News Roundup for June 8 2021

June 8, 2021

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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.

J Stream

Wednesday, June 9 at 1 pm Eastern: Israeli Political Update with Gabriel Mitchell

J Street in the News

How a West Bank Trip Turned This Congressman Into One of Israel’s Strongest Critics, Haaretz
“Rep. Mark Pocan had visited Israel on congressional trips since entering office in 2013, where he spent a bit of time in the West Bank. But it was always through an Israeli lens. After learning more about the conflict from the pro-Israel left-wing J Street organization, the progressive Wisconsin Democrat went again in 2016 on the first-ever congressional trip to Palestine organized by the Humpty Dumpty Institute. […] J Street Vice President of Communications Logan Bayroff echoes those sentiments, saying that Pocan ‘has become a true leader in pushing back against the injustices of occupation, recognizing how harmful the status quo is for both Palestinians and Israelis. He’s among the growing number of Democrats making clear that rhetorical support for peace just isn’t enough – U.S. foreign policy needs to confront de facto annexation and hold both sides accountable for their actions.’”

Top News and Analysis

Israel’s Parliament to Vote on New Government on Sunday, New York Times
The immediate political future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is set to be decided on Sunday, after the speaker of Israel’s Parliament said that lawmakers would hold a vote of confidence in a new coalition government that afternoon. If the fragile coalition can hold together until then, it will be the first time in 12 years that the country will be led by someone other than Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.

Is Israel heading for its own Jan. 6? In Jerusalem, officials fear political violence during the transition., JTA
As Benjamin Netanyahu makes a last-ditch attempt to stay in power, even with a rival coalition set to take office, U.S. journalists and scholars are offering a dire comparison: Jan. 6. In Israel, the political turmoil now seems eerily similar to what was happening in America prior to the insurrection at the Capitol that day. Like Donald Trump, Netanyahu is trying to foil a democratic process that historically has been little more than a formality. Also like Trump, the prime minister says the new administration is the product of the “greatest electoral fraud in the history of the country.”

Israel Won’t Intervene in Sheikh Jarrah Case, Making Eviction of Palestinian Families More Likely, Haaretz
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rivals agreed to form a coalition government that would dislodge the country’s longest-serving leader with Naftali Bennett as his successor, a political shake-up that comes amid security and economic crises. Under the deal unveiled on June 2, Mr. Bennett, head of the right-wing Yamina party, is partnering with Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, and six other parties spanning the political spectrum, including an independent Arab party for the first time.

News

A House Divided: A Palestinian, a Settler and the Struggle for East Jerusalem, New York Times
Few places in East Jerusalem show the struggle over the city more intimately than a four-story house on a narrow alley in the Silwan district. […] The case is not just a dispute over a single property: It is part of an effort by Jewish settlers to cement Jewish control of East Jerusalem, a process many Palestinians see as a slow form of ethnic cleansing. A similar dispute in the nearby neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which could lead to the eviction of Palestinians there to make room for settlers, led to protests, clashes and finally war this past month between Israel and Hamas, killing more than 240 people.

Israel’s Prime Ministers in Waiting: Who Are Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid?, Wall Street Journal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rivals agreed to form a coalition government that would dislodge the country’s longest-serving leader with Naftali Bennett as his successor, a political shake-up that comes amid security and economic crises. Under the deal unveiled on June 2, Mr. Bennett, head of the right-wing Yamina party, is partnering with Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, and six other parties spanning the political spectrum, including an independent Arab party for the first time.

Pair of Jerusalem activists freed after detention by Israel, AP
Israeli police on Sunday detained two members of a prominent family in the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem who led protests against attempts by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in the area. The twin brother and sister were released later in the day.

Security cabinet to decide whether to allow rerouted Jerusalem flag march, Times of Israel
The high-level security cabinet is set to meet Tuesday evening to discuss a contentious flag march planned in Jerusalem for Thursday, reportedly after Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to leave the decision on the sensitive matter to a smaller forum.

Coalition Deal Between Bennett and Lapid Gives Both Veto Power, Haaretz
Clauses from the coalition agreements between the parties in the Bennett-Lapid government revealed on Monday that Yamina Chairman Naftali Bennett will not necessarily be committed to agreements signed by Yesh Atid Leader Yair Lapid with other parties in the coalition. […] Both Bennett and Lapid, who will serve as alternate prime minister, will have veto power over any government decision.

Mixed city of Arabs and Jews remains on edge after violence, AP
Israeli security forces guard the streets of Lod, weeks after rioters torched patrol cars, synagogues and homes. Attackers who killed an Arab and a Jewish resident are still at large. And a mayor whom some blame for setting the stage for some of the worst domestic unrest in Israeli history remains in office.

Mixed Cities Were Burning All Over Israel Last Month, but Not This One. Here’s Why, Haaretz
Jewish and Arab mobs clashed on the streets of Israel’s mixed cities last month in the worst outbreak of civil violence within Israel proper since 2000. […] There was one stark exception. Aside from a few minor incidents of vandalism, life continued as normal in the northern city of Nof Hagalil (formerly known as Upper Nazareth). Not even one Jewish-Arab clash was reported in this city of 42,000 residents.

Opinion and Analysis

Netanyahu is on his way out. Why am I still nervous?, Washington Post
Gershom Gorenberg writes, “I’m celebrating the new government, truly. Israeli teenagers who can’t remember another prime minister will see that elections can change who’s in power. Netanyahu will face the rest of his corruption trial as a mere member of the Knesset. But this is not the denouement to the Netanyahu era for which I prayed. When the moving vans take his belongings from the prime minister’s residence, I’ll raise a toast. But my hand will shake too hard to get the drink to my lips.”

Netanyahu was long appreciated for keeping Israel safe. Now he’s endangering us, Times of Israel
David Horovitz writes, “It is a measure of how pyromaniacal Netanyahu now appears that a leader most profoundly appreciated by our divided electorate for his ability to avoid military misadventure is now credibly suspected of being prepared to risk a fresh flare-up with the terror-state army of Hamas if that might somehow prevent his political fall.”

Why a new Israeli government won’t mean justice or peace for Palestinians, Washington Post
Youssef Manayer writes, “…even if Netanyahu exits the political stage, Netanyahuism continues to dominate Israeli politics. Most of the factional leaders serving in the new government are Netanyahu proteges. Bennett himself used to work for Netanyahu. Because he has dominated the scene for so long, there are very few political figures in Israel who have not worked for or alongside Netanyahu, and his impact on Israeli institutions will be long felt.”

Netanyahu Loyalists Know He Has Led Them Into a Political Deathtrap, Haaretz
Yossi Verter writes, “It seems that the penny dropped only on Sunday afternoon. The formal announcement by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin that a new government would be sworn in within a week brought home the message. Lawmakers and ministers from Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties finally got it that cleaving to Benjamin Netanyahu had led them into a political deathtrap.”

Netanyahu channels Trump as he makes his last stand, Washington Post
Ishaan Tharoor writes, “In language redolent of his close friend, former U.S. president Donald Trump, Netanyahu accused his opponents of being the architects of “the fraud of a century” and cast himself as the victim of plots by Israel’s “deep state.” This conspicuous demagoguery has suffused Netanyahu’s political rhetoric in recent years, as he sought to evade corruption charges while plunging the country into a seemingly interminable spiral of four elections in two years.”

Young Progressive American Jews and Israel, Times of Israel
John L. Rosove writes, “Being an American progressive Jew legitimately can be confusing. Historically, Jews have experienced oppression, and now Israel has become an oppressor in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel occupied after the 1967 War.”