News Roundup for August 7, 2023

August 7, 2023
Receive the roundup in your inbox every morning!

J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.

Top News and Analysis

Israeli Patrolman Killed in Tel Aviv Shooting, Palestinian Gunman Also Killed, CNN
An Israeli patrolman was shot and killed in Tel Aviv on Saturday night by a Palestinian gunman who was also shot and killed, Israeli authorities said.

Israel’s Netanyahu Says He Will Likely Advance Legislation to Change Judges Selection Committee, Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying on Sunday that he would work to change the committee that selects judges, amid a wave of protests over planned legislation which could see the highest court stripped of many of its powers.

Thousands of Jews and Arabs March in Tel Aviv Against Gov’t Inaction on Violence in Israeli Arab Community, Haaretz
Thousands of people marched in Tel Aviv on Sunday in protest of the government’s inaction amid a violent wave of crime in Israeli’s Arab communities.

News

Billionaire Parts With Group Behind Israel’s Judicial Overhaul, The New York Times
Arthur Dantchik, the American multibillionaire who provided millions to the think tank behind Israel’s highly polarizing judicial overhaul plan, announced on Friday that he would no longer donate to the organization.

U.S. Condemns Deadly Settler ‘Terrorist Attack’ That Killed Palestinian Man, i24 News
The U.S. State Department condemned the incident as a terror attack, saying “we strongly condemn the terrorist attack perpetrated by extremist settlers who killed a 19-year-old Palestinian man.”

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain Urge Citizens to Leave Lebanon after Palestinian Camp Clashes, The Times of Israel
Bahrain called on its citizens Saturday to leave Lebanon “for their own safety” hours after Saudi Arabia did the same without giving a reason.

Opinion and Analysis

Israel’s Governing Extremists Are Now Galloping Towards Annexation, Haaretz
Former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer argues, “To Smotrich and the extremists who built the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul, the proposals to weaken Israel’s democracy are just a means to an end: For Israel, and annexation, to ‘win’ and the Palestinians to be completely defeated.”

The Corrosive Impact of Treating Arab Israeli Crime as ‘Terror’, The Times of Israel
Zehava Galon, former leader of Meretz, writes, “[T]he government’s goal is not to enforce the law, but to prepare the infrastructure to support a regime of Jewish supremacy that allows two separate legal systems to operate within the borders of the State of Israel itself on the basis of ethnic separation, one for the Jews and one for the rest of the Israelis.”