Showing posts with label Yariv Levin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yariv Levin. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2026

A Country That Has Not Believed In The Death Penalty, Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                             

    October 7, 2023 slaughter of Israelis, 2nd only to Holocaust, person or people dragged out and then killed.  Hundreds of people were killed or caught in their cars during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in southern Israel, with many vehicles burned, shot at, or used to block roads. Over 1,650 destroyed vehicles were gathered into a "graveyard" near Tkuma,, where forensic teams worked to identify remains.  The day will never be forgotten.  
                                             

Israel has technically maintained capital punishment for specific crimes, but for most of its history, it was a de facto abolitionist state. 

Being born as a state in 1948,  6 years later, Israel formally abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954, retaining it only for extreme cases like treason, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, with only two executions ever carried out (Meir Tobianski, 1948; Adolf Eichmann, 1962).

Meir Tobianski

Meir Tobianski (1904–1948) was an IDF officer executed by firing squad for treason at age 44 during Israel's 1948 War of Independence, but was fully exonerated one year later. He was wrongfully convicted in a swift, unlawful field court-martial for passing information to Jordan, but was rehabilitated by David Ben-Gurion in 1949.  Tobianski was born in Kovno, Lithuania.   He served in the Lithuanian Army and studied engineering in Russia and Lithuania, then  immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1925. He served as a major in the British Army during the Second World War, then a captain in the Haganah, and was later sworn into the IDF on 28 June 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was also the former commander of Camp Schneller, a military base in Jerusalem. In June 1948 Tobianski had been transferred to command of Jerusalem airstrips.    

Based on historical accounts of the Tobianski affair, Meir Tobianski was not strictly "giving up" on army work in 1948, but rather managing a complex dual role with the full knowledge of the Haganah (the pre-state Jewish defense force).  

On 8 July 1948, the Irgun arrested five British officials of the Jerusalem Electric Corporation. One of the men was Michael Bryant, to whom Tobianski had been accused of passing information. A month later, they were transferred to the Israeli authorities and on 12 August brought to trial. Three, including Bryant, were released due to lack of evidence. The remaining two men, George Hawkins and Fredrick Sylvester, faced a second trial on 16 September. Hawkins, who was charged with passing information to the Arabs, was released on 30 September. Sylvester, who was married to an Israeli and had been a member of the Palestine Police, was charged with espionage and complicity in the Ben Yehuda Street bombing. On 6 October, he was found guilty of three charges of espionage and sentenced to seven years in prison. The verdict rested on his possession of a radio with which he had been communicating with the British Consul in the Old City. Israel was born May 14, 1948.   In November 1948, he was acquitted by the Israeli Supreme Court and released.                   

Meir was an employee of the British-run Jerusalem Electric Corporation. Suspected of passing information on targets for Jordanian artillery, he was taken into custody and sentenced to death by firing squadMeir Tobianski was selected to blame as a spy for Jordan in 1948 because the extreme accuracy of Jordanian shelling on Jerusalem's strategic targets created an urgent need for a scapegoat, with suspicion falling on the Jerusalem Electric Corporation, where he served as a manager. Dollars to donuts, I bet it was a Brit in the company that was the spy.  They had pinned it on the only Jewish soldier ! 馃槬馃槬馃槬馃槬馃槬

Otto Adolf Eichmann 19 March 1906 – 1 June 1962) was a German-Austrian official of the Nazi Party, an officer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), a convicted war criminal, and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. In May 1960, 12 years after Israel's birth,  he was tracked down and abducted by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, and put on trial before the Supreme Court of Israel. The highly publicised Eichmann trial resulted in his conviction in Jerusalem, following which he was executed by hanging in 1962 at the age of 56.
    Eichmann kept in glass booth in 1961:  Adolf Eichmann sat in a bulletproof glass booth during his 1961 trial in Jerusalem primarily for his own safety, protecting him from potential assassination by Holocaust survivors or others in the courtroom.
It was a crucial security measure designed to ensure he could stand trial for his role in the Holocaust. 

1962 (Only Civil Execution): Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann was hanged, the only execution in Israel's history after a civilian trial.

After Germany's defeat in 1945, Eichmann was captured by US forces, but he escaped from a detention camp and moved around Germany to avoid recapture. He ended up in a small village in Lower Saxony, where he lived until 1950 when he moved to Argentina using false papers he obtained with help from an organisation directed by Catholic bishop Alois Hudal. Information collected by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, confirmed his location in 1960. A team of Mossad and Shin Bet agents captured Eichmann and brought him to Israel to stand trial on 15 criminal charges, including war crimescrimes against humanity, and crimes against the Jewish people. During the trial, he did not deny the Holocaust or his role in organising it, but said he was simply following orders in a totalitarian F眉hrerprinzip system. He was found guilty on all of the charges, and was executed by hanging on 1 June 1962. The trial was widely followed in the media and was later the subject of several books, including Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem, in which Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe Eichmann.

Now the worst attack on Israel has happened on October 7, 2023 since the Holocaust say many.  It isn't the number slaughtered that matches the Holocaust but the way Israelis were slaughtered;  beheaded, parts of bodies cut off, a heart of one with the murderer trying to eat it raw, rapes, knifings, every bad way to kill happened to the Israelis shocking those who saw it first hand, babies butchered.                               

Yariv Gideon Levin (Hebrew讬专讬讘 讙讚注讜谉 诇讜讬谉; born 22 June 1969) is an Israeli lawyer and politician who serves as Deputy Prime MinisterMinister of Justice, Minister of Interior and Minister of Religious Services. He served as Speaker of the Knesset in December 2022, previously serving in that role from 2020 to 2021. He currently serves as a member of Knesset for Likud, and previously held the posts of Minister of Internal SecurityMinister of Tourism, and Minister of Aliyah and Integration.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday presented a bill that would create a special legal framework to prosecute terrorists involved in the Oct. 7 massacre and including rapes and allow courts to impose the death penalty. Levin said the law would grant full authority to impose death sentences, and that if such sentences are handed down, “they will be carried out.”The law establishes a legal framework for unprecedented trials, expected to be the largest and most significant in Israel since the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

A  position ISIS terrorists puts their captured in if they don't fork up what they want;  the terrorist type that should be committed to the jury.  These men will be decapitated by ISIS.  

Levin was born in Jerusalem to Gail and Aryeh Levin, an Israel Prize laureate for linguistics. His mother's uncle, Eliyahu Lankin, was commander of the Altalena ship and a member of the first Knesset, representing Herut, whilst Menachem Begin was the Sandek at Levin's circumcision ceremony.

Yariv Levin served in the IDF Intelligence Corps during his national service in the Israel Defense Forces. : He served as an Arabic translator. : He later served as a commander of an Arabic translation course within the Intelligence Corps. 




Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Answering Michael Bloomberg on Why Netanyahu's New Government Is Changing Their System

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           


"Under the new coalition’s proposal, a simple majority of the Knesset could overrule the nation’s Supreme Court and run roughshod over individual rights, including on matters such as speech and press freedoms, equal rights for minorities and voting rights. The Knesset could even go as far as to declare that the laws it passes are unreviewable by the judiciary, a move that calls to mind Richard Nixon’s infamous phrase “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” 

     Israel's Supreme Court :  The Supreme Court consists of 15 judges appointed by the President of Israel, upon nomination by the Judicial Selection Committee. Once appointed, Judges serve until retirement at the age of 70 unless they resign or are removed from office. 

The current President of the Supreme Court is Esther Hayut. The Court is situated in Jerusalem's Givat Ram governmental campus, about half a kilometer from Israel's legislature, the Knesset.  The Supreme Court told Netanyahu to remove one key member of his new government  over tax evasion.  I haven't noticed ours saying a thing about Trump not showing his finances, or tax papers that were due when he started to run for president.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is courting disaster by trying to claim that same power, imperiling Israel’s alliances around the world, its security in the region, its economy at home and the very democracy upon which the country was built."

The written agreements between the parties that formed the governing coalition unequivocally stated that judicial reform would take precedence over any other matter, and be supported by all coalition parties. 

Two key positions in the government and the Knesset were assigned to two longtime critics of the Israeli judiciary: Yariv Levin (Likud), who was appointed minister of justice, and Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), who was appointed chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Yariv Gideon Levin (Hebrew讬ָ专ִ讬讘 讙ִּ讚ְ注讜ֹ谉 诇ֵ讜ִ讬谉, born 22 June 1969) is an Israeli lawyer and politician who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice.

Yariv Levin (Likud), born in Jerusalem, studied at Boyar High School in Jerusalem. During his national service, he joined the IDF Intelligence Corps as an Arabic translator, and later served as commander of an Arabic translation course. In 1995, he published a dictionary of economic terms translated between Hebrew-Arabic-English, Arabic-Hebrew-English, and English-Arabic-Hebrew.

Levin gained an LLB from the Hebrew University, and worked as a lawyer in the field of civil-commercial law. He married Yifat, daughter of former Knesset Member Ya'akov Shamai. They have three children and live in Modi'in

Levin's proposed changes to the judicial system sparked intense controversy, with some opposition leaders arguing that the plan amounts to an attempt at regime change and anti-government protests commencing shortly after the plan's unveiling. Levin fiercely defended the plan, frequently arguing that the supreme court's power to strike down legislation is un-democratic, having stated that "time after time, people who we didn’t elect decide for us".  Levin holds strong views with respect to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He opposes the creation of a Palestinian State, and believes in the right of Jews to remain in all parts of the land of Israel.

Levin often criticizes the court system in Israel, claiming a small elite has taken over the system and tries to use it in order to define the values Israel lives by.  That elite would not be anyone religious but quite the opposite.

Despite being affiliated as a Secular Jew himself, Levin criticized Reform Jews, especially those living in the United States, after the Israeli government's decision to expand the egalitarian section of the Western Wall

Levin said that "Reform Jews in the United States are a dying world. Assimilation is taking place on a vast scale. They are not even tracking this properly in their communities. It is evidenced by the fact that a man who calls himself a Reform rabbi stands there with a priest and officiates at the wedding of the daughter of Hillary Clinton and no one condemns it, thereby legitimizing it."  

History has shown what has happened to Jews in the Greek world.  They assimilated, Hellenized;  holding onto very little quickly.  The  same happened in Germany where the Reformmovement started.  That's what Levin is fighting against, and how they would vote.                                               

Simcha Dan Rothman (Hebrew砖ִׂ诪ְ讞ָ讛 讚ָּ谉 专讜ֹ讟ְ诪ָ谉, born 13 August 1980) is an Israeli lawyer, activist and politician.

Rothman was born into a family that had immigrated to Israel from Cleveland in the United States in the early 20th century. He was educated at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh and served as a chaplain for the Combat Engineering Corps during his national service in the Israel Defense Forces. After earning an LLB at Bar-Ilan University he studied for a master's degree in public law at Tel Aviv University and Northwestern University.  Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States and world. 

He founded the Movement for Governability and Democracy in 2013. A critic of the corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, he has campaigned for legislation to allow the government to override the Supreme Court and supports immunity from prosecution for serving prime ministers.

Levin declared that the package would include laws:

limiting the power of the Supreme Court to strike down Knesset legislation,

limiting the power of the Supreme Court to review administrative acts,

increasing the influence of the executive and legislative branches on judicial appointments, and

overhauling the process for appointing government legal advisers and reducing their legal powers.

On Jan. 11, Levin published a draft bill that seeks to give effect to the first three suggested changes.

On Jan. 12, Rothman presented to his committee a draft bill that seeks to reform the status of government legal advisers (the fourth suggested change). On Jan. 18, Rothman put forward another draft bill containing his own proposals for addressing the remaining components of the Levin plan. Rothman’s bill is similar to Levin’s bill, although the former deviates from the latter on a number of issues. 

The USA's The Supreme Court’s extreme right-wing majority is poised to roll back long-standing rights and laws said last year's report. This activism threatens public trust in the court and our democracy.  As the Supreme Court nears the end of its term, it is poised to hand down a string of decisions that carry a deeply disturbing theme: the reversal of long-standing precedents and law that will claw back the rights of Americans in a way unseen in modern times. Much attention has appropriately been given to the stunning draft decision reported on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet in other cases, too, Americans will likely see significant retrenchments of their rights, including those to clean airreligious freedomeffective governance, and to live safe from the scourge of gun violenceDobbs will not be an isolated case of overreach nor of attacks on cherished liberties. Instead, it offers a stark preview of the plans the court’s radical majority has for the future.

Seems that Americans need to look at their own house before jumping all over Israel's.  Is there some sort of movement in the air to overhaul all Supreme Courts?  

Israel is noted for its fair decisions, having the wisdom of Solomon.  It's worrisome that its being given an overhaul at a time when there are so many opinions about how their democracy should be.  This is a time when Netanyahu is having a problem with the court system as well, personal problems concerning his previous PM behavior brought to the forefront by the opposition, possibly as a political ploy.  We'll have to wait and see what the next step shall be.   


Update: 3/9/23 Jerusalem Post:  Public attitudes toward the reform proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin correspond to political affiliation. A large majority of right-wing, ultra-Orthodox, and religious Israelis support it, and a large majority of centrist, left-wing, and Arab Israelis oppose it. Half the nation, drunk with political power, wants to wield it to the fullest extent.  

Update: 3/9/23 from Debka file:     https://www.debka.com/mivzak/first-report-three-injured-in-terrorist-shooting-attack-in-tel-aviv/

With Tel Aviv overrun by a massive anti-government demo, a terrorist shot and injured three people on the city’s popular Dizengoff Street Thursday night. One of the victims is in critical condition, the other two suffered medium injuries. The gunman is reported to be in police custody. Tel Aviv Mayor Huldai appealed to the demonstrators to clear the streets and let the security services do their job and investigate the incident.

Update: 3/9/2023:  President Issac Herzog addressed the nation yesterday and said that judicial reform legislation being pushed through the Knesset are wrong, destructive, an affront to Israel's democratic values, and must be replaced. He said he had, over the past 10 weeks, met with all sides and can say that most disagreements have been resolved and that a resolution to the crisis was within reach. He added, "We cannot allow a small detail - no matter how vital, to lead the country to disaster. The time to stop this is now." from Israel AM 3/9/2023.

Update:  3/13/2023 

250,000 Protesters took to the streets Saturday night to protest Israel’s Judicial Reforms. The question is, do they have any idea of what they are protesting against, or are they blindly following the agenda of the radical left. Last Thursday, A terrorist traveled to the heart of Tel Aviv and opened fire on a restaurant, injuring three Israelis.One is near death, 2nd hurt badly, 3rd not so bad.  

Update: 3/17/2023

Prime Minister Netanyahu met with German Chancellor Scholz and German President Frank-Water Steinmeier and discussed the threats posed by Iran as well as the sale of Arrow-3 defense systems to Germany. Scholz urged Netanyahu to accept the compromise proposal presented by Israel's President Herzog, regarding the judicial reforms. Netanyahu said that Israel will remain a liberal democracy, but that the President's proposal does not reflect the will of the majority of the people. Scholz also said that expansion of settlements does not contribute to peace in the Middle East and that Germany was working to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Update from IsraelAM, resource: [Some readers have asked about my views regarding the judicial reform process. I think Israel's judicial system has some major issues that need to be worked out. I also think some parts of the judicial reform package need to be compromised on by both sides because they likely are too drastic in their current form. The government's main argument in pushing ahead with the process to make the judicial reform law is that the voters gave them the mandate to do so by voting for them in the election. While it's true that democracy is based on majority rule, I think that faced with an issue that splits the country so drastically, the government needs to pause and try to come up with a compromise solution -- even if they do have enough votes to pass it as is. Israel is still a very young country, and the systems that govern it need to be developed more, in a thoughtful manner, with all sides participating in the process. It's time to work together to make Israel a better functioning democracy, and judicial reforms, based on compromise, is a good place to start.]

Resource:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/05/opinion/michael-bloomberg-israel-netanyahu.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yariv_Levin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israeli_judicial_reform

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-supreme-courts-extreme-majority-risks-turning-back-the-clock-on-decades-of-progress/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Israel