I returned to Israel this week for my fifteenth trip to this country since 1971. I’ve been here since Saturday with CAMERA leadership for briefings with a range of fascinating people including MK’s, Knesset ministers, policy experts, attorneys, journalists, authors and NGO’s. Three topics were recurring in our conversations:

• There have been a string of awful terror attacks in recent weeks and some fear this may mark the beginning of a third intifada. Though many American Jews and establishment politicians continue their infatuation with the Two State Solution, the majority of Israels seem to have been disabused of this notion. Having endured many years of Palestinian terror, incitement and rejectionism, they’ve concluded there is presently no “partner for peace.” And the Abraham Accords provide them further evidence that Israel’s neighbors don’t see resolution of the Palestinian conflict as integral to moving forward.

• Need for judicial reforms to correct what some see as a rigged system that is the product of other judicial “reforms” which date to the 1980’s and the Aharon Barak era. The attacks from the left to addressing this have been hyperbolic and along partisan lines calling it a “threat to democracy” in some cases advocating violence. This is curious as leaders of the left are on the record themselves calling for reforms. Conservatives point to the recent elections as evidence most Israelis would like to bring Israel’s courts in line with other western democracies by bringing diversity to the courts, also limiting their ability to do certain things like invalidating government appointments and Knesset legislation for “lack of reasonableness.” This controversy has caused protests and political discord, amplified by a sympathetic media, here and abroad.

• Iran and their nuclear program. What will the Netanyahu government do about this as they strategize their relationship with the Biden administration and Russia, all made more complex by the Ukraine invasion. The United Nations tells us that Iran already has enough enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons, so there isn’t unlimited time to address Israel’s existential problem.

As always, thanks for following my blog :)

AG