A day in Netanyahu’s new Israel: threats, violence and calls to arrest the opposition

Demonstrations against government plans to weaken Israel’s judicial system spark talk of treason; death threats against a former minister; apparent attack on protesters.

The heated battle over the Netanyahu government’s proposed judicial overhaul became increasingly inflamed this week, with the rhetoric threatening to explode into violence.

The stage was set by Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Zvika Fogel, who said in an interview that leaders of the opposition were committing “treason against the state” by “inciting the nation to rebel.”

Such behaviour, he charged, was a “betrayal of the homeland and grounds for arrest.”

He named four critics of the government: Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid; National Unity Party head Benny Gantz; former defence minister Moshe Ya’alon; and former deputy economy minister Yair Golan. Three of these four are retired IDF generals.

Gantz was a particular target after warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if the government continued in its current direction, “The responsibility for the civil war that is gathering in Israeli society will be on you.”

Pushed to denounce the statements by his coalition partners who suggested that the opposition should be rounded up, Netanyahu responded to the exchanges with implied criticism for both parties.

He tweeted that “in a democratic country, one does not arrest the leaders of the opposition just as one does not call government ministers Nazis and a Jewish government the Third Reich. Neither does one call on citizens to launch a civil rebellion.” Netanyahu’s tweet was a reference to signs that appeared at a demonstration in Tel Aviv last Saturday against his government’s judicial overhaul, which included the message: “1933: Yes, we can compare.”

In other developments this week:

Former intelligence minister Elazar Stern said he had received death threats. He told the police that a man who called his phone warned that if he continued to “incite” against the Netanyahu government, a grenade would be thrown at his home. · A reported 10,000 demonstrators gathered Saturday night in Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu’s new right-wing government.

A 26-year-old man, was detained by police in Be’er Sheva after allegedly driving his car toward a crowd of protesters. They were standing on a pavement in front of the city’s university, holding signs and chanting slogans against the government plan to strip the judiciary of key powers.

Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to remove Palestinian flags from all public places, apparently incensed by the sight over the weekend of an Arab town waving the flags to celebrate the release from prison of a local who served 40 years in prison for killing a soldier in 1980. Ben-Gvir said the Palestinian flag “is a form of supporting terror.” Displaying the flag is legal in Israel but frequently challenged.

Israel’s new Communications Minister, Shlomo Karhi, told an Israeli university that “there is no room in this age for public broadcasting,” and said the country’s publicly funded news organisation, Kan, was trying to “police the conversation”. Eurovision recently warned a crackdown could interfere with Israel’s participation in the song contest.

The government is set to fast-track a bill that would revoke the citizenship or residency from people who are convicted of terrorism who receive payments from the Palestinian Authority. When an Arab lawmaker questioned why the legislation does not apply to Jewish terrorists who are supported by extremist groups, one Knesset member from Netanyahu’s party said, “In the Jewish state, I prefer Jews over disloyal Arabs. We’ve stopped apologising for it.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blocked millions in tax revenue from reaching the Palestinian Authority and redirected the funds to families of terror victims, a reported punitive measure to punish the Palestinians for the UN move to send Israel’s occupation to the International Court.

READ MORE
A Day in Netanyahu's New Israel: Threats, Violence and Calls to Arrest the Opposition leader (Haaretz)

Left-wing Israelis take to the streets as new government presses right-wing agenda further (JTA)

Fuming over feted terrorist, Ben Gvir orders cops to tear down any Palestinian flags (Times of Israel)

New communications minister says there’s ‘no room’ for public broadcasting in Israel (Times of Israel)

Knesset to fast-track bills revoking citizenship of terror convicts getting PA wages (Times of Israel)

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Photo: Thousands rally in Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu’s far-right government and judicial overhaul. (Matan Golan/Sipa USA/ AAP).