PolitiSage Sunrise | News 3/27/23
Top News for the Morning of March 27, 2023
Israel Smolders After Netanyahu Fires Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
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On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Israel, clashing with police over the firing of Likud Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the minister’s demands that Netanyahu abandon his attempt to “reform” the Israeli judiciary. Netanyahu’s plan, which passed on Friday, guts the power of the Israeli Supreme Court—and gives it to the Knesset, and therefore to the ruling party. At issue for Netanyahu personally is that it means that the Supreme Court can not declare Netanyahu unfit for office. Why would it? Because he’s on trial on a litany of charges, including bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Despite the success of the Likud in ramming the bill through, the majority of Israelis oppose it and have been protesting against it for twelve weeks.
In addition to Gallant, others have come forward to oppose the move. One military analyst, who spoke anonymously, said:
Our enemies see Israel as weak and limited in its retaliation, especially in light of the weakening of international support.
The internal situation has become a central element, all the players point to the fact that Israel is in a serious crisis, and in their view, could lead to the collapse of Israel. They recognize an opportunity. There is damage to [our] deterrence and there are attacks being planned, based on their assumption that Israel is paralyzed.
The Israel Democracy Institute issued a professional opinion on the entire reform package and took care to point out its potential impact on women’s rights:
In the professional opinion below, we focus on how the proposed changes will directly impact the nature of the regime in Israel and consequently have a profound and substantive effect on the defense of the rights of women from various sectors of the population, directly and immediately.
An exhaustive analysis of the reforms and their potential impacts may be found at: https://en.idi.org.il
Putin To Move Nuclear Weapons to Belarus, on Ukraine’s Border
In a move widely seen as Putin’s attempt to deflect attention from his indictment by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity in Ukraine, he announced he will move tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which shares a border with Ukraine.
NATO’S response was immediate:
NATO is vigilant, and we are closely monitoring the situation. We have not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead us to adjust our own. We are committed to protect and defend all NATO allies.
Ukraine requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko registered intense resistance, saying that having nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil would violate the country’s constitution and “grossly contradicts the will of the Belarusian people.”
News Bytes
Biden has declared a state of emergency in Mississippi after an EF-4 tornado family tore a 59-mile-long path across the countryside and killed 26 people.
The National Weather Service has warned that as many as 30,000,000 Southerners are at risk from severe weather in the next week.
The FBI is briefing lawmakers on the potential dangers of Trump’s rhetoric after he predicted there would be “death and destruction” if he is indicted.
A U.S. judge on Thursday said Donald Trump will get an anonymous jury in rape accuser E. Jean Carroll's upcoming defamation trial, citing the threat of juror harassment, including by supporters of the former president. How the case against Trump for raping Carroll will be heard is not yet clear.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Fed both claim that the banking system is “sound and resilient.” However, depositors have withdrawn $98.4 billion since bank failures started weeks ago. Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are on extremely shaky ground. See https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/24/100-billion-pulled-from-banks-but-system-called-sound-and-resilient.html
The worst food for anxiety is … tacos. No, really, it is. You can’t make this stuff up. See https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/worst-food-anxiety-according-psychologist-100000775.html
Mind Candy: Qasr Bshir
The ruins of the Roman fort that is Qasr Bshir lie in the middle of nowhere in the desert in Jordan—the subject of archaeological quest and romantic speculation. A little mind travel to Qasr Bshir, and some interest historical facts, are provided by Giulio Aprin at https://wildmanlife.com/qasr-bshir-roman-fortress-jordan-desert/