In a provocative move, on July 18 Israeli National Security Minister
Itamar Ben Gvir entered Al-Aqsa Mosque and called for the continuation
of increased military pressure against Hamas
The 30 July thread is worth quoting in full as it relates to
increased powers granted the National Security Minister and right wing
extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir
Yesterday, I posted a long thread on the dangerous situation
created by giving Ben Gvir authority over house demolitions. That’s what
I do. I flag things & when warranted, caution about the potential
outbreak of violence. This situation needs to be flagged and monitored.
This sounds mundane, but it's anything but. In essence, this
gives Ben Gvir authority over home demolitions, including but not only
in East Jerusalem. It grants Ben Gvir powers to decide how many and what
gets demolished. And draconian authority that suspends basic rights.
The Gov't resolution could only take effect with approval by the
Knesset. A special session of the Knesset was scheduled four days later,
to allow approval. I sent out urgent warnings to friends in positions
of authority, who could possibly do something.
I dubbed this DefCon 2. Large scale demolitions (are) more
incendiary, and risk convulsive violence in Jerusalem secondly to an
incident at Al Aqsa. I'm not an alarmist, but I sounded the alarm. It
got attention, but it wasn't easy.
On Shabbat, I got a phone call from a diplomat asking why this
made a difference. Why isn't this a non-event? It was clear that some
powerful shill for Netanyahu was trying to deny the danger, not knowing
Jerusalem, not knowing the facts and not knowing the law.
So I found myself on Shabbat quoting verbatim, the
numerous relevant Sections of the Planning and Construction Law 1965.
Somehow, it worked. The Knesset vote was removed from the agenda w/o
fanfare. I don't know how, and I don't know by whom and I never will.
That's fine.
So it's a feel-good story, no? No. Late last Wednesday
night (24 July), in the last votes before the lengthy recess, the law
giving authorities to Ben Gvir to demolish homes in East Jerusalem was
passed by the Knesset.
This could not have happened without Netanyahu's knowledge and
consent. He knows how dangerous this is, but for his political survival
there is little he will not do. This could not have happened without
Netanyahu giving the middle finger to Israel's closest allies.
So today, Jerusalem is a much more dangerous place than it was a
week ago. I feel compelled to conclude with a word to our "friends" in
Congress. This was happening literally at the time when you were
applauding Netanyahu.
Itamar Ben-Gvir is committed to the destruction of the Palestine
people in Gaza, in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Towards that end
and with a violent messianic fervour he believes that drawing Iran and
the US into a war will make his brutal dream into reality. However
Ben-Gvir well knows that both Iran and the Israeli security and military
elite, as well as Hezbollah, will go to great lengths to avoid a full
scale war and have already repeatedly done so in their carefully
calibrated tit for tat strikes.
But further attacks in East Jerusalem may provoke the sort of
Palestinian uprising that Ben-Gvir thinks will pull America and Iran
into the vortex of war. And that is why the Seidemann thread is so
important.
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