Arlene Kushner | November 27, 2025
Haaretz
But I don’t think we expected it to be this complex and difficult.
This is not to say that all is negative. Absolutely not: We are moving ahead successfully in a number of respects.
On Tuesday, by a vote of 66 to 52, the Knesset passed a budget of a record 620 billion shekels. This was a major victory for Netanyahu, as passage of a budget was essential to sustaining his current coalition until elections in October 2026. Unsurprisingly, the greatest increase in allocations was for the Defense Ministry, which was allocated 109.8 billion shekels.
“This is not just a budget,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in his opening remarks prior to the Knesset debate. “It’s the story of hundreds of thousands of [IDF] fighters, both men and women, conscripts and reservists, and their families. It is the story of the heroes of the borders, pioneering settlers—of an entire nation that is going to war to win.
“This is the story of a beautiful Israel…”
https://www.jns.org/knesset-oks-2025-state-budget/
We can be grateful for the prospect of coalition stability and for a government committed to winning the war.
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Since we began fighting again in Gaza, Itamar Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party have rejoined the coalition and regained their previous positions; Ben Gvir is again Minister of National Security. He had left with his party in January in protest over the six-week ceasefire that had been set in place in January.
I see this as a plus because with this move the coalition is further stabilized. What is more, while Ben Gvir is often stigmatized as “extreme” right, I believe his tough positions are frequently on the mark.
Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP
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Another legislative victory for the coalition was achieved this morning (Thursday), when the Knesset passed a law altering the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee; the vote was 67 to 1 because opposition party members walked out rather than participate in the third and final vote. The amendment that was passed is not slated to become part of Basic Law until the next Knesset term (the 26th), after elections.
Oren Ben-Hakoon
Unfortunately, there is no certainty that this legislation – which is of considerable importance – will hold. Already petitions have been submitted to the High Court calling for it to be overturned; the opposition is committed to fighting against it.
This issue was raised during the unsuccessful effort of the government to enact judicial reform before the war. The reform is not radical, as some maintain, and is not an effort to change the way our system has functioned since Israel’s founding – which is what some believe. Rather, it is an attempt to reverse significant changes that had been enacted unilaterally 35 years ago by former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak. These changes disturbed the balance between the Knesset and the Court, giving undue weight to the Court.
The selection committee, as it had been functioning, gave disproportionate weight to the choices of the Court in selecting new justices. The Court, which has tilted left, in the main replaced retiring justices with new justices of the same political orientation, thereby sustaining one perspective indefinitely.
As David Israel, writing in The Jewish Press, explained (emphasis added):
“In a joint statement, Yair Lapid, Yair Golan, Benny Gantz, and Avigdor Lieberman [all from the opposition parties] said, ‘The Israeli government recently approved a law with one goal — to ensure that judges become subject to the will of politicians.’
“They failed to mention that ‘politicians’ are elected representatives, whose will is the will of the voters. They also failed to mention that the new law returns a little bit of balance to the judicial appointments process which used to be dominated by the left.”
See further details: https://www.jewishpress.com/news/the-courts/right-wing-triumph-knesset-reshapes-judicial-appointments-committee/2025/03/27/
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Anyone who is eager to see justice prevail in the Court for those seeking to protect Jewish rights in the Land understands the concern. Regavim, which has tracked Court rulings, wrote a “Measure for Measure” report some years ago examining “the High Court of Justice’s treatment of petitions filed by both sides of the Israeli political divide regarding violations of building and construction laws in Judea and Samaria. The study tracks identical, objective, quantifiable parameters – and the comparison reveals ongoing, deep-seated, undeniable judicial bias.”
https://www.regavim.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/RegavimMadidEng2806.pdf
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As to Gaza, we are continuing to attack, although not yet at full strength.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday told his Swedish counterpart, Maria Malmer Stenergard, that Israel is not willing to “wait forever” for Hamas to free the 59 hostages it is still holding. “We are still allowing negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement to extend the ceasefire and release the hostages,” he said. “But we will not wait forever.”
Extend the ceasefire? Thought we were past that. But what I believe we see here is Sa’ar walking the tightrope that I have repeatedly described – it stretches between the need to take out Hamas and the need to secure release of the hostages. We can see this because Sa’ar also said that Hamas refuses to demilitarize Gaza, thus pushing for war – and that a victory over Hamas is essential.
Shomi Amselem/MFA
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“On Thursday, a security delegation from Egypt headed to Qatar for talks on releasing hostages, admitting humanitarian aid into the strip, and moving towards a second phase of a ceasefire, state-affiliated Egypt’s Al Qahera news TV reported.
“Egypt floated a new proposal on Monday aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters.”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-847872
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Israel has made threats about taking over land in Gaza, basing this tactic on the understanding that land matters to Hamas. We heard about this first from Defense Minister Katz, and now from Prime Minister Netanyahu, who made a statement in the Knesset on Wednesday threatening that the IDF would seize territory if Hamas did not release the hostages. This is one of different tactics being employed in an attempt to push Hamas into releasing the hostages.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-847649
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Katz had also made appeals to the people of Gaza to oust Hamas, which at the time seemed to me an exercise in futility. But I was wrong and am happy to concede this. For an amazing thing has now happened, which most surely reflects a weakening of Hamas and its ability to coerce the local population, along with a weariness the population feels regarding the never-ending war.
For three days now, there have been demonstrations by thousands of Palestinian Arabs in multiple locations in Gaza and they show no sign of abating. In a video encouraging these protests, Katz said: “Hamas is endangering your lives and will lead you to lose your homes and more and more territory…” After receiving information on the extent of the demonstrations, he told the Gazans, “Demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages – this is the only way to stop the war.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405974
Banners were seen with declarations such as: “We want to live,” “The masked men will never control me,” “Stop the destruction,” “For the sake of Allah, get Hamas out!” “Enough with the lies.”
AP
While we must see where this goes, I certainly see it as having the potential to be a turning point in our efforts to take down Hamas. And I truly hope I’m not wrong here. Until recently, the residents of Gaza were identified both by their words and actions as significantly complicit with Hamas.
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An issue of considerable unease that we must contend with concerns a question as to whether we will be able to rely on President Trump going forward.
Trump has been great so far, and when I compare him to what we would have had to contend with had Kamala won the election, I know we have much to be grateful for. And yet…
This unease is generated first of all by the fact that the president is not an ideologue, but a transactionalist who likes “deals.” It is impossible to be certain that down the road, not so long from now, he won’t say, OK, guys, you’ve had your chance to defeat Hamas and haven’t done it and so I think it’s time to negotiate. Already I have picked up hints from unidentified members of his administration that this war cannot go on much longer. And so I have the sense – and surely our planners must – that we had better finish this quickly.
The Guardian
Those who support Israel in ideological terms certainly do exist within the administration – people such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And Trump is to be credited with having chosen him and a number of others.
And yet there is a huge gap in this line-up with regard to Steve Witkoff, selected not for expertise that would qualify him to be a Middle East envoy, but because he is Trump’s long-time buddy.
I have already addressed his Tucker Carlson interview in which he displayed shocking ignorance about the dangers of Hamas. There were calls for Trump to remove Witkoff because of this, but he took no action. And there is more, which I want to return to here, with regard to Witkoff’s comments on Qatar:
“I think in the case of the Qataris, they’re criticized for not being well motivated. It’s preposterous. They are well motivated. They’re good, decent people. What they want is a mediation that’s effective, that gets to a peace goal. And why? Because they’re a small nation and they want to be acknowledged as a peacemaker.
”And I think the president realizes this…”
This is a very serious misrepresentation of what Qatar, a supporter of Hamas and terrorism, really is, and it’s dangerous. Witkoff is the one who showed up here in Israel before the inauguration to strong-arm Netanyahu into accepting a Biden ceasefire deal he had previously rejected. What might he attempt to push on us down the road?
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Lastly here I want to briefly address the current disruption of Israeli society. What we are looking at, very clearly, are Deep State maneuvers. These are people on the left set on derailing our government and bringing down Netanyahu. That is the ultimate goal for them.
It’s the same people who professed outrage at judicial reform a couple of years ago and are now expressing outrage because – among other things – Netanyahu has not brought all of the hostages home. They need a hook upon which to hang their protests.
Jerusalem – which is where the Knesset and the prime minister’s residence are located – is bearing the brunt of the protests. They are out of control and Jerusalemites have had it. They block roads so buses cannot get through – something that is an infringement of the rights of residents. They scream so loud outside of the prime minister’s residence that those in the neighborhood cannot think straight. I am grateful that I live some blocks beyond this.
aa
Today there was footage revealed of a protester committing an obscene act on a female police officer.
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Add to this protests that the prime minister is subverting democracy. They are furious, for example, about his move to fire head of the Shin Bet Ronen Bar, even though the law gives him the right to do so.
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I find particularly disturbing the charges that it is Bibi’s fault all of the hostages have not been brought back. Not the fault of Hamas, or the UN, or the Red Cross, or… Bibi’s fault.
He compromised, for example, in agreeing to a six-week ceasefire, which gave Hamas an opportunity to strengthen, and has worked – without success because Hamas is adamantly refusing – for subsequent deals that might bring the return of some additional hostages. And I ask myself what they expect him to do. The only thing that might – might – bring return of the 22 live hostages and the 37 believed dead, would be if he were to agree to fully pull the IDF out of Gaza and allow Hamas to remain standing. This apparently would be acceptable to those screaming for the return of hostages even though there is clear evidence that Hamas is planning to attack again.
I have cried over the hostages and lost sleep over them; their situation is obscene. But what offends me deeply at this point is the unwillingness of those crying “Bring Them Home” to exhibit concern for our nation and our people. They are willing to consider renewed suffering for our people, suffering that would likely bring death to far, far more than the number of living hostages, as long as it would bring their loved ones home. This, I cannot abide.
Do they not realize that with every demonstration against our prime minister the price Hamas will demand for the hostages goes up?
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I had to interrupt the writing of this posting today to go into a shelter when a siren sounded – here in Jerusalem and in much of Israel. The Houthis had launched a missile attack, as they have almost every day for over a week now. Usually it is one missile, today there were two – both taken out, as they all have been.
This is how we live today.
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I ask for prayers for Israel’s wellbeing.
Pray for the wisdom and courage of our leaders.
Pray for the safety of our brave troops.
Pray that the hostages will be brought home.
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©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
The sentiment of Arlene’s article is right. Those screaming the loudest are not likely to change their tone if and when the hostages are finally returned. They will continue to complain that it didn’t happen fast enough. They hope that the families if those that fall or are injured in the attempts to get THEIR loved ones back will continue the pressure of their dreams to get rid of Bibi. Such a shame that vulgar comments are not allowed…
“Palestinians” Have Run Out of Chances
https://open.substack.com/pub/lel817/p/palestinians-have-run-out-of-chances?r=1q2uiq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false