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Coalition MK Calls for Arrest of ‘Treasonous’ Opposition Heads Lapid, Gantz, The Times of Israel
A lawmaker from Itamar Ben Gvir’s extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party called Tuesday for the arrest of opposition leaders and two former MKs, accusing them of “treason against the state” and saying they “are the most dangerous people right now,” sparking widespread condemnation among the center-left. MK Zvika Fogel, a retired brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces, made the remarks in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, responding to comments made recently by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and former MKs Yair Golan and Moshe Ya’alon against plans by the government to overhaul Israel’s judicial system.
Israeli Army Advances Eviction of Eight Palestinian Villages in West Bank, Haaretz
Senior Israel Defense Forces officers, headed by the chief of the Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, have begun to prepare for the eviction of hundreds of Palestinians from the area of Masafer Yatta in the southern Hebron Hills, so it can be turned into a regular training ground for the army.
Palestinian Gunman Critically Hurt in Armed Clash with IDF in Nablus, The Times of Israel
A Palestinian gunman was critically hurt during clashes with Israeli troops in Nablus’ Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank early Wednesday, the military and Palestinian health officials said. According to the Israel Defense Forces, troops entered the camp to arrest wanted Palestinians amid a months-long anti-terror effort, mostly in the northern West Bank, following a series of terror attacks that killed 31 people in 2022.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Biden Will Oppose Settlement Expansion, ‘Netanyahu Understands It’, Haaretz
The United States will oppose any moves to significantly expand Israeli settlement in the West Bank, Ambassador Tom Nides declared on Tuesday, calling such a policy detrimental to a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Bid to Revoke Citizenship of PA-paid Terror Convicts Advances with Opposition’s Help, The Times of Israel
With broad support from over 70 lawmakers, legislation that will revoke the citizenship or residency of convicted terrorists who are remunerated by the Palestinian Authority cleared its preliminary reading on the Knesset floor on Wednesday.
Israeli President Invites Turkey’s Erdogan to Visit, Receives Envoy, Reuters
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday invited his Turkish counterpart President Tayyip Erdogan to visit the country as he received Ankara’s new ambassador in another token of the countries’ recently warming ties. Last year, Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, was the first Israeli leader to visit Turkey since 2008, after the two countries began restoring relations and ending a more than a decade-old diplomatic rift.
Today’s Israel Is No ‘Light Unto the Nations’ – or Unto the Jews, The Times of Israel
Avi Gil, former director general of The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Many Jews in the Diaspora are in a state of shock over Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government. They would like to wake up from this nightmare to an Israel that is an exemplary state, a light unto the nations. But this nightmare will go on for a long time to come. Diaspora Jews will have to digest this bitter truth and learn how to cultivate their Jewish identity even if Israel loses its centrality as a unifying symbol, a beacon to the Jewish people.”
Israeli Democracy May Not Survive Netanyahu’s New Government, TIME
Etan Nechin writes, “With the ascension of this unapologetic extreme-right government, it seems that the world is finally awakening to the fact that Israel isn’t the only democracy in the Middle East. Many Israelis are awakening to the fact that Netanyahu, who for three decades has been at the center of Israeli and world politics, isn’t the protector of Israel, but a threat to Israel’s fragile and tenuous democracy.”