A7News: What's behind Netanyahu's decision to fire Bennett and Shaked?

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Sunday, Jun. 02 '19, כ"ח באייר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. WHAT'S BEHIND NETANYAHU'S DECISION TO FIRE BENNETT AND SHAKED?
2. THE SURPRISING POLITICAL COMEBACK
3. FACEBOOK'S SHERYL SANDBERG TO VISIT ISRAEL
4. NETANYAHU FIRES MINISTERS NAFTALI BENNETT AND AYELET SHAKED
5. CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS TRY TO TIE ISRAEL TO PITTSBURGH MASSACRE
6. TEMPLE MOUNT RIOTS RESUME
7. IDF ATTACKS TARGETS IN SYRIA
8. HANEGBI: WE MIGHT FORM A GOVERNMENT WITH BENNY GANTZ


1. WHAT'S BEHIND NETANYAHU'S DECISION TO FIRE BENNETT AND SHAKED?
by Hezki Baruch

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fired the two New Right ministers, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, from his cabinet Sunday afternoon, after they joined the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday morning for the first time since the April 9th election in which the two failed to retain their Knesset seats.

Netanyahu, outraged by their participation in the cabinet meeting, fired the two ministers shortly afterwards, giving them the 48-hour notification of their termination from the government.

Shaked and Bennett lost their seats after their New Right party narrowly failed to clear the 3.25% electoral threshold in the April elections. Nevertheless, the two retained their ministries in the transitional government, after Netanyahu failed to form a new coalition and dissolved the 21st Knesset.

The Prime Minister has hoped to blunt the two New Right leaders' electoral strength by removing them from his government.

On Sunday morning, Netanyahu urged Union of Right-Wing Parties' chief Rafi Peretz to formally request that Netanyahu fire Shaked and Bennett and transfer their ministries back to the Jewish Home and National Union factions.

At the behest of National Union chief Bezalel Smotrich, however, Peretz did not submit the letter calling for Bennett and Shaked's termination.

Despite the failure of the United Right to formally demand the ministries, Netanyahu removed Bennett and Shaked, hoping to prevent them from attending this Tuesday's security cabinet meeting.

Following the removal of the two ministers, the United Right has called on Netanyahu to tap MKs Peretz and Smotrich to the Education and Justice ministries respectively.


2. THE SURPRISING POLITICAL COMEBACK
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Former Education Minister Naftali Bennett has already decided to run for the 22nd Knesset. According to a Yediot Ahronot report on Friday morning, Bennett tried to form a joint run of several right-wing parties under the name "United Right Front" even before it was finally decided that the Knesset would be dispersed.

Bennett met on Thursday with Moshe Feiglin (Zehut) and is scheduled to meet next week with Rabbi Rafi Peretz (Jewish Home) and Bezalel Smotrich (National Union).

Bennett also intends to contact Otzma Yehudit headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir. In the past, Bennett has ruled out a joint run with Ben-Gvir and his partners, but this time he may act differently.

The report also said that the Union of Right-Wing Parties made arrangements on Thursday to establish a headquarters for the election campaign, and Jewish Home initiated talks to decide if the party's representatives on the list would be a copy of the existing list or whether the party would hold primaries.


3. FACEBOOK'S SHERYL SANDBERG TO VISIT ISRAEL
by Sara Rubenstein

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO, in visiting Israel in August, according to a report by the Hebrew business magazine The Marker on Saturday. Sandberg, 50, considered one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley and in the corporate world in general, will be in Israel for a few days in the context of a family trip.

According to The Marker, it's unknown whether Sandberg is planning on combining business and pleasure to schedule business meetings during her trip to the Holy Land or visit Israel's Facebook development center. Her visit is bound to attract much attention since it is apparently her first visit to Israel since she became the COO of Facebook in 2008.

Sandberg, a billionaire, was named in Time 100 in 2012 as one of the most influential people in the world. Prior to joining Facebook, she was a VP at Google. In 2007, Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, met Sandberg at a party and later hired her as Facebook's COO. Sandberg was instrumental in forging the path to Facebook's profitability.

Sandberg is considered a proponent of female empowerment, especially after the release of her best-selling book in 2013: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. In 2015, Sandberg's husband, Dave Goldberg, died suddenly while they were on vacation, leaving her alone with two young children. Sandberg subsequently released her second book, Option B in 2017, (co-authored with Professor Adam Grant) which also quickly became a best-seller, describing how she coped with the death of her husband and the nature of resilience.


4. NETANYAHU FIRES MINISTERS NAFTALI BENNETT AND AYELET SHAKED
by David Rosenberg

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has fired ministers Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett, removing the two New Right leaders from his cabinet.

The Prime Minister's Office informed Bennett and Shaked Sunday afternoon that they would no longer be serving as Education Minister and Justice Minister respectively, following the failure of their party to cross the electoral threshold in the April 9th election.

The removal of the two New Right ministers will go into effect on Tuesday.

Bennett and Shaked, who had run in 2015 at the head of the Jewish Home ticket, broke off in December 2018 to form the New Right. While the party initially was projected to win more than 10 seats, the New Right ultimately failed to cross the electoral threshold, leaving Bennett and Shaked out of the 21st Knesset.

Earlier on Sunday, it was reported that Netanyahu was considering revamping his transitional government ahead of this September's Knesset election, with the aim of strengthening the Likud party's position within the government.

Rabbi Rafi Peretz, chief of the Union of Right-Wing Parties, a joint list of the Jewish Home and National Union, had prepared a letter formally demanding that Netanyahu to fire Shaked and Bennett, and transfer the ministries back to the Jewish Home, giving current Jewish Home MKs the ministries. But Peretz ultimately held off on sending the letter to Netanyahu, after MK Bezalel Smotrich, chairman of the National Union faction, urged him not to make the demand formal.

Netanyahu has reportedly refused calls from within the Likud to recruit Shaked into the party and grant her a spot high on the Likud's Knesset slate for the September election.


5. CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS TRY TO TIE ISRAEL TO PITTSBURGH MASSACRE
by JTA

Far-left Democrats in California have put forth draft resolutions fiercely critical of Israel ahead of this weekend's state party convention, including one suggesting that the Israeli government is partly responsible for the atmosphere inspiring last October's massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

One resolution, first reported by Fox News, calls the murder of 11 Jews by a white supremacist "the culmination of an alarming re-emergence of virulent antisemitism that is a core element of historical and currently resurgent white supremacism in the United States and around the world." The "Israeli government, along with some of its U.S. backers," the resolution continues, "welcomed support from Christian fundamentalist and ultra-right groups in the United States and abroad, dangerously ignoring their deeply rooted antisemitism while aligning with their virulent Islamophobia."

That platform resolution was authored by David Mandel, a state Assembly delegate from the Sacramento area who Fox says holds dual U.S.-Israel citizenship.

"The Israeli government and its supporters here seem to be embracing the right wing and not caring what they say about anything else — Islamophobia, dog whistles for anti-Semitism," Mandel told Fox when asked about the Pittsburgh connection. "That, I think, does indirectly lead to some of the violence."

Other resolutions to be introduced at the San Francisco confab urge a rollback of President Donald Trump's Israel policies, including recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights; condemn Israel for clashes with Gaza terrorists without mentioning provocations or attacks by the Hamas leadership there; and direct party officials to take a subsidized trip to Israel only if they spend the same amount of time visiting Palestinian Authority villages and leaders.

Mandel's resolution opposes "all efforts to stigmatize and suppress support for Palestinian human rights by falsely conflating it with antisemitism."

The latter is a reference to criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who apologized after fellow Democrats and others said she had invoked several anti-Semitic tropes in her criticism of US supporters of Israel.

Whether the resolutions will be debated by the full assembly of 3,000-4,000 delegates at the Moscone Convention Center is up to a Resolutions Committee. Delegates have the option of gathering 300 signatures to force a debate on the floor.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America expressed "deep concern" about reports of the resolutions.

"We urge the California Democratic Party not to fall into the trap of letting Republicans divide us on Israel and the fight against anti-Semitism," Halie Soifer, the council's executive director, said in a statement. "Nearly all extremist violence in the United States, including attacks on Jews and Muslims, have come from right-wing extremists."

She added: "While Republicans continue to attempt to turn Israel into a partisan wedge issue, the Democratic Party remains staunchly pro-Israel. The Democratic Platform adopted in 2016 affirms that 'we will always support Israel's right to defend itself, including by retaining its qualitative military edge, and oppose any effort to delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.'"

The current California Democratic state platform, adopted in 2018, supports "a solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated by the parties that guarantees equality, security and democracy for all, recognizes Israel's future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty and dignity."

It also regards Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but says the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem "should not remove [Jerusalem] from final status negotiations, nor should it be used to undermine the peace process."

In 2018, the delegates also adopted two resolutions, neither of which made it into the platform, that were opposed by many in the pro-Israel camp. One opposed federal bills targeting the boycott (BDS) movement, and the other proposed a federal bill preventing Israel from using U.S. tax dollars to detain Palestinian Arab children.

The Progressive Zionists of the California Democratic Party urged party members to oppose the Israel resolutions.

"These six anti-Israel resolutions divide us rather than bring us together," the group said in a statement to the Jewish News Syndicate. "They give no care for the human rights, self-determination, and safety of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland. As they all demonize Israel and hold Palestinian leadership completely harmless, one resolution even calls for the destruction of Israel as the Jewish state."

Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders are expected to attend the convention.


6. TEMPLE MOUNT RIOTS RESUME
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The riots on the Temple Mount resumed over the last hour when hundreds of Muslims began throwing stones, shoes, and chairs at the police stationed on the Mount

Following the attack, the police began to disperse the rioters, while the police used crowd dispersal measures. The rioters were pushed away.

Earlier on Sunday, the Temple Mount headquarters reported that Sunday morning, Jerusalem Day, a record after 1,162 Jews ascended the Temple Mount.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264031

"Today we made history, a day when terror will not defeat Israeli sovereignty. Today we can say with certainty, the Temple Mount is run only according to the determination of the authorities of the State of Israel. The Temple Mount is in our hands!" the authority said in a statement.

Earlier this morning, hundreds of Muslims rioted on the Temple Mount and hurled chairs and other objects at police forces.

Major General Doron Yedid, ordered police forces to enter and disperse rioters with riot control measures. The rioters were pushed towards the mosque where they barricaded themselves. Police forces broke into the mosque while the rioters hurled chairs and various objects at them.

The police dispersed the rioters and later arrested a number of suspects who continued to riot and provoke further provocations, including an Arab from Judea and Samaria and a foreign resident.


7. IDF ATTACKS TARGETS IN SYRIA
by Ben Ariel

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264016

The IDF attacked a number of military targets in Syria overnight Saturday in response to the firing of two rockets from Syrian territory at Mount Hermon in the northern Golan Heights on Saturday night, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.

One of the rockets that had been fired from Syrian was located in Israeli territory, the statement said.

According to the statement, Israeli warplanes and helicopters attacked a number of military targets belonging to the Syrian army, including two artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights, and an SA-2 air defense battery.

During the attack, an IDF air defense system was launched following Syrian anti-aircraft fire. No explosions were identified in Israeli territory.

"The IDF views the Syrian regime as responsible for any action against Israel from Syrian territory and will act aggressively against any action from its territory. The IDF will continue to act against any attempt to harm the citizens of Israel and its territory and is obligated to protect the security of Israeli citizens," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.

A Syrian military source quoted on Syria's news agency said that three soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the Israeli air strike.

Earlier, Syrian media reported that the country's air defense systems had been activated against "enemy targets" in southern Damascus.

It was also reported that explosions were heard in the area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition organization based in Britain, reported that "Israel attacked a concentration of forces belonging to Hezbollah and Iran in the suburbs of Damascus."

On Saturday night, two projectiles were launched from Syria towards Mount Hermon. There were no injuries.

The IDF is investigating, but believes that the missiles were intentionally aimed at Israel, since there has been no fighting on the Syrian side of the border.

Initially it was believed that one of the missiles may have exploded in Israeli territory, while the other exploded in Syria. Later, it was confirmed that both exploded in the IDF military zone near Mount Hermon.

On Monday, the IDF confirmed that it had launched an air strike targeting a Syrian missile launcher following an attack on an Israeli aircraft. The missile did not strike the plane and landed in Syria.


8. HANEGBI: WE MIGHT FORM A GOVERNMENT WITH BENNY GANTZ
by Ben Ariel

Minister Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) on Saturday night suggested that Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz not personally disqualify Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu because after the elections, a unity government could be formed.

"We never personally disqualified Benny Gantz," Hanegbi said in an interview on Channel 12 News, adding that the members of Blue and White were wrong when they ruled out the possibility of sitting in a coalition led by Netanyahu.

"They disqualified Bibi because they thought it would cause a change within the Likud, they did not understand the soul of the Likud," claimed Hanegbi.

He suggested that Gantz "flip the switch and say, 'I will be willing to sit in a government with Netanyahu.' We will have a unity government with impressive achievements."

The Likud expressed reservations about Hanegbi's remarks, saying, "Minister Hanegbi's remarks are his own opinion. The Likud and the prime minister want to establish a strong right-wing government led by a large Likud and under the leadership of Netanyahu, as the people chose."