Netanyahu dodges on honoring High Court if it blocks overhaul law * IDF to PM: Rift is harming deterrence * Gallant said to want unity gov’t * Sinéad O’Connor v Ben Gvir

[Times of Israel]( [The daily edition]( Friday, July 28, 2023 [PM won’t pledge to honor High Court ruling if it strikes down reasonableness law]( By ToI Staff In US interviews, Netanyahu dodges question, says Israel would be entering ‘uncharted territory’; acknowledges he plans to use fresh law to reappoint Shas’s Deri as minister [Netanyahu tells US media new judicial law is ‘minor,’ democracy fears are ‘silly’]( By Luke Tress and ToI Staff [Foreign Ministry tells diplomats to explain protests as an example of democracy]( By ToI Staff [Military Intelligence warned PM 4 times overhaul rift harming deterrence – report]( By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff Officials said to believe Israel’s enemies — particularly Hezbollah and Iran — sense historic weakness, see opportunity to shift balance of power in region in their favor [Analysis / Government ignores stark warnings, as IDF faces unprecedented threat to readiness]( By Emanuel Fabian [Education Ministry director-general quits, citing societal ‘rift’]( By Michael Horovitz [Credit rating agency S&P warns lack of overhaul consensus imperils Israeli economy]( By Sharon Wrobel Report says ‘domestic political polarization’ to remain high amid uncertainty over the advancement of other parts of the government’s ‘controversial’ package [Retired justice: High Court should strike down ‘anti-democratic’ reasonableness law]( By ToI Staff [Bill floats government-controlled media watchdog that could levy heavy fines]( By Carrie Keller-Lynn [Thousands protest in Tel Aviv against overhaul; police out in force; no major trouble]( By Naomi Lanzkron, ToI Staff and Luke Tress Heavy police presence but no violence as demonstrators rally against coalition; in first, police park trucks across Kaplan Street to prevent cars from coming close to protesters [Israeli expat boots Israeli ambassador from his Berlin cafe]( By Toby Axelrod [Gallant said to eye unity government with Lapid, Gantz to counter overhaul strife]( By Michael Horovitz Senior Likud member reportedly wants opposition chiefs to replace Ben Gvir and Smotrich, willing to step aside as defense minister if need be; Dichter slams ‘thugs’ on both sides Top Ops Yosef Blau [American Jewry faces a quandary, but does it know it?]( Young US Jews don’t prioritize Israel the way their parents did, nor do young Israelis like US democracy as a model. With the gap is growing, now what? Yael Shahar [The place where we are right: Lessons from a talmudic story]( One school of Jewish law favored tradition, another innovation, but it was only when they tried to fix one over the other that things really went wrong Joshua Berman [Healing means hearing the other side’s pain]( Consider how fast the coalition revoked the ’reasonableness’ clause and see a history of discrimination and humiliation writ large Peta Jones Pellach [That’s not what I meant by ‘peace’]( We’ve lost sight of the values of justice and freedom that the prophets upheld. To get it back, we must dream of our own potential Essay [The wounded Jewish psyche and the divided Israeli soul]( By Yossi Klein Halevi Understanding Israel’s moment of truth – from the war on Start-up Nation, to the moral crisis in Orthodox Jewry, to the author’s personal failure of empathy for political opponents [Sinéad O’Connor to Ben Gvir in 1997: ‘You bring terror to the children of the world’]( By ToI Staff Irish singer who died Wednesday wrote to the far-right activist, who was 21 at the time, after he took credit for canceling her concert in Jerusalem [In about-face, Swedish woman burns paper instead of Torah outside Israeli embassy]( By ToI Staff Woman is 2nd in recent weeks to threaten to burn the holy book only to walk it back; Israel warned Stockholm that allowing demonstration would harm bilateral relations [FM Cohen urges Swedish counterpart to prevent Torah burning outside embassy]( By ToI Staff [Top Biden aides dispatched to Saudi Arabia to discuss normalization deal – report]( By Jacob Magid NYT says Israel would likely be expected to commit to never annex West Bank, cease building new settlements and legalizing outposts, and transfer parts of Area C to Palestinians [US pans settler violence, noting it has led Palestinians to flee their villages]( By Jacob Magid [Americans who see Israel as top ally highlight defense ties, shared values]( By ToI Staff Exclusive [Senior PA security official: Hamas, PIJ recruiting youth ‘with nothing to live for’]( By Jacob Magid Brigadier general says Palestinians being paid to target settlers and IDF; says he urged CIA to push Israel to combat settler violence, approve more permits, in order to flip trend [Israel tells ICJ it lacks authority to debate conflict, says talks are only solution]( By ToI Staff Interview [A pair of crisis managers show how cancel culture targets all – without fear or favor]( By Cathryn J. Prince In new book, ‘The Cancel Culture Curse,’ Evan Nierman and Mark Sachs describe how the form of bullying has brought the United States to madness – and how to pull back from it [Conservative rabbis endorse use of electric cars on Shabbat, still divided on driving]( By Jackie Hajdenberg Just 10 members of the movement’s 25-rabbi Committee on Jewish Law and Standards were in favor and 6 voted against, 5 rabbis abstained, 4 did not attend ToI podcast [What Matters Now to thinker Micah Goodman: An incipient internal ‘intifada’]( By Amanda Borschel-Dan Public intellectual weighs in on Netanyahu’s ‘bad decision,’ unintended consequences of reservists’ refusals and how to understand the judicial conflict in three prisms [‘The era of global boiling’: July to be hottest month in recorded history]( By Kelly MacNamara Wildfires rage in Mediterranean; residents of New York, Beijing warned of dangerous heat and Florida seas get hotter than a bathtub as UN warns ‘terrifying’ new epoch has arrived [Real property pain underpins Israel’s sobering housing statistics]( By Danielle Nagler With price highs and transaction lows, securing a property deal seems harder than ever [Housing snapshot: Home sales and rentals across Israel]( By Danielle Nagler [CRM]( More Headlines [Israel’s Aleph Farms gears up to sell first cultivated beef cuts in Europe]( By Sharon Wrobel [Florida woman sentenced for stealing nearly $3 million from Holocaust survivor]( By Larry Neumeister [Musk’s X Corp sues Israel’s Bright Data for scraping data]( By Sharon Wrobel [Alaska man gets 18 months in prison after vandalizing Jewish museum with swastikas]( By Andrew Lapin [Trump accused of asking staffer to delete footage in Florida secret documents case]( By Eric Tucker, Zeke Miller and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER [Curtains down / Doors may close on German Colony’s 95-year cinema Lev Smadar]( By Jessica Steinberg [The daily edition]( [facebook]( [twitter]( [instagram]( [View in browser]( [Contact support](mailto:support@timesofisrael.com) [Advertise with us](mailto:advertise@timesofisrael.com) Were you forwarded this email? 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