Proposed Knesset bill could spark “serious clash with Evangelical Christians in the US and around the world who are among the biggest supporters of the State of Israel”

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

CBN NEWS
Netanyahu: ‘No Law’ Will Pass in Knesset That ‘Harms Christianity’
Chris Mitchell
March 22, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded Wednesday to a chorus of concern from evangelical Christians in the U.S. and from believers in Israel related to a bill introduced by two ultra-Orthodox of members of Israel’s Knesset would make it a criminal offense to persuade anyone to convert to another religion. In a tweet, Netanyahu declared in Hebrew and in English, “We will not advance any law against the Christian community.” The prime minister’s announcement allayed fears that the bill, proposed by two members of the coalition government, would become law. READ MORE

ALL ISRAEL NEWS Two Knesset members propose legislation to outlaw sharing the Gospel in Israel and send violators to prison – could it become law? Is it possible that the Israeli government this year could pass legislation making it illegal for people to share the Gospel message in the very land where Jesus was born, raised, preached, died, buried and rose from the dead? 

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What if Democrats were to condition aid to Palestinians based on their willingness to recognize a Jewish state rather than swearing to destroy it. Nah.

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Democratic Senators Mull Legislation Conditioning US Aid to Israel
Andrew Bernard
March 17, 2023

US Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Thursday said that he believes the US should condition aid to Israel based on the country’s support for a two-state solution. “I worry that we are at a moment in which we are watching a future Palestinian state be obliterated by the pace of settlements, by the legalization of outposts,” Murphy said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson. “And I think the United States needs to draw a harder line with this government. If we’re going to continue to be in the business of supporting the Israeli government, they have to be in the continued business of a future Palestinian state. READ MORE

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Survey just released: Only 27% of Palestinians support the so-called “Two-State solution”

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JPOST
Ben-Gvir orders closure of Voice of Palestine radio offices in Jerusalem
Tzvi Joffre
March 20, 2023

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the closure of the Voice of Palestine radio station’s operations in Israeli territory on Monday. The order does not affect the station’s operations in the West Bank or anywhere else outside of Israeli territory. The Voice of Palestine radio station is run by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation which is in turn run by the Palestinian Authority. The station’s main office is in Ramallah. ..“I will not accept and we will not allow incitement and support for terrorism and terrorists, neither by the Palestinian Authority nor by any other body,” said Ben-Gvir. “The State of Israel is sovereign and anyone who tries to fight us will find himself outside.” READ MORE

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH What are the Palestinians thinking? A newly published poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, provide an interesting view of the thoughts and opinions of the Palestinians…According to the survey, Palestinian support for terror against Israel is multi-faceted and includes, inter alia, substantial support – 71% of the population – for the cold-blooded murder of brothers Yagel and Hallel Yaniv, aged 19 and 21 respectively, by Hamas terrorist Abd Al-Fattah Kharousha, while they were driving on a main road through Hawara. In addition to supporting the cold-blooded murder of Israelis, substantial parts of the Palestinians (68%) support the creation of armed terror groups to attack Israelis…

For examples of Palestinian incitement of their youth, visit Palestinian Media Watch

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MK Simcha Rothman, Chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Knesset committee, explains need for judicial reform

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

On Sunday, March 5th, Benjamin Anthony, Co-Founder of The MirYam Institute, sat down to interview Simcha Rothman in the Knesset in front of a group of 23 active officers of the U.S. Army, brought to Israel on the annual MirYam Institute Israel Strategy & Policy tour (I-SAP). MK Rothman currently serves as the Chair of the Constitution, Law & Justice Knesset committee and is the architect of the judicial reform currently at the heart of the Israeli conversation.

MK Rothman answered questions on why he was leading the effort for judicial reform, why he assigns urgency to the reform he is leading, whether or not these reforms leave Israel and members of the IDF exposed to prosecution in international legal forums, the implications of the reforms for Prime Minister Netanyahu and whether the reforms he seeks to implement are worth the massive civil unrest and demonstrations taking place throughout much of Israel in direct opposition to the changes he seeks to bring about. Following the initial long form interview, MK Rothman took questions from the officers. Click here to view the interview.

JPOST Security forces called to rescue Rothman after protesters surround house he was in Hundreds of protesters opposing the judicial overhaul surrounded a house where Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman was staying in at Ramat Hasharon on Thursday night. 

To learn more about The MirYam Institute I-SAP tours for cadets of the U.S. military academies and active officers of the U.S. Army, please visit Miryam Institute I-SAP Program

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How an Israeli whistleblower has been arrested, facing indictment for providing DOJ information about Biden family corruption

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Gal Luft’s distressing predicament
Caroline Glick
March 16, 2023

On Feb. 16, Israel Defense Forces Lt. Col. (retired) Dr. Gal Luft was arrested at the airport in Cyprus as he was about to board a flight home. Three days later, Luft posted a stunning claim on his Twitter account. He wrote: “I’ve been arrested in Cyprus on a politically motivated extradition request by the U.S. The U.S, claiming I’m an arms dealer. It would be funny if it weren’t tragic. I’ve never been an arms dealer. DOJ [Department of Justice] is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim and Hunter Biden. Shall I name names?” Luft’s description of the charges was accurate. He is also accused of lying to the FBI and violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). If convicted of the charges on his arrest warrant, he would face up to 96 years in prison. READ MORE

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YouTube profiling New York’s Hasidic community took six months and a team of five to film and produce

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

NY JEWISH WEEK
YouTuber Drew Binsky makes a travel video about Hasidic Brooklyn
Julia Gergely
March 17, 2023

For eight years now, vlogger Drew Binsky has made a living traveling the world, creating content that aims to lift the curtains on remote communities for his 3.6 million YouTube subscribers. He’s visited places as hard to reach as North Korea and South Sudan. But in his most recent video, Binsky, who is Jewish, doesn’t even leave the country. Instead, he takes his camera to Brooklyn to explore the different Hasidic movements, members of what he describes as “the most religious and closed-off community in America.”..The 43-minute video, twice as long as a typical Binsky production, has garnered nearly 800,000 views since it was posted on YouTube on Monday. In it, Binsky, who grew up Reform, explains the history of Hasidism in New York and the customs and traditions of the insular community. READ MORE

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The question of the day: Can you explain what’s going on in Israel?

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

COMMENTARY
The Mess in Israel
Editor’s Commentary
John Podhoretz
April 2023

In November 2022, for the first time in a nearly a decade, an election in Israel had a decisive outcome. The government that emerged from that election two months later was instantly unacceptable to other Israelis, who have since taken to the streets. Over the past two months, the question I have been asked more than any other is: Can you explain what’s going on in Israel? The answer is not difficult: The right is seeking to enact an activist agenda, and that agenda angers, alarms, and/or terrifies everybody who didn’t vote for the parties of the right. Those parties, together with the Likud party under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, won 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Thus, the results constituted a winning margin for the Netanyahu bloc of about 3 percent, roughly the same spread that separated George W. Bush from John Kerry in 2004. READ MORE

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VDH: “Nowhere is it foreordained that America has a birthright to remain the world’s preeminent civilization”

Posted on March 17, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

REAL CLEAR POLITCS
Are We the Byzantines?
Victor Davis Hanson
March 16, 2023

When Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the Byzantine Empire and its capital had up to that point survived for 1,000 years beyond the fall of the Western Empire at Rome. Always outnumbered in a sea of enemies, the Byzantines’ survival had depended on its realist diplomacy of dividing its enemies, avoiding military quagmires, and ensuring constant deterrence. Generations of self-sacrifice ensured ample investment for infrastructure. Each generation inherited and improved on singular aqueducts and cisterns, sewer systems, and the most complex and formidable city fortifications in the world. READ MORE

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Representatives of Israel’s government issue joint statement opposing Herzog’s proposal, while Itamar Ben-Gvir slammed it in his own comments.

Posted on March 15, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Netanyahu: Herzog’s judicial reform proposal perpetuates imbalance of power
March 15, 2023

…Netanyahu: “Only four months ago, we held elections. The government I head received a clear mandate from the citizens of Israel. The fact that for two whole months, our repeated calls for dialogue received no response from the opposition proves that what interests the opposition is not the judicial reforms, but the creation of anarchy and the overthrow of the elected government,” he said. “It is impossible to be in favor of the success of the Israeli economy and to encourage the flight of funds from Israel. It is impossible to be in favor of the rule of law and to encourage violations of the law. It is impossible to be in favor of the security of the state and to encourage insubordination that would collapse the security of the state,” said the premier. READ MORE

JPOST Herzog: ‘Israel is at edge of abyss,’ civil war is a real threat “Those who think that a real civil war, with lives lost, is a line we will not cross, have no idea. Precisely now, 75 years into Israel’s existence, the abyss is at our fingertips,” President Isaac Herzog said in an introduction speech to what he called the “People’s Directive,” a comprehensive document intended to end the current conflict in Israel over the government’s proposed reforms of Israel’s judicial system.

TIMES OF ISRAEL ‘Unacceptable, insulting’: PM, coalition dismiss Herzog’s judicial reform framework Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners on Wednesday night quickly rejected President Isaac Herzog’s long-percolating proposal for a broadly agreed-upon judicial overhaul. Opposition leaders expressed cautious approval for the framework as a basis for talks, while lashing the government for so readily dismissing what Herzog had presented as the last, best chance to avoid a catastrophic tear in the fabric of Israeli society.

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Bills include override clause, which would permit Knesset to re-legislate laws struck down by the Supreme Court as “unconstitutional”

Posted on March 15, 2023 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Knesset advances first batch of judicial reform bills
Amir Ettinger
March 14, 2023

The Knesset Tuesday passed the first reading of major bills pertaining to the judicial reform, including the highly contested override clause. After a lengthy filibuster, the plenum split between Coalition-Opposition lines, with 61 voting in favor of the measure, and 52 voting against it. If passed, the override clause will allow a 61-seat majority of the Knesset to relegislate laws struck down by the Supreme Court as “unconstitutional,” in effect for as long as the coalition remains in power. After a year, the possibility to extend comes under review. The proposed law would also limit the Supreme Court’s judicial review, requiring 80% of its justices to overturn a law and prevent the attorney general from declaring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit for office. READ MORE

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