information coming  from released parts of testimony and the  analysis  of several  commentators.

A couple of weeks ago, the judges hearing the case apparently  called on both sides to try and negotiate a deal  of some sort - and suggested that it would be "difficult" for the prosecution to succeed in proving  bribery in at least one  of the cases.

On the  other hand, the key state witness, Arnon Milchen, gave  testimony over the past couple of weeks about the  various  gifts that he  gave to Bibi and what he  got in return.  Milchen seems to have suggested that he is still good friends  with Bibi.   He testified remotely in London - where  Sara Netanyahu showed up to watch. Before the start of one day of Milchen's testimony,  she gave him a big hug and a kiss - trying to show the judges that Milchen only gave the  Netanyahus all the gifts because  they were such good friends.  

According to some analysts, Milchen  was easily manipulated by Bibi's lawyers during  cross examination and wound up giving dramatically different testimony  than the evidence  he gave  investigators during  the  initial  investigation.   This is a problem  for the prosecutors  who have been relying on Milchen as a  reluctant "state  prosecution witness."

If there is no deal, this trial might still continue on for two or  three more years, according to some analysts.  It sounds very entertaining but  hard to predict  what will happen.  I still stand by my  original prediction that there will probably be some kind  of deal before there is ever a final verdict - or Bibi's governing coalition  will succeed in legislating his legal problems out of existence.  That being said, Bibi's defence may have helped themselves quite a bit by taking  advantage of this reluctant state witness - or perhaps, by working with him outright.

Sports News

As you might have heard -  it has been a great year for  Israeli football (soccer to  those of us from the  other  side of  the  pond).  First, the Under 20  men's team wound  up taking 3rd place in the U20 World Cup. That was incredible -  especially Israel's huge upset win over Brazil in the quarter finals.  After that, Israel's U21 team made it to the semi-finals in the U21 Euros.  The team was beaten soundly by England - but was a very respectable showing.  As a result, Israel's  national  soccer team has made it into the Olympic games which will take place in Paris in 2024.  Now that is exciting for Israeli football fans.

Aside from the  odd football game - or soccer - whatever, I haven't really watched much in the way of  sports, since it is off-season for ice hockey and  NFL football.   I did watch  the Blue Jays this afternoon (night time in Israel) - as they were "no-hit" by the lowly Detroit Tigers.  The Jays are doing reasonably well  but I have not been watching very many games.  Difficult to do with the time change.  Perhaps I will have the chance to see a few games - or attend in person when I am back in Toronto next week.

I suppose the really big news in sports this year - which has nothing to do with my blog, is the play of generational superstar Shohei Ohtani.  I haven't seen him play this year - but, as you may have seen or heard - he is among the league leaders in batting average, home runs, hits, pitching average, strikeouts,...There are very few players in baseball who pitch and  also play regularly  on the offensive side of the field.  His accomplishments so far this year are super impressive and have led people to start comparing him to the great Babe Ruth.  I think it is early for that - but that gives you a sense of how dramatic his statistics have been.

Israeli Whiskey

I am not sure if I discussed Israeli whiskey previously, but even if I have, I will mention the M & H Distillery once more.  M & H stands for "Milk and Honey."  This single malt distillery in Tel-Aviv has been making some terrific whiskey - including whiskies that have won worldwide whiskey competitions.   I had a great time visiting their distillery recently - and I would strongly recommend a tour there on your next visit to Israel - if you enjoy some decent whiskey.  The accompanying cheese and  bread plate is also pretty tasty.  It's a kosher place - closed on Shabbat of course.  The actual whiskies are sold by the bottle and are not super cheap but the tour and tasting is priced reasonably and is lots of fun. And educational.

Other Travel

As you might know, there are several discount airlines that fly to different destinations in Europe from Israel.  Many of these flights cost less than the price of one night in a hotel here. We recently flew to Rome, Italy  on Wizzair.  I can't say that the flight itself was an enjoyable experience.  Wizzair is about as "bare-bones" as it gets - they don't even serve free water on the 3.5 hour flight - and a "basic" ticket only allows travellers on the plane with a small  knapsack.  If you want to add a trolley type carry on bag - you pay about as much as the cost of the ticket for the bag.

On the other hand, Rome is such a fantastic place to visit that the short flight itself becomes secondary.  I should mention that there are quite a large number of Kosher restaurants now in Rome - including pizza and other dairy places, meat restaurants and even a "Lybian Kosher Restaurant" - called "Little Tripoli."  Rome also has more than 10 active synagogues with daily minyans - and a Jewish museum.  

We certainly visited all of the major tourist sites in Rome as well - and had some fantastic coffee, gelato, food and wine - all over the city - but there is quite a bit more going on now in terms of Jewish culture than there was the last time I visited - though I have to say that was quite a few years ago.

That's about it for now - I hope you have found some of this interesting - and I wish everyone a great summer.  Back in Toronto shortly (if I can get out of the Israeli airport with all of the planned demonstrations) so I may not have another update for a while but I am sure that there is bound to be quite a bit of news coming out of Israel in the months ahead.

Beauty Queen of Jerusalem and Some News Comments

We just finished watching  The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Israeli Season  2.  Wow.  It was intense.  

Beauty Queen is an Israeli historical fiction series that follows the Ermosa  family - a Sephardi Jewish family living in pre-independence Israel.  Part one of the series originally aired in Israel in 2021 - as a 44 part series.  Each episode was about a half-hour long.

Over the first season, the show moved back and forth between earlier and later decades, which some viewers apparently found too confusing.  The series was still a big hit in Israel and Netflix picked it up in late 2021.  Netflix divided the first season into two season of 10 episodes each - of just under one hour in length - and of course added subtitles.  At first, Netflix only released the first 10 episodes but I believe the "second season" was subsequently released.  However, Netflix did  not release it all over the world - only in certain countries.

Last year, we watched the first Netflix season, which made up one half of the first Israeli season - about  20-25 of the 44 episodes, which Netflix edited and turned into 10 episodes of about an hour each.

We were determined  to see  the rest so we found a way to watch the series on YesTV in Israel  - but that meant no English subtitles.  I guess my  Hebrew got a chance to improve somewhat.  In order  to see everything - we had to start watching at about episode 18 and watched through the original 44. 

The series is based on a book by Sarit Yishai-Levi.  I have the book but I admit I have not read it yet, though I probably will very soon.  The first full season - (the first two Netflix seasons) run from pre-World War I to approximately  1940.  The cast is a who's who of Israeli acting including Michael Aloni (one of the main stars of Shtisel), Itzik Cohen (Captain Ayub in Fauda), and a range of other excellent actors including, in particular, Hila Saada (as Rosa), Swell Ariel Or (as the  brilliant Luna), Irit Kaplan (as Mercada) and several others.

The  series deals with a variety of themes and sub-plots.  One constant is the historic backdrop.   The  series follows the  development of the State of  Israel  before  1948 - while it was under Ottoman and  then British  control.  At first, the Ermosa family, like everyone else in the Ottoman area, is seen managing and dealing with the  Turks and Turkish authorities. Following  World War I, this  transitions to British rule and authority.  By the end of  Israeli series II (the latest parts),  we are  at approximately 1943/44 - and still under British control.

A key part of the series is the  story of the  Ermosa family - and its struggles as a family.  Perhaps one  might characterize some of this as "soap opera" type content, including infidelity, dysfunctional spousal relationships, love, parenting, the relationship to religion, gender equality issues and limitations in this time period.   But we found it extremely compelling.  The actors were sincere and believable.  The drama was intense though some episodes were  particularly violent.  Others were emotionally draining.  We couldn't stop watching.

This year, YesTV released the next 26 episodes.   This  will  probably all make up about one season on Netflix when it is eventually released of perhaps 10-13 episodes of one hour each or so.  For  now it is only available in Hebrew so we had to watch it on "Yes On Demand," which we have as part of our cable  package.

We finished it this week.  It was simply intense, emotional, well-acted and thought provoking.  For the newest season, YES changed the format and eliminated the back and forth.  It is now mainly chronological and less confusing that way.  The new season continues the old season themes but also deals with some very difficult issues - including domestic violence, the relationship between the growing Jewish community in Pre-Israel Palestine and the British (including some harsh looks at the "Lehi" group), Jewish-Arab relations during this time period, religious issues, and other related issues, all against a backdrop of World War II  and the horrors taking place in other parts of the world.

I am not going to do a detailed plot analysis here or provide any spoilers but I would say that I think it ranks up at the very top of Israeli productions that I have seen.  I will also say (and this is not intended to be a spoiler) that there are some scenes that are extremely violent, that there is a great deal of tension throughout the series.  The show is emotionally wrenching and draining.  But isn't that what you would want to say about a great production?

Israeli News

I don't intend to provide ongoing details of everything going on in Israel - I would have to become a full time news outlet to do that - and I do have another career....

But here are my few noteworthy items....

The Israeli army fought some of the biggest  battles it has fought in recent times today in Jenin.  It faced significant resistance  from a range of armed Palestinian groups while seeking to arrest some alleged terrorists.  Several Israeli soldiers were wounded, some seriously - and a number of Palestinian fighters were  killed.  This may well be the start of a significant escalation for both sides in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). 

The Israeli Bar Association is  holding its elections tomorrow for a new president.  This has been making quite a bit of news, partially because of the current political landscape across the country.  Some 77,000 lawyers will be voting.  The candidate, who is apparently the current front-runner, is Amit Becher, a staunch opponent of the Levin-Rotman proposals to "reform" the  judicial system and someone who regularly speaks at protests in Tel-Aviv and across the country. Becher is the current interim leader.  His opponent is a former head of  the IBA, Efi Naveh.  Naveh is a supporter of Levin and Rotman.  He is also someone who has been convicted of border fraud -  and charged with a range of other offences including criminal sexual harassment.  (Those charges were  dropped because some of the evidence came from an illegal wiretapping of Naveh's  phone).  Perhaps it is no surprise that someone who has been convicted of a criminal offence is out there running as the biggest supporter of a government that is full of convicts, politicians facing charges - and a leader in the midst of a major criminal trial.  The good news (from my perspective) is that it seems likely that Naveh will suffer a significant loss.  The polls could be wrong and I guess we will see soon.

The current Israeli government continues to flounder around - like a game of Whack-A-Mole.  It seems that every few days, the government has to deal with a crisis emanating from a statement or action of one of its coalition members.  Last week, the government faced a secret vote in the Knesset over who to appoint to the Judicial Committee (charged with appointing judges in Israel).  Netanyahu decided to pull his candidates and have nobody elected.  (To help  his own political maneuvering) One of his own Likud party members Tali Gottlieb, decided to run anyways against Netanyahu's wishes. She failed to get the votes which was quite embarrassing for the coalition.  On the other hand - the Yesh Atid (opposition candidate) Karine Elharrar won a seat, which means that several Likud members voted against their leadership in this secret ballot.  Netanyahu reacted by barring any meetings of the committee for an indefinite period.   So it is unclear when any judges will be appointed.  The whole thing was a major embarrassment for this current coalition - though not enough to jeopardize its governing status.

Apparently, the government intends to push ahead with plans to bring back its "judicial reform."  If they do proceed, I expect that we will see massive protests across the country.

Sports and Other Distractions

Just to finish off the news from my last post - as you might know, the Israeli national soccer team lost to Uruguay 1-0 in the semi-final of the U20 World Cup.  Uruguay went on to win by beating Italy.  Israel played a consolation game against South Korea and won 3-1, which meant third place and a bronze medal for the Israeli side.  This was a huge accomplishment for the Israeli team and for the Israeli national soccer program in general.  One of Israel's best international tournaments ever - if not the best.

I didn't really wind up watching  much of the Las Vegas-Florida NHL finals or of the Miami-Denver NBA finals.  From my perspective as a sports  fan, it is a pretty low time of the year now with all of these playoffs having concluded.  Sure the Blue Jays look pretty good  some nights - but no NFL until September (real games I mean), no NHL  until October etc.,  I guess this gives me the chance to catch up on my watching of  some great TV series, read some books, get lots of  work done - and maybe try to lose some  weight.  And of course play some games on the amazing site - boardgamearena.com - which has been expanding tremendously.  My latest favourite games include ArkNova, Barrage and several others.  I just wish they would add Brass Birmingham and a whole collection of Vital Lacerda games (Lisbon, Vinhos and others).

I should have time to come up with some interesting blogs in the coming months.  Wishing everyone a wonderful summer.

 

  

Soccer Soccer Soccer - Israel in the U20 FIFA World Cup

Dor Turgeman - Israel U20 Team

Thursday June 8, 2023 is a huge, historic day in Israel sports history.  As you may have heard, Israel will be playing Uruguay in the Under 20 FIFA World Cup - in the Semi-Finals at 1:30 p .m. EST (8:30 p.m. Israeli time)  The winner will play either Italy or South Korea in the championship game on Sunday at 5 p.m. EST. (Midnight Israel time).  Israel has never been this close to a world championship.  Israel's Under 19 team wound up in a runner up spot in the European tournament two years ago - but that was only Europe - this is the whole world.

Israeli national soccer teams face some exceptional hurdles in world tournaments.  The  Arab countries (and some  other Muslim countries) refuse to play against Israel and FIFA (the international governing body of "Futbal" (soccer) more or less goes along.  Since 1974, Israel has been forced to compete against European teams in a crowded, extremely competitive division instead of being able to qualify by playing against its neighbours.  In short, it is very difficult for Israel to even qualify for world cup soccer tournaments, let alone advance.  Israel has only been in the FIFA World Cup once - in 1970.  That year, Israel qualified as an Asian team.  They lost to Uruguay 2-0, tied Italy 0-0 and tied Sweden 1-1.  That record of one loss and two draws was not enough to enable Israel to advance to the knockout stage.  Since then, Israel has failed to qualify in 13 attempts - against European competitors.

This 2023 tournament is a bit different - it is only for players under 20 years old - the future stars of soccer, rather than the biggest stars.  Of course, Israel had to play hard - and really well -  to qualify.  In fact, the tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Indonesia.  The Indonesians assumed that Israel would not qualify.  Once it became clear that Israel would qualify, Indonesia announced that it would refuse to permit the Israeli team to play in Indonesia.  So FIFA moved the tournament to Argentina.

At the tournament, Israel's play has been stellar.  They beat Japan with moments to go in the round robin section of the tournament to secure a spot in the knockout round.  Then they beat Uzbekistan in the round of 16 (1-0) to advance to the quarter finals.  Their next opponent was Brazil - a world soccer titan.  In a miraculous win, this past Saturday afternoon, Israel outscored Brazil 3-2 in overtime and will now play Uruguay in the semi finals.

Two members of the Israel squad have each scored two goals - Dor Turgeman and Anan Khalaili.

Anan Khalaili

Turgeman is 19 years old and was born in Ashdod, Israel.  He is exciting to watch and happy to try all kinds of fancy footwork.  Anon Khalaili is an Israeli from Sakhnin, Israel.  He has also played extremely well and has scored two very exciting and timely goals.  Both players are hoping to come up with some even  bigger goals in an effort to propel the team to a win over Uruguay.

Personally, I am not normally a huge soccer fan, as you might know.  I enjoy watching the big tournaments - the World Cup, the European Championships - and maybe some of the Champions League games.  But regular season soccer games can often end in a 0-0 tie.  To quote my dad - that can sometimes be as exciting as watching "paint dry."

But my year as a sports fan and spectator has fizzled dramatically.  The Buffalo Bills went down with a thud, despite all of the high expectations.  The Maple Leafs managed to win a round but then exited in rather pedestrian fashion against the Florida Panthers in the second round of the NHL playoffs.  The Raptors were nowhere to be found in the playoffs.   The Blue Jays are doing reasonably well but it's early in the season and it seems like they still have 300 games left to play.  So not that much for me to cheer about, overall.

In fact, this U20 FIFA tournament was not even on my radar as an event to watch.

But when I saw that the Israeli squad had eked out a victory over Japan - I definitely became interested in watching the Israel-Uzbekistan match.  I have to say, I felt little doubt that they would beat the Uzbekkies but it turned out to be a much closer match than I expected.

Against Brazil - well - I was just hoping it wouldn't be ugly or embarrassing.  Sure, we were all dreaming of an Israeli win - but no one really predicted that Israel would be beat Brazil.

So here we are - all set for tomorrow and I will definitely be glued to the TV, watching with a VPN before heading back to Israel next week.  The Uruguay team looked very solid against a strong American side on Sunday and will present quite a challenge.  But given that Israel managed to beat Brazil, you have to think that anything can happen.

Stay tuned and if you have the chance - try to watch the big game.  Back to regular scheduled programming shortly - political commentary, winery reviews and other random ruminations - not necessarily flowing together smoothly.  Since I will be back in Israel, I am sure I will have a variety of topics to write about.  For today, on this historic semi-final eve, it had to be soccer, soccer and  soccer.  

Go  Israel!!!