It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, August 04, 2023
US Supreme Court Approval Rating Drops to Record-Low 40% The approval rating of the US Supreme Court has dropped to a record-low 40%, according to a Gallup poll published on Wednesday.
"The current rating ties the court’s record-low job score first recorded in September 2021, which ticked up to 43% in July 2022 before dropping back to 40%," the poll said, RIA Novosti reported.
Since 2000, the level of confidence in the top court in the country has decreased by 22 percentage points. In the last three years, it has dropped by 18 percentage points, according to the pollster.
The overturning of abortion rights appears to be a major reason for such a decline. The rating plunged to 40% for the first time in September 2021 after the court allowed a Texas abortion law to stand, the polltaker reported.
"That ruling was a precursor to its June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade; now, more than a dozen states have near-total bans on abortions," it added.
Republicans look much more supportive of the court (62%), than Democrats (17%). The 45-percentage-point party gap is the third largest in the last two decades.
A 61-point gap (74% among Republicans, 13% among Democrats) was registered in 2022, after the court overturned Roe v. Wade. In 2015, when the court legalized same-sex marriage and supported Barack Obama’s healthcare law, the gap was 58 points (76% among Democrats, 18% among Republicans).
At the same time, 43% of Americans approve of Chief Justice John Roberts' job performance, while 30% express the opposite opinion. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member of the court, got the support of 39%, while 42% view him negatively, the poll mentioned.
"Americans continue to be critical of the Supreme Court, largely because of strongly negative views from Democrats and more negative than positive opinions from independents, which offset Republicans’ generally positive opinions," the survey concluded.
The poll was conducted from July 3-27 via telephone interviews of 1,015 adults in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.
AFP news agency sues Twitter over copyright issues in EU
The French international news outlet Agence France-Presse (AFP) has pressed charges in a copyright case in France against social media giant Twitter, recently rebranded “X”.
AFP wants financial compensation for the use of its content and is demanding data it says is needed for assessing the amount of money it claims it is owed.
In a public statement, AFP “expressed its concerns over ‘the clear refusal’ from Twitter [X] to enter into discussions regarding the implementation of ‘neighbouring rights’ for the press”.
“These rights were established to enable news agencies and publishers to be remunerated by digital platforms which retain most of the monetary value generated by the distribution of news content,” AFP added.
The move is part of an ongoing global struggle media groups are pursuing to get tech firms to pay for news featured on their platforms. In June, Meta, the mother company of Facebook and Instagram, decided to cut off access to news for all users in Canada due to what it said was its unwillingness to pay for it.
That came after the Canadian Parliament approved legislation forcing major online platforms to compensate news publishers for content posted on their sites. Now, AFP wants compensation in line with European Union intellectual property rules that cover “neighbouring rights”, a legislative rule created in 2019 that allows news outlets and publishers to seek payment from digital platforms for the sharing of their work.
France was the first EU country to adopt those intellectual property rules and the French Government funds a significant part of AFP, the world’s third-largest news agency. France is also actively targeting X, accusing the platform of being too lenient regarding so-called hate speech. France’s European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton has threatened to ban X altogether in Europe.
US billionaire Elon Musk, who owns Twitter, reacted on his own platform, calling the AFP complaint “bizarre”, saying that news agencies are all in receipt of advertising revenue generated by their content.
In 2021, Google signed a five-year licensing deal with AFP for its news content as part of a broader partnership. News organisations said they have been losing ad revenue to online aggregators such as Google, Facebook and X, by far the smallest of the three.
New legislature on neighbouring rights worldwide has given publishers more power to tackle the problem of social media giants draining advertising revenue while the content of news organisations is published for free.
July, three major French media groups (Le Monde, Le Figaro, and Les Echos-Le Parisien) also sued X over similar allegations.
State Elections Hold the Key for the New INDIA Coalition
In the run up to the 2024 elections, state polls will test whether the opposition grouping will unite and grow – or fall apart to infighting.
By Bilal Ahmad August 03, 2023 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaks during a meeting of opposition parties that announced the launch of INDIA, July 18, 2023, Bengaluru, India.
On July 18, in a meeting chaired by United Progress Alliance (UPA) chair Sonia Gandhi, 26 political parties formally accepted a proposal to form an alliance to contest the 2024 parliamentary elections together. The alliance formation had been in the pipeline for a while, as 16 parties had come together to discuss the possibility in a meeting held in Patna late in June chaired by Janata Dal (United) patron Nitish Kumar. It was at the second meeting in Bengaluru that the grouping was given a name: the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
This name, which has stirred a lot of debate since, seems to lay a claim to the nation while making a promise for “development.” Another crucial element of the name is the word “inclusive” which counters as well as underlines the divisive politics that the opposition accuses the government of practicing.
All things considered, the name as well as the idea of the alliance promise to be significant developments in Indian politics, which has for the past decade been all about the seemingly unstoppable growth and consolidation of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and its affiliate groups.
All predictions and political analysis suggest that no political party for now has enough strength to take on the BJP government on its own. Necessity is what makes this alliance workable. To reduce the contest in each constituency to a one-versus-one contest, with all opposition parties supporting the candidate with the highest chance of victory, is the only way of posing any sort of a challenge to the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
With the BJP’s growing presence in states that are traditionally dominated by local parties, the regional political parties are on the defensive and feel the need to protect their traditional turf. The Congress also stares at the possibility of being made virtually irrelevant in national politics with another defeat in elections to the lower house, where they currently hold their lowest-ever numbers.
This joining of forces against a gigantic common rival is thus a battle of survival for many political parties in India. These parties, despite their differences, have come together on a platform of secular nationalism that opposes the Hindu nationalism of the BJP. Such a coalition also promises a return to federalism of the kind that has been diluted under the centralizing tendencies of the presently ruling government.
On the other hand, the INDIA alliance faces a plethora of potential problems – not the least of which is working out seat-sharing arrangements that are agreeable to the different partners. Many of these new allies at the national level are principal rivals in the states. The Congress and the Left Front in Kerala, and the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab are perfect examples.
An associated problem is navigating the pressure from the party cadres, who may not always support seat-sharing as worked out by the top leadership. The opposition grouping also must deal with the insecurity of some members defecting. Moreover, Congress does not have enough MPs to take up the leadership role within the alliance uncontested. Thus, there is bound to be a clash of egos in a grouping that has so many powerful or formerly powerful political leaders. ADVERTISEMENT
The claim of these regional stalwarts to the leadership of the coalition can also only be countered if Congress puts on an impressive show in the upcoming state elections. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram go to polls in the run-up to the national elections next year in 2024. In three of these five states, there is expected to be a two-way contest, with the Congress and the BJP taking each other head-on. An electoral victory will strengthen Congress’ role as the leader of the opposition and make the other aspirational leaders fall in line. Losses for Congress in these state elections will embolden the leadership claims of regional members of the opposition alliance.
There are also many other potential partners of INDIA that at the moment seem apprehensive to commit fully to the alliance. Bharata Rashtra Samiti (BRS) of Telangana and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha are important players who are fence-sitting and waiting for the situation to develop further before they make a move. For now, they have not been convinced that they have more to gain from joining INDIA than they have to lose.
One reason for this apprehension can be the dismal performance of previous opposition alliances. The alliance of the Samajwadi Party and Congress in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections took a proper beating, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi of Maharashtra failed to maintain their unity after coming to power.
It would not be an overstatement to say that the opposition alliance was made possible by Congress’ triumphant victory in the Karnataka state elections. The Karnataka results not only did Congress’ confidence a world of good, but it also placed them in a better position to attract other political parties to forge an alliance. Victories in the upcoming elections would not only cement Congress’ position as the party that drives the opposition coalition’s agenda but also attract other parties that have till now not decided to support either of the two sides.
Regional parties have their strengths in terms of loyal and dependable followings, but they also have their limits in terms of their geographical spread and appeal in areas outside their regions of influence. Some of the partners, like those from Jammu and Kashmir, are too small when it comes to the impact they can have on the numbers in Parliament. Thus, it is important to get allies like the BRS and BJD, who have a significant presence in the Lok Sabha. To get these significant partners and to attain the position of the nucleus around which the opposition unity revolves, Congress needs to strengthen its image as well as its finances in the build-up to the 2024 election.
Congress’ omnipresence across states in India, although it is weak, allows them candidacy for leadership of the opposition alliance. A victory in Madhya Pradesh and a return to power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will improve Congress’ standing and place them in a leader’s position in a coalition that mostly comprises single-state parties. Even then, the math would be difficult to work out, and so would the production of a common minimum program where the promises made to the public by the opposition collectively do not erode any party’s individual potential.
Irrespective of these challenges, a united front against the BJP of all opposition parties seems to be the most expedient option for them. Unity will be exceedingly difficult to maintain and even then, it would be a giant task to test the electoral supremacy of the BJP, especially in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.
But one thing is for sure. It is for the first time in the last 10 years that there seems to be a real political challenge for the government, and that in itself is a welcome development for India’s democracy. You have read 3 of your 5 free articles this month.
GUEST AUTHOR Bilal Ahmad is P.h.D scholar at Shiv Nadar University, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Survey: US Workers Estimate They Need $1.8mln to Retire Amid Inflation
Workers in the United States believe they will need to save around $1.8 million for retirement, as inflation continues to fuel anxieties over savings, according to a survey from Charles Schwab.
This estimate is up from last year’s $1.7 million, with 37 percent of respondents stating they think it’s very likely they will reach this number, down 10 percentage points from last year, according to the survey, CBS reported.
The survey of 401(k) participants found 62 percent of workers think of inflation as a challenge to saving for a “comfortable retirement”, up from last year’s 45 percent, while 42 percent said stock market volatility is an obstacle, compared to last year’s 33 percent. Around 78 percent said both inflation and stock market volatility is influencing their spending and saving habits, while 36 percent said they plan to delay retirement in light of these conditions.
Having a 401(k) plan is becoming a requirement for potential employees; 88 percent said it is a “must-have benefit”, while 3 out of 4 respondents said they would turn down a new job if it didn’t offer a 401(k) plan.
“While many workers are trying to cut back on spending, some costs are unavoidable and certain areas of their finances have taken a hit,” stated Brian Bender, head of Schwab Workplace Financial Services.
“Despite these challenges, retirement saving continues to be a priority for workers, who have maintained their 401(k) savings rates and largely stayed on top of their 401(k) investments over the past year,” he added.
More workers are now stashing away retirement funds: 68 percent reported putting money into in a savings account, up from 61 percent last year; 47 percent reported IRA investments, compared to 33 percent last year; and 38 percent reported investing through a brokerage account, up from 29 percent.
The survey also touched upon the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial planning, and how 95 percent of workers are still more likely to take guidance from a human professional over computer-generated advice. That advice plays a large role in workers’ decisions, with workers’ confidence in financial decisions rising from 27 percent to 49 percent with help from a professional.
A majority of workers, 73 percent, said they would like personalized advice on their 401 (k) plan and 39 percent said they receive such advice through work plans.
The survey comes as inflation persists across the country.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there is still “a long way to go” to get inflation back to its 2 percent target. In July, the Fed raised its baseline interest rate to the highest level in 22 years in its fight to curb inflation.
The online study conducted by Logica Research questioned 1,000 401(k) participants in the US between April 19-May 2. In addition to being 401(k) respondents, those surveyed worked for companies with at least 25 employees and were ages 21-70. The study said the data was self-reported by study participants and is not verified or validated.
Scientists warn about decoupling warming trend when detecting marine heat waves
Map of the surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea corresponding to July 24, 2023 from Copernicus / ICM-CSIC. Credit: Copernicus / ICM-CSIC
The climate crisis is severely affecting marine ecosystems around the world and the Mediterranean is not an exception. Marine heat waves associated with this crisis are causing massive mortality events throughout the basin. Given this scenario, their correct definition and characterization become a key element in defining possible future scenarios.
Now, a new study by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the Institute of Marine Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR-ISMAR) has revealed how decoupling global warming trends affects the definition of marine heat waves characteristics. According to the authors, this would be the cause of an apparent magnification of the frequency and intensity of this type of extreme events.
To prepare the work, recently published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, the authors analyzed a data set corresponding to the surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea collected during the last 41 years (1982–2022) by the Copernicus Marine Monitoring Service (CMEMS).
"Our results show that when temperature data are analyzed without trend correction during the study period, marine heat waves are not properly detected and their characteristics, such as frequency, intensity or duration, are biased," explains J. Martínez, researcher at the ICM-CSIC and first author of the study.
Thus, analyzing surface temperature anomalies without correcting the trend produces an increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heat waves in the last years of any time series studied, which results in the underestimation of marine heat waves that occurred longer ago. According to the authors, this would be linked to a warming trend in the region and not to the actual change in heat wave characteristics.
"Correcting the series by removing the trend from the data allows us to distinguish and separate between long-term warming and transient and abrupt changes in surface temperature (heat waves), obtaining a more accurate description of the properties of marine heat waves," adds J. Martínez in this regard.
Main heat waves in the Mediterranean
The study also publishes a catalog of the main heat waves occurred in the Mediterranean since 1982. In total, during the period analyzed, 15 marine heat waves classified as severe and five as extreme (1989, 1993, 1999, 2001 and 2007) were detected.
These include the events of 1999, with the greatest surface area affected in the entire series, and the 2003 event, which affected all the Mediterranean sub-basins with high average and maximum intensity values (up to 7 ºC higher than usual) for 94 days. This event also coincided with an atmospheric heat wave throughout the European continent.
Finally, the study authors highlight an event occurred last year that lasted from May to December (131 days), although in this case the intensities were lower than in the 2003 event.
All in all, the work evidences the influence of climate change on the Mediterranean warming, which makes marine heat waves have greater effects.
"This is a significant challenge for the management and conservation of marine ecosystems in the region, although it is very valuable information for future studies on the impact of the climate crisis on the ocean at a time of particularly alarming sustained warming," conclude the authors, who maintain a daily monitoring system of marine heat waves in the Mediterranean that can be accessed at this link.
More information: Justino Martínez et al, Evolution of marine heatwaves in warming seas: the Mediterranean Sea case study, Frontiers in Marine Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1193164
A giant iceberg the size of Greater London appears off the coast of Canada
A view of the giant iceberg at the Canadian island of Newfoundland.Gulf Today Report
A giant iceberg washed up on the shores of the Canadian island of Newfoundland, in an event described as strange, which raised a sea of questions on social media.
The scenes, which were circulated widely on social media platforms, showed the huge iceberg approaching the Canadian island.
The scenes gained more than 9.3 million views on Twitter only, after the clip was widely shared.
Many have expressed their fears due to the global warming phenomenon.
According to reports, Newfoundland has a good place to view icebergs, especially the area known as "Iceberg Alley" located in a waterway where ocean currents cause icebergs to drift off the coast of Newfoundland.
'Who are we': Morocco's Atlas Lionesses continue the fairytale
"As we say, the impossible is not Moroccan. The Lionesses can do it; we believe in them," Yasmina, a twenty-seven-year-old Moroccan fan told, The New Arab.
The wholesome ambience travelled through the North African kingdom, turning a hot listless Thursday of August into a national celebration. (Getty)
When the whistle went in Perth, Moroccan fans in Rabat withheld tears of joy and Zagharits and switched to their phone screens open on the South Korea-Germany result, praying for the 1-1 score not to change.
To qualify for the 16 round, Atlas Lionesses needed Germany - South Korea match to at least end with a tie.
The tension of the simultaneous Morocco-Colombia and South Korea-Germany games lasted over an hour and a half, a parallel, some fans say, "worthy of a Brian De Palma movie montage".
During the extra two minutes, when the Germans were fighting for a second goal and a qualification, Rabat went silent, with only murmurs of prayers, "Please God, we deserve it".
On television, the Atlas Lionesses were also praying.
But then, at 12:47 (GMT+1), the match's referee declared Germany out of the competition, and Rabat exploded with joy.
Fans at the cafés poured outside in disbelief, blocking the roads and screaming, "Nta Chkoun Hna (Who Are We)," a slogan that was baptised during the Qatar 2022 World Cup when the Atlas Lions made history as the first African team to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
The Atlas Lionesses also made history today, 3 August 2023, as the first team in the entire Middle East and North African region to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup Round of 16.
In Rabat, where road rage is no joke, people in cars were currently not minding the chaos, with some joining the celebrating crowds with honks, and others even leaving their vehicles to hug strangers, screaming at each other, "Nta Chkoun Hna (Who Are We)."
A euphoria has covered the kingdom, turning what was a hot listless August Thursday into a national celebration that many will likely never forget.
"May god protect them and bring them happiness as they made us happy today," Hassania, a 76-year-old woman, told The New Arab before returning to playing her Bendir to a crowd of fans and singing together "Hadi Lbidaya, Mazal, Mazal" (This is only the beginning, there's more.), a chant she said she remembers from the celebrations of 1976 when Morocco's men's team won their first AFCON. The Atlas Lionesses are playing their first-ever Women's World Cup, and it couldn't have started any worse with a 6-0 hammering by Germany in their opening game. But they have fought back valiantly, with back-to-back 1-0 wins.
In today's match, the game was decided right on half-time, with Morocco's Lahmari scoring after Columbia's Perez had saved a penalty. This goal will go down in history as the reason behind a sensational qualification for Morocco to the 16 tournament.
The Atlas Lionesses had to dig in, especially during the second half, but they were more than up to the task.
Moroccan fans are now aiming for the stars, intensely hoping that the Atlas Lionesses can win it all.
"As we say, the impossible is not Moroccan. The Lionesses can do it; we believe in them," Yasmina, a twenty-seven-year-old Moroccan fan told the TNA.
Morocco is set to face France on Tuesday, 8 August.
France's women's football team is one of the most consistent teams in Europe, having qualified for their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup in 2003 and reaching the quarter-finals in two of the three European Championships held since 2000.
The US wants Kenya to lead a force in Haiti with 1,000 police. Watchdogs say they’ll export abuse
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — As the U.S. government was considering Kenya to lead a multinational force in Haiti, it was also openly warning Kenyan police officers against violent abuses. Now 1,000 of those officers might head to Haiti to take on gang warfare.
It’s a challenging turn for a police force long accused by rights watchdogs of killings and torture, including gunning down civilians during Kenya’s COVID-19 curfew. One local group confirmed that officers fatally shot more than 30 people in July, all of them in Kenya’s poorest neighborhoods, during opposition-called protests over the rising cost of living.
“We are saddened by the loss of life and concerned by high levels of violence, including the use of live rounds” during those protests, the U.S. said in a joint statement with 11 other nations in mid-July.
Now the U.S., as this month’s president of the U.N. Security Council, is preparing to put forward a resolution to authorize a mission in Haiti led by Kenyan police, who have relatively little overseas experience in such large numbers and don’t speak French, which is used in Haiti.
“This is not a traditional peacekeeping force,” the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Tuesday.
For more than nine months, the U.N. had appealed unsuccessfully for a country to lead an effort to restore order to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Kenya’s interest was announced on Saturday, with its foreign minister saying his government has “accepted to positively consider” leading a force in Haiti and sending 1,000 police officers to train the Haitian National Police, “restore normalcy” and protect strategic installations.
“Kenya stands with persons of African descent across the world,” Alfred Mutua said. A ministry spokesman didn’t respond to questions about the force or what Kenya would receive in return.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday praised Kenya for simply considering to serve, a sign of the difficulty in mustering international forces for Haiti, where deadly gang violence has exploded since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
Some organizations that have long tracked alleged police misconduct in Kenya are worried.
“We had some consultations with Kenyan (civil society organizations) last week and there was general consensus that Kenya should not be seen to be exporting its abusive police to other parts of the world,” Otsieno Namwaya, Kenya researcher with Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press.
Kenya’s security forces have a yearslong presence in neighboring Somalia to counter Islamic extremists — a deadly threat that some Kenyans say should keep police at home — and troops have been in restive eastern Congo since last year. Past U.N. peacekeeping deployments include Sierra Leone.
But while other African nations including Rwanda, Ghana and Egypt have thousands of personnel in U.N. peacekeeping missions, Kenya has less than 450, according to U.N. data. Just 32 are police officers. The U.S. has a total of 35 personnel in U.N. peacekeeping missions.
“I have no knowledge of any complaints raised by the U.N. during those deployments, hence no concern on my end,” the executive director of the watchdog Independent Medico-Legal Unit, Peter Kiama, told the AP. “Remember, the major challenges regarding policing practices in Kenya include political interference with police command and independence, inadequate political will to reform the institution, culture of internal impunity and criminality, and inadequate internal and external accountability.”
With the Haiti deployment, Kenyan police would likely be in charge instead of answering to a U.N. force commander as in traditional peacekeeping missions.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Tuesday said he spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto to thank Kenyans for the “demonstration of fraternal solidarity.” Kenya plans to send a task force in the coming weeks to assess the mission’s operational requirements.
“We have to find someone who can help us,” one Port-au-Prince resident, Benice Pierre, said Wednesday.
At home, Kenya’s police force has received millions of dollars in training and support from the U.S., European Union and other partners in recent years, with Washington focusing on “promoting police accountability and professionalism.”
But last week, Kenya’s National Assembly saw a shouted debate, along with demands for a moment of silence, over police actions during the recent protests.
“The kind of brutality that has been meted out on innocent and unarmed civilians in the last couple of months has been unprecedented,” minority leader Opiyo Wandayi said. “Those youth that you are killing require jobs, not bullets.”
Kenya’s leading opposition party has threatened to gather evidence to submit to the International Criminal Court.
In response, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said that police have remained “neutral, impartial and professional.” The ministry referred questions about alleged abuses to the police, who haven’t responded.
Ruto, elected president a year ago, at first praised police for their conduct during the protests, but later warned officers against extrajudicial killings as a public outcry grew.
Problems with Kenya’s police force have long been acknowledged, even by officials.
The National Police Service “does not have a ‘shoot to kill’ policy,” its inspector general, Hilary Mutyambai, said in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances released in late 2021.
But the government-created Independent Policing Oversight Authority told the inquiry it had received 95 cases of alleged deaths because of police action in the previous seven months alone, noting “continuous abuse of force and firearms occasioning deaths.”
On Wednesday, August 2, 2023, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu called to annexe the occupied West Bank as soon as possible while extremist National Security Minster Itamar Ben Gvir called for tightening the screws on the Palestinians.
Eliyahu considered that the Green Line, which defines the lands occupied by the Israeli occupation in 1967, “does not exist and is imaginary.”
Extremist Ben Gvir told Israeli Army Radio that “sovereignty should be applied to the areas of Judea and Samaria – the Israeli name of the West Bank”, claiming “this is our land.”
Applying Israeli sovereignty, according to the definitions of the Israeli parties, is the annexation itself.
Ben-Ghafir considered that “Israeli settlers’ right to life preceded the Palestinians’ right to movement,” calling for restricting the Palestinian movement.
The Palestinian people suffer from ongoing Israeli restrictive measures and practices daily, as dozens of military checkpoints are established throughout Palestinian roads, embedding Palestinians’ movements.
According to Israeli statistics, over 700,000 Israeli settlers live in 146 Israeli settlements and 146 settlement outposts established on Palestinian land across the occupied West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.
Israeli forces and settlers’ attacks against Palestinians have escalated, killing 200 Palestinian citizens, including 37 children and 11 women, so far in 2023, Palestinian figures reported.
Israel's protest movement - and the battle for its soul - really is a tale of two cities
Tel Aviv is middle-class Israel's dream, but Jerusalem is its harsh reality
ANSHEL PFEFFER Protests over the government's plans to overhaul the judicial system have rocked Israel this summer. AP
Few Israelis remember who Eliezer Kaplan was. The country’s first finance minister – the man whose job it was to find the money to build a state – died in 1952 at the age of 61, with his job far from finished. But the timing of Mr Kaplan’s death, and the important position he had occupied in the country’s early years, meant his name was commemorated in some central locations, even though it means nothing to nearly everyone who passes there today.
In West Jerusalem, Kaplan Street goes through the central government quarter. At one end is Israel’s Supreme Court, then the Foreign Ministry, the Bank of Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Ministry. At the other end is the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
There’s a Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv as well. It’s one of the main entrances to the city and on it is another of the main government compounds – the Defence Ministry and the headquarters of the Israeli army.
Over the past eight months, as hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets protesting the plans of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to drastically weaken the Supreme Court, both Kaplan streets have been venues for massive anti-government rallies. The name has become so synonymous with the protests that one of the main organising groups has even named itself “Kaplan Force”. But when they call, through a thousand WhatsApp messages saying, “tonight everyone is on Kaplan”, there’s no need to specify which Kaplan they’re referring to.
The protests are happening around Israel, at over a hundred locations, but it’s been clear all along that their focal point is Tel Aviv. That is where they began 30 weeks ago, in the square outside the Ha’Bimah national theatre, gradually spreading to Kaplan Street and ending most nights blocking the Ayalon Highway. It’s where the biggest numbers have gathered and the battles with police have been the fiercest.
'Tonight everyone is on Kaplan' - there’s no need to specify which Kaplan they’re referring to
Thousands have joined a weekly rally on Saturday nights outside the President’s residence in Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital but the international community does not recognise. And a few massive rallies have been held outside the Knesset and the Supreme Court. But Tel Aviv remains the capital of Israel as far as the protest movement is concerned.
Five days before the Knesset was due to vote on abolishing the Supreme Court’s use of the “Reasonableness Standard”, which allowed the Court to strike down laws it deemed particularly objectionable, the protesters began marching to Jerusalem. By the time they arrived, over 70,000 had joined the final stage of the march, walking up the steep approaches to the city in the sweltering sun on a Saturday afternoon.
For many, the long snaking chain of men, women and children, lining Highway One with their Israeli flags and protest banners, was a stirring sight, but it also made clear that for the broad protest movement, Jerusalem was an away match, while in Tel Aviv they are on home turf.
This is not just about the numbers or where people actually live. Even before Israel’s foundation in 1948, there was a tension within the Zionist movement between members in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The official headquarters of the movement, the Jewish Agency, had its main offices in Jerusalem. But much of the organisational muscle, the Histadrut trade union federation, was down on the coast in Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem was an ancient “mixed” city. In addition to its Muslims, Christians and great mix of nationalities, many of the Jews living in Jerusalem were ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionists. And while Zionism claimed Jerusalem as its capital, Tel Aviv, the new, so-called “First Hebrew City” was rapidly becoming its main centre of commerce and culture.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel’s independence in Tel Aviv. Eighteen months later, when he decreed that the Knesset and the rest of the government’s offices would move to Jerusalem, though only a tiny of handful nations recognise it as the capital, there was a general outcry among the officials. Few of them wanted to move from the comfort of Tel Aviv to what was then a poor border town, the eastern part of which, along with a section of the main highway to the coast, was under Jordanian control. Commuting along the other narrow winding road would take three hours each way. Ben-Gurion got his way, but the Defence Ministry and the Histadrut stuck in their heels and stayed in Tel Aviv.
Despite the declarations of Israeli politicians, few of whom actually lived in Jerusalem, over the decades that Jerusalem has been called “Israel’s eternal undivided capital” it was and remains a divided city. The hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were annexed to Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967 didn’t accept that. And the growing Jewish ultra-Orthodox community had ideas of its own as well. Today’s Jerusalem is three different cities, with the Palestinians in the east, the ultra-Orthodox in the north and the rest of the Israelis in the south and west.
While few in the protest movement are willing to admit it, the ongoing conflict within Israel over the powers of the Supreme Court and the future of Israel’s limited and fragile democracy is very much a battle between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv represents Israel as the secular and middle-class place Israelis want to believe their country is – liberal, high-tech, and western cosmopolitan. Jerusalem is the reality they have tried to ignore for so many years: a divided city, riven by nationalism and religion, where the Knesset and City Hall are controlled by right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties and the Palestine-Israel conflict and the occupation are a daily reality. They don’t feel at home there and would prefer not having to go and protest outside the Knesset if they had a choice. But as much as they wish it could be, the State of Tel Aviv is not autonomous, and Israel’s government, which they didn’t vote for, still controls them, and it represents West Jerusalem.
Even if the protesters and Israel’s opposition succeed in rolling back the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul plans, Jerusalem and all the unresolved issues it stands for will still be there. They can no longer ignore it.
Published: August 03, 2023
Anshel Pfeffer is a writer for Haaretz and the Israel correspondent for The Economist. He is the author of Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu
THE REAL REASON FOR THE BROUHAHA
Challenge to Israeli law protecting PM from removal goes to Supreme Court
Court considers petition against a law that protects PM Netanyahu from being removed from office while on trial on corruption charges. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul is being challenged in the Supreme Court [File: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters] Published On 3 Aug 2023
Israel’s Supreme Court has heard a petition against an amendment to a Basic Law that was passed in March by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his religious-nationalist coalition government.
The hearing was held as protests continue against Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his government’s push to overhaul the judiciary.
The amendment that was the subject of Thursday’s hearing limits the reasons for removing a prime minister from office to physical or mental incapacitation, which benefits Netanyahu, who could have been removed from office for conflict of interest due to his pursuit of judicial changes while he is on trial.
The petitioner, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, argues that this “constituted another transition toward dictatorship” and “set a dangerous new precedent [whereby] the person possessing the premiership can change constitutional arrangements as convenient given the majority he has to hand”.
The five-hour hearing concluded without a verdict from the Supreme Court, and with the time frame for a conclusion to the case uncertain.
However, the Supreme Court President, Esther Hayut, did say that it was “clear” that the law passed in March was designed to benefit Netanyahu, the Times of Israel reported.
“[Likud] MP Moshe Saada said two days before the law was passed in its second and third readings ‘we legislated it because of Netanyahu’. You can’t get clearer than that,” Hayut said.
Supporters of Netanyahu, who won a record sixth term in December, say the petition is an example of what they call “meddling by unelected judges” in the work of a democratically elected government.
“There’s a desire here to create a judicial dictatorship,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told public broadcaster Kan.
Critics say the Supreme Court is the last check on the government and is needed because Israel has only its Basic Laws, not a formal constitution. Netanyahu’s challenges
The Supreme Court will hear an even bigger case on September 12. For the first time in Israeli history, the entire 15-justice bench will convene to hear an appeal against another amendment to a Basic Law – this one curbing the Supreme Court’s own powers.
The legislation, ratified on July 24, prevents the Supreme Court from vetoing government decisions on the grounds of being “unreasonable”.
Critics of that amendment worry that it will encourage high-level corruption.
The court has never quashed a Basic Law or an amendment to one. Netanyahu has voiced hope that it will not do so now and has been hazy on whether he would abide by any such ruling.
Netanyahu’s Likud party echoed its leader’s recent remarks in a July 31 statement: “Israeli governments have always respected the law and court rulings, and the court has always respected the basic laws.
“These two foundations form the basis of the rule of law in Israel and the balance between the authorities in any democracy. Any deviation from one of these principles will gravely harm Israeli democracy, which these days is in dire need of calm, dialogue and responsibility.” Protests ongoing
Thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags rallied on Wednesday against the legislation the Knesset approved last month, the first bill in a judicial overhaul planned by Netanyahu’s coalition.
“You have ruined the country, and we will fix it. Democracy! Democracy!” chanted demonstrators in Tel Aviv, which has become the epicentre of anti-government demonstrations since the judicial overhaul was unveiled in January.
“I’m against the government. What it’s doing is moving all the power to one authority,” protester Roei Ben Haim, 40, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
“Once they ruin the system, it becomes important to me to take to the streets to tell them it won’t pass.”
He said amending the “reasonableness” clause in itself was not important but because “it’s the first act the government wants to cancel”, people “must show the government we’re determined in the face of any action it takes”.
Israel judicial protests: Anti-occupation bloc questions democracy of the state
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul is being challenged in the Supreme Court [File: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]