History was made Sunday in an over-crowded, bare-walled room in Jerusalem’s district court building. A defendant, facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, took his seat and acknowledged, in front of the three-judge panel and the entire State of Israel, that he had read the charges and fully understood them.
What are the chances of this dramatic step actually taking place? Is this an inevitable result of the new government formed or yet another election-promise bound to be discarded as campaign rhetoric makes way to reality?
It all depends on four key players, their motivation, and their ability to influence the course of events.
But it’s hard to substantiate Pompeo’s claim that Americans are now safer or that the Middle East is more peaceful, and recent events in the region offer facts that argue otherwise. In the two years since the U.S. dropped out of the deal, tensions in the Persian Gulf had reached a boiling point, freedom of passage in the crucial Gulf waters has been jeopardized, fighting spread to Saudi Arabia and endangered critical oil infrastructure, and U.S. and Iran came to the brink of a full out war after the killing of Qasem Soleimani and the retaliatory Iranian attack on an American base in Iraq.
There have also been several other reports of swastikas and Nazi references in protests across the country, most of them aimed at Democratic governors who have refused to ease the lockdown guidelines until their states see a significant decline in coronavirus spread.
Is it a case of ignorance or of anti-Semitism?
On Tuesday, members of the Conference of Presidents will vote on the approval of Dianne Lob as the next chairwoman of the organization, a two-year position that would make her the group’s top lay leader. Initially, she was supposed to take office immediately upon approval, but a last-minute change will make Lob chair-elect for the next year, after which she will assume the chairmanship—more on that later.
If people don’t feel safe going to the polling station, or if large gatherings and close contact are still deemed dangerous, why not allow all voters to fulfill their civic duty through the mail?
Last Wednesday, as Jewish Americans were busy wrapping up their Passover shopping (well distanced outside the supermarkets, or begging for an online delivery slot) and struggling to set up a Zoom call with their socially-distanced families, Bernie Sanders bowed out.
Iran also faces an additional complicating factor in battling the virus’s spread: A comprehensive set of U.S.-led international sanctions, which have crippled Iran’s economy, limited many services in the country, and imposed tough restrictions on the nation’s ties with the world and its ability to trade and import goods.
How did a politician facing trial on two corruption cases, who came out second in the latest elections and who failed to receive the mandate to form the next government manage to end up keeping his post as prime minister?
“Unusual times call for unusual measures, so it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise when a key aide to the president of the United States convenes a conference call with leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis, only to urge them to follow government instructions.”—Nathan Guttman
The nation is shutting down, its economy is grinding to a halt, but politics, so it seems, is still showing signs of vitality, perhaps even of growth.
“Just as Trump was there for Netanyahu when he needed a nice diplomatic gesture on the eve of Israeli elections (and then on the eve of the next one, and the next one) and just as he was willing to go further than any other American president in fulfilling the wishes of an Israeli center-right government, now Trump needs Netanyahu to do him a solid.”—Nathan Guttman
