Netanyahu’s two-front battle

Israel’s intense attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Airstrikes and 1,000 ground troops. Streets choked with rubble. Families fleeing on foot. The attack on the West Bank that Israel launched yesterday is one of the most intense in 20 years. The last major assault on the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin took place during the second Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation in the early 2000s. Back then, a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings largely united Israelis. Although Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has broad Israeli support for its campaign in the West Bank, this time it’s battling a homegrown uprising over domestic policies too. Key Reading: [Israel Takes Aim at More Targets as West Bank Fighting Persists]( [Israel Tensions Escalate Amid Protests and West Bank Assault]( [Ultra-Orthodox Move From Margins to Center of Israeli Politics]( [Netanyahu Drops Override Clause in Judicial Overhaul Plan]( After a two-month lull, protests against Netanyahu’s plan to defang Israel’s judiciary have reignited. Hundreds of military reservists — medics, intelligence officers, combat soldiers and pilots — have signed letters asserting that they won’t feel obliged to show up for service if the judicial changes become law. The presence in Netanyahu’s government of anti-Arab extremists who were once shunned on the margins of Israeli politics has also awakened political activism among secular liberals who see the standoff as a battle to salvage the country’s democratic institutions. With attention focused on the protests tearing Israel apart, however, the government has expanded Jewish settlements in West Bank areas meant to form part of a future Palestinian state. Already on the rise in 2022, Palestinian-Israeli violence has flared this year, with tit-for-tat attacks and settler mobs rampaging through Palestinian villages. In the first six months of 2023, 112 Palestinians and 18 Israelis were killed, according to the UN. Israel’s government says the Jenin attack, which has killed 10 Palestinians and displaced about 3,000 so far, targets militants it blames for some of that violence. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, with whom Israel fought a war in 2006, has expressed support for the Palestinians but stopped short of offering help. An escalation so far looks unlikely, but even veterans of the Shin Bet security service have warned the legal changes could create an irreparable rift in Israeli society — and opportunities for its enemies.— [Lin Noueihed]( Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike yesterday in Jenin. Photographer: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/Getty Images Check out the latest [Washington Edition newsletter](. You can [sign up]( to get it in your inbox every weekday. And if you are enjoying this newsletter, sign up [here](. Global Headlines China’s decision to control the export of two key metals used to make semiconductor chips, electric cars and telecommunications equipment just days before a visit by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shows Beijing can [retaliate against moves]( to cut it off from advanced technology. But it also risks backfiring by accelerating efforts by the US, Europe and Japan to reduce dependence on the world’s second-biggest economy. - China’s restrictions will hit key sectors in the European Union’s effort [to decarbonize]( its economy. The EU’s top diplomat [will head to Beijing]( next week, while the 27-member bloc and Japan agreed to [step up cooperation]( on semiconductors. - A top contender to be Taiwan’s next leader has pledged to [keep the peace with China]( and roll back an extension of mandatory military service. China is the undisputed [leader]( in the elements used in electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and wind-turbine magnets. If the US and Europe are going to have any chance of challenging its dominance in these clean technologies, they need to catch up fast. Read how China’s early move to tap new centers of lithium supply across Africa is [reaping rewards](, helping the top EV battery producer navigate a tight market for the metal. Russia halted flights at one of Moscow’s three major airports, Vnukovo, for three hours today after what the authorities said was a Ukrainian [drone attack](. Air defenses destroyed four drones and electronic jamming brought down another, the Defense Ministry said. The attack was the most serious involving unmanned aircraft near Moscow since the end of May. Ukraine hasn’t commented. - President Vladimir Putin told a regional security grouping that Russians [were united]( behind his leadership in his first international appearance since the failed mutiny. - Follow our Ukraine [Recap]( for the latest coverage of the war. Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [Wagner Cost Russia Suspiciously Little Money: Leonid Bershidsky]( - [Zambia’s Debt Deal Is Promising But Unfinished: Editorial]( - [Supreme Court Needs New Ethics Rules Before October: Gabe Roth]( Thailand’s newly elected lawmakers endorsed the appointment of a veteran politician as the parliament speaker, marking another important milestone for a coalition of pro-democracy parties seeking to form a new government after sweeping the May election. Yet the last-minute endorsement of a consensus candidate illustrates the [challenges ahead]( for the eight-party alliance led by its prime ministerial candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat. Explainers You Can Use - [Drought Menacing Thailand Threatens Global Supply of Sugar, Rice]( - [Musk, Zuckerberg Lead $852 Billion Surge of World’s Richest]( - [How Biden Lost the Fight for Student Loan Forgiveness]( Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee pledged a lifetime of [police pursuit]( for eight democracy activists who fled abroad to evade national security charges, a day after authorities put a HK$1 million ($127,650) bounty on each. All those targeted are currently in countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia whose governments have publicly condemned the Beijing-drafted national security law. Tune in to Bloomberg TV’s Balance of Power at 5pm to 6pm ET weekdays with Washington correspondents [Annmarie Hordern]( and [Joe Mathieu](. You can watch and listen on Bloomberg channels and online [here](. News to Note - President Emmanuel Macron will meet with the mayors of hundreds of towns to assess the impact of the [riots that have rocked France]( over the past week as a massive police deployment led to a continued drop in the level of unrest overnight. - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan downplayed the chances of [a significant breakthrough]( at talks this week to bring Sweden into NATO, amid a dispute over the burning of a Koran in Stockholm. - Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has banned hundreds of beauty salons run by women, the [latest crackdown]( on the few avenues left for female employment. - Senegalese President Macky Sall ruled out seeking a third term in next year’s presidential elections, ending a [heated controversy]( over his eligibility to stand. - Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss earned £80,000 ($101,600) in four hours this year during a visit to the self-ruled island of Taiwan that [drew criticism]( from within her own Conservative Party. And finally ... Spain is ramping up well over €18 billion ($19.5 billion) in investments to produce and distribute hydrogen generated from renewable power — representing Europe’s most ambitious effort yet to implement technologies critical to becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent. But as Thomas Gualtieri writes, countries including France and Germany have started to chip away at parts of the EU’s so-called Green Deal, as the ambitious plan [gets dragged into]( “culture wars” over concerns about the political and financial costs. King Felipe VI of Spain and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in front of a tanker for transporting clean ammonia in Algeciras on June 14. Photographer: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. 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