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US “Strongly Urges” Compromise As Massive Protests Erupt Across Israel After Anti-Judicial-Reform Minister Fired

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2 months ago

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Harel Ben Nun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Update (2045ET): Massive protests have erupted across Israel tonight after PM Netanyhau fired his Defense Minister, a day after he called on the Israeli leader to halt a planned judicial overhaul that has fiercely divided the country.

As a reminder, Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies. But critics say the constellation of laws will remove the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition.

Gallant’s dismissal signaled that Netanyahu will move ahead this week with the overhaul plan, which has sparked mass protests, angered military and business leaders and raised concerns among Israel’s allies.

“The country is facing the greatest danger since the Yom Kippur War,” writes former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

“I call on the prime minister to withdraw Galant’s dismissal letter, suspend the reform and begin negotiations until after the Day of Independence.

Israel’s Consul General has resigned…

Bibi later tweeted “we must all stand strong against refusal.”

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets… in Tel Aviv…

… and Haifa…

Not everybody is protesting…

Haaretz reports that amid the unprecedented protests that erupted in Israel on Sunday night, several Likud lawmakers and ministers call to stop the highly controversial legislative process of Netanyahu’s judicial reform.

Additionally, as Nadav Eyal notes, for the first time in history, Israel’s main union, as well as leaders from the banks and the entire business sector, are about to declare a general strike demanding that the government stop the plan to overhaul the judicial system.

Finally, and more ominously, amid chatter across social media of the same, Iran has dropped the c-word:

The situation is definitely escalating, as Joyce Karam summarizes…

Ratcheting up the pressure on Netanyahu, Washington has chimed in:

We are deeply concerned by today’s developments out of Israel, which further underscore the urgent need for compromise. 

As the President recently discussed with Prime Minister Netanyahu, democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.- Israel relationship. 

Democratic societies are strengthened by checks and balances, and fundamental changes to a democratic system should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support. 

We continue to strongly urge Israeli leaders to find a compromise as soon as possible. 

We believe that is the best path forward for Israel and all of its citizens. U.S. support for Israel’s security and democracy remains ironclad.

Which follows a report earlier in the month of the U.S. State Department has been funding a left-wing organization in Israel that is helping to promote anti-government protest aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his judicial reforms. The Washington Free Beacon reported Monday that U.S. taxpayer funds have been granted to the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), which has participated in the protests that have rocked Israel for weeks. The protests began after Netanyahu, whose right-wing coalition won a commanding majority in recent elections, began tackling the decades-old problem of the judicial usurpation of power from the legislature.

And finally, as the crisis is worsening tonight, Bibi has called the leaders of the ruling coalition parties to an emergency meeting on Monday morning.

*  *  *

Update (1415ET): In perhaps the least surprising geopolitical move of the day, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister on Sunday, a day after Yoav Gallant called for a halt to the planned overhaul of Israel’s judiciary that has divided the country.

Netanyahu’s office did not provide further details.

As we detailed below, Gallant, a senior member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, became the first to break ranks late Saturday by calling for the legislation to be frozen.

*  *  *

In a major development, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday called for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to halt its planned judicial reforms, which have prompted enormous protests and are starting to disrupt the country’s military. 

“I see the source of our strength eroding…The rift within our society is widening and penetrating the Israel Defense Forces,” said Gallant in a televised evening speech. “This is a clear and immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state. I shall not be a party to this.”

In addition to calling for a suspension of the reforms, Gallant also implored Israelis to stop their enormous protests, which raged even as he spoke. 

The coming week could bring high drama and even more upheaval, as the Knesset is expected to hold its final vote on the first aspect of the judicial overhaul: a measure giving the government more power over Supreme Court appointments.  

Other reforms would allow the Knesset — Israel’s unicameral legislature — to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority vote. Others would end the court’s practice of applying a “reasonableness” test when evaluating laws and government actions.

Critics characterize the scheme as a step deeper into authoritarianism. Some say the moves are in part designed to help Netanyahu terminate his ongoing prosecution on corruption charges. 

The past ten weeks have seen major public protests all across Israel. Saturday night’s crowds were reportedly the largest yet, estimated in the hundreds of thousands. 

Gallant said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are feeling the effects: “The events happening in Israeli society are not staying out of the military. Feelings of rage, disappointment and fear have reached heights we have never seen before,” saidGallant. 

More pressingly, a growing coalition of Israeli service members — calling themselves Brothers in Arms — are committing to stop showing up for duty in protest of the measures.

Some say they’ll stay home if the judicial reform passes, but others aren’t waiting — particularly among Israel’s reserve forces. On Friday, two hundred Israeli Air Force reserve pilots signed a letter saying they will not report for two weeks. Reservists are an essential part of Israel’s military, and especially its air force, which has been active in bombing targets across Syria, including the Damascus airport.  

IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has already sounded an internal alarm, saying the dip in reservists reporting for duty is now so large that the the military is on the verge of curtailing some operations, according to The New York Times, which quoted three anonymous Israeli officials. Two of those officials are bracing for resignations from full-time service members. 

Underscoring the divisions caused by the judicial proposal, far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir lashed out at his fellow cabinet member, urging Netanyahu to fire Gallant, whom he condemned for “succumbing to the pressure of those [IDF members] who threatened to refuse [to report for duty] and are trying to stop the important reform.” 

Similarly, Israel’s communications minister accused Gallant, a former navy commando, of “giving wind to a military coup.”  

However, just minutes after Gallant concluded his remarks, two of his fellow Likud party lawmakers endorsed his plea, Haaretz reports. One is the chair of the Knesset’s security and foreign affairs committee, and the other is a person who rarely criticizes Netanyahu.  

Israel’s agriculture minister and another Likud member reportedly favor a freeze as well. If they went as far as to become “no” votes, that quartet would be sufficient to impede the legislation.  

On Friday — the day before Gallant’s speech — Netanyahu told reporters:

“Surrendering to [IDF] refusal is a terrible danger to the state of Israel…The country cannot exist without the IDF. There will not be a nation, it’s very simple. All red lines have been crossed. People who were responsible for the security of the country suddenly adopted this cynicism.” 

Gallant said he had privately shared his views with Netanyahu, who asked him to delay going public with them. Gallant cancelled plans to speak out on Thursday, but said he now felt compelled to take his message to all Israelis. 

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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German Investigators Find Nord Stream Evidence Points To Ukraine

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2 weeks ago

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24 May, 2023

Zero Hedge

Danish Defence/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Seven months after explosions severed three of Russia’s four Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, German investigators are now pursuing leads that point to Ukraine as the responsible country. At the same time, a multinational consortium of European investigative journalists has also found leads pointing to Kiev. 

A long-running Western propaganda campaign — abetted by media that’s credulous at best and complicit at worst — would have us believe Russia blew up pipelines that took the country 15 years of construction — and painstaking diplomacy to overcome U.S. interference — to bring to reality.

According to The Times of London, Germany’s Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) has investigated Russian naval movements that have been declared “suspicious,” but found nothing that suggests Moscow is responsible for the attack.

New BBC Report Insinuates Russia Blew Up Nord Stream Pipeline

Rather, BKA investigators are now focusing on a yacht that sailed from the German port of Rostock weeks before the explosions. That 15-meter yacht — the Andromeda — was hired from a Polish company, and docked at a tiny Danish island near the blast site. Most strikingly, investigators found traces of “military-grade and underwater-deployable” explosives on the vessel. 

Given the complexity of the operation, the BKA believes a government must have backed the undertaking, and has found evidence pointing to Ukraine, via a shell company — a travel agency — formed by two Ukrainians in Warsaw. According to the team of journalists, the purported travel agency is one of more than 100 entities listed at a single address. In 2022, the travel agency, which had a Ukrainian woman named as president, received about $3 million for no documented reason. 

According to the BKA’s working theory, five men and one woman with forged Romanian and Bulgarian passportsentered Germany before using the yacht as a base for expert divers who planted the charges more than 200 feet below the sea. Germans have identified two other people — Ukrainians — who were aboard the vessel. Journalists say one of them is a Ukraine infantry veteran.  

It’s an intriguingly detailed scenario — and quite different from Seymour Hersh’s own blockbuster account. Citing unnamed national security sources, the legendary investigative journalist reported in February that the United States blew up the pipeline, in a plan crafted by the CIA with the cooperation of Norway and executed by US Navy divers deploying from a Norwegian mine-hunting vessel.   

Meanwhile, Hersh has just reported that Ukraine’s neighbor’s are quietly pressuring President Zelensky to find a way to bring the 15-month-old war to an end — with some apparently willing to compensate him personally for doing so.

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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CIA Releases Video Urging Russians To Spy On Their Own Country

Published

3 weeks ago

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17 May, 2023

Zero Hedge

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In an unusual attempt at public outreach ‘spy-style’, the world’s most powerful intelligence organization is openly encouraging Russians to spy on their own country. 

The CIA released a nearly 2-minute video Monday on its official YouTube, Twitter, and Telegram channels. The Russian-language, professionally produced video urges individual Russians to provide intelligence on their country in the midst of the Ukraine war. Watch:

The video has a ‘patriotic’ orientation, assuring Russians they can do something to improve their country and its situation by handing over intelligence to the CIA. 

“The CIA wants to know the truth about Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who can tell us that truth,” the agency said in the video, according to a translation. “Your information may be more valuable than you know.”

The text on the screen of the clip further tells Russians to “Contact us. Perhaps the people around you don’t want to hear the truth. We want to.”

Some of the narration includes the following messaging, according to a description:

In the video – published on the CIA’s official YouTube channel and the Telegram messaging app, popular in Russia – a male voice reflects on the meaning of heroism and endurance as lone individuals are seen weighing their decisions: a man trudging through snow, a woman staring through a window.

“We are easily swayed by lies. But we do know what our reality is. The reality we live in. And the reality we talk about in whispers,” the voice says.

At the end, a man and a woman are shown in separate scenes with their fingers hovering over mobile phone screens with a link saying “Contact CIA”.

“This is my Russia. This will always be my Russia. I will endure. My family will endure. We will live with dignity because of my actions,” the narrator concludes.

The video at the end informs viewers how to submit information with a Tor browser utilizing the dark web and suggests tools for encrypted communications. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a daily briefing was asked about the CIA’s asset recruitment efforts. He responded, “I am convinced that our special services are monitoring this space in the necessary way.”

He added: “We all know perfectly well that the CIA and other Western intelligence services are not reducing their activity on the territory of our country.” 

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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Joe Biden claims he couldn’t attend King Charles’ coronation because he’s got a ‘lot going on’

Published

4 weeks ago

on

6 May, 2023

The Daily Mail

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President Joe Biden brushed his decision not to attend King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday during a softball interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle by saying: ‘I told him I couldn’t be there because I have this going on.’

Biden, 80, said that he told the king that he would be in the United Kingdom during the summer during the NATO conference. ‘He’s a good acquaintance and we’ve worked together on environmental issues,’ the president said of King Charles III. 

The president dispatched his wife to represent the US at the celebrations in London. No American president has ever attended a British coronation. First Lady Jill Biden’s first stop was a meeting with Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

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This post was originally published at The Daily Mail

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