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Elections cost Israel $500 million each time and most Israelis are resentful about it. Israel is renowned as a stable democracy, but now people see it as a less stable one like Greece or Italy. I think this shows that Israel needs to think more critically about their political system. It is not like anything has to change, but there needs to be laws or guidelines set in place for situations like these. I think this situation shows how serious of a problem polarization is. They had multiple chances to work with each other and make compromises but that is impossible when one side sees the other side as the enemy, instead of leaders in the same country. It makes me sad to see how polarized much of the world is becoming and if not checked, I think it will test more democracies than Israel.

I truly feel like the third time is the charm here. There is definitely going to be a third election by this point. I think either Gantz is going to win because more people will be concerned about the charges put against Netanyahu and many blame him for the election difficulty, or whoever wins will be willing to sacrifice more than they were in the past because they have found it is necessary. There is a poll that says that Likud is going to drop seats after this, but not enough for Blue and White to form a government. Hopefully the stakes feel high enough now that they are willing to make sacrifices. Maybe the problem in the past was that the stakes did not feel high enough.

This is different from the current status quo of who is allowed to pray on the Temple Mount/ Haram Al-Sharif. Usually, the police block any non-muslim prayer on the mountain, citing security concerns. Non-muslim prayer is not technically illegal. Now there are Jewish activists who meet there and pray regularly. I had no idea there was any type of movement or change on this issue or that people could even meet regularly here without getting arrested. It seems there is a growing demand that Jews can pray at the Temple Mount. I do not think this is an easily solved issue. It is easy to say that anyone should have the right to practice religion however both sides see this as inherently theirs and no one else’s, so it is very hard to make that happen. I am intrigued to see what happens next. I think more people are going to try to pray on the temple mount and then it will become a forefront political issue.

This article is really interesting to me. I have been reading about the rise of anti-semitism in Germany lately and am aware it is the same in other western nations as well. They just declared a Nazi emergency in Dresden which makes me really sad as a German major who adores Dresden and a lot of other places in Germany that probably have the same problem. I always thought that the one region of the world that would not have to deal with anti-semitism would be Europe, considering what they went through and what they did in the 20th century. They have first hand experience that anti-semitism or any form of racism is a horrible thing that escalates into terrible acts. But it seems the reality is that there are anti-semitic remnants left over that people brushed under the rug instead of getting rid of it. I support the idea of taking anti-semitism very seriously in Europe and attempting to finally expel it. And it is clear that some sentiments opposing Zionism are anti-semitic. I do not think this will affect free speech much. The government cannot regulate whether a person is anti-semitic or not. They can, however, define anti-zionism as anti-semitism. I hope that this does not impede anyone’s ability to speak their mind - the article does not make it clear what the implications of this law for the French public are - but overall I am happy they are taking this issue seriously.

There was a large protest throughout Palestine on Tuesday against Pompeo announcing that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not outside of international law. Two things about this event struck me. The first is the encouragement and participation by the government in Palestine. They declared today a "Day of Rage" and promised to have more. They even let out school for an hour so children could participate. The second was the intense emotion exhibited in the protest. Protestors held signs claiming Palestinians were lions and Zionists were rats and burned effigies of Trump and Pompeyo. Of course this intense protest was met with intense containment by the IDF, injuring many protestors with rubber bullets and tear gas. This probably will only contribute to the intensity. Learning about the peace process today, and how Palestinians have decided to not take certain deals based on political concerns in the past, made this even more interesting to read. It is clear how emotional this issue is and how easy it would be as a politician to step on the toes of their population. But at the same time, the Palestinian authority was encouraging and participating in this protest. Really, it is more than trying to avoid political backlash, they are creating the backlash. They are using rage to rule up their people and stay in power. I would not be surprised if there are examples of this in Israeli politics as well.

The plot is so thick now, it is basically oatmeal. Today in the messy porridge of Israeli politics, Netanyahu was indicted on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. Naturally, he is pointing fingers at the investigators and saying he is the victim of a witch hunt. And naturally Benny Gantz is taking full advantage of this and saying he should step down, though apparently there is nothing legally making him step down. The article cites multiple sources who think this will cost him the inevitable third election. I agree with them. I think this is the final straw that will shift the few seats that need shifting to make a centrist-left government. I am wondering if this could even shift the outcome of the next three weeks, though I do not believe that will happen. right now in history, the institutions and democracy of Israel are being tested and I think this shows that they are either not very strong too begin with, or people in power have weakened them in order to strengthen themselves. I think what matters most for Israel right now is not who they elect but rather how that person/ party comes to power.

The deadline for Benny Gantz’s mandate to form a unity government will end automatically on Wednesday night at 11:59pm, though it is still very unclear what could happen. The article says there could be a minority government, where Liberman allows Gantz to form a government totally of centrist-left allies. The other options include a unity government, or Liberman would form a right-wing government or it will end in another election. I am rather confused at this point, because none of these options other than some kind of union government seem to be what the voters voted for. Is it even possible to form a fully liberal or fully conservative coalition? I thought there were not enough of either to do that. I think this is going to end in a third election because everyone refuses to budge.

This is an important reminder of the fact that Hamas the politicians are a different entity than Hamas the terrorists. After the trouble this small Islamic Jihadist sect is causing in the region, they have a role as the ones trying to keep the peace. To me, this probably means that relative peace in the region and a cease-fire are in Hamas’ interests right now. Maybe they are trying to keep sponsors like Qatar happy or trying to make their government in Gaza more established. Even though they are not the ones doing the fighting right now, I do not think Hamas’ overall goal is switching to peace. They still want Israel out of there and want a Palestinian state in its place. I think they are just trying to look more and more like an established regime in Gaza.

Israel just killed the leader of the Palestinian Jihad group in Gaza, Baha Abu al-Ata. In reaction, the group started shooting rockets into Israel, worrying people that there will be another war like in 2014. Hamas vows to punish Israel, but has yet to join forces with the Jihad group. I was not aware that there was even a Jihad group in Gaza, other than maybe Hamas. I doubt this will lead to more aggression since it seems the rocket firing has stopped and not many people were injured. However, I do not think this will slow down Jihad movements at all. I think it will just inspire them to continue.

Before reading this article, I did not think much about Israel’s say in Iran’s nuclear power, and here is Netanyahu calling on other naitons to act alongside Pompeyo. It makes sense, considering Israel is worried about defense and security in the region and a nuclear Iran is more intimidating.

 Apparently Israel made a law in 2017 that allows them to deport any foreigner who openly supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement. They just invoked this law on an Israeli-Palestinian conflict specialist in the organisation Human Rights Watch, who had openly supported the BDS movement in the past. I do not agree with this law or the verdict. Neither does this article. It is clearly leaning against Israel. I think a country should allow free speech, even to non-citizens, as long as they are not threatening the safety of anyone or of the country. I do think there is anti-semitism in the BDS movement, which Israel points out a lot. However, I do not think this is a question of the legitimacy of the movement. The specialist, Omar Shakir is quoted at the end of the article, saying “It is about what kind of country Israel wants to be.” Those in the Israeli government need to ask themselves this. Do they want an open, democratic Israel, or a corrupt, oppressive one. The decisions they make should reflect which kind of country they desire.

The IDF has been adjusting and testing its air defense systems in light of the fear that Iran is getting ready to launch an attack. Netanyahu stated earlier this week that Iran has deployed rockets to Lebanon in order to strike. Now definitely might be the time to hit Israel via Lebanon since Lebanon’s government is in disarray and Israel’s government is still trying to figure things out. I am somewhat confused why Iran wants to attack Israel. Is the country of Israel in a strategic place? Does Israel pose a threat to Iran? Is it purely anti-semitic? If anyone knows, let me know. I am curious to see if this building up of arms in Israel will lead to another preemptive Israeli attack.

Apparently, there is a concern that the chaos in Lebanon will lead Hezbollah to strike Israel to divert attention. People think Iran will use this opportunity to exert more influence in Lebanon through Hezbollah, whom they support. I have even seen other articles about the IDF preparing for war with Lebanon because of this unrest, but this article said that the unrest and resignation is unlikely to affect Israel, just yet. This is because Hezbollah knows Israel will over-react to any strike, inflicting way more damage than Hezbollah could. I agree that Hezbollah will not try to attack Israel just now, but I think they will in the future. There seems to be more unrest between Lebanon and Israel and I think this will exacerbate it in the long run.

It is good to hear that people are leaning towards compromising more. Though I appreciate the desire to curtail government corruption, I do not think they will be able to form a government if they refuse to work with Netanyahu while he is dealing with charges. Many Israelis would rather have a unity government than another election, so I think there is incentive to compromise right now, so tired and annoyed citizens do not vote them out. I am betting that in the next 28 days, they will have com up with a deal, since Gantz’s turn is like the last chance before they have to hold a third election. The finality of it should push people to form a deal.

This is an interesting article because it gives good insight on the political climate of Israel right now. Part of the town of Rosh Haayin is more conservative and religious and voted mainly for Likud.  The other part is more ethnically diverse and leans centrist-left. The article says that many really want the compromise of a unity government and those who want to continue with Likud and Netanyahu are mainly worried about the country’s security. I am not sure what will happen next now that Netanyahu was not able to form a government, but I hope they compromise for the sake of a unity government. The Israeli people are tired and it is ridiculous to have three elections when you were only supposed to have one.

This article says that many thought that we were in the last battle against ISIS earlier this year. Thousands of ISIS fighters along with their wives and families were detained in SDF camps. However, the new policy threatens the SDF a lot, to the point of Turkey expelling it from the area. Hundreds of radical people are escaping and the number could grow, as Turkey continues attacking the SDF. This could undo a lot of the work that the war against ISIS has accomplished. The article goes as fart o say that the war against ISIS is all a waste, which I doubt is the case. Even though some is undone, and Trump seems eager to get US military out of Syria, I do not think we would just let ISIS take over. I cannot imagine a world where it is in the United State’s interest that ISIS gains control. I think The United States will still be involved in the war as much as they can for as long as they can.

I think the Trump administration pulled troops out of Syria because they want to limit the times we act as the world police, but the US needs to keep its promises to its allies. Of course, Turkey is also our ally, so clearly we should have stayed in that area to begin with. Does anyone have any other ideas why the Trump administration decided to do this?