Labour is expected to have a clear majority in Parliament, exit polls showed Thursday night after the general election ended, ending Prime Minister Rishi Sunak 18-month term as prime minister in a stinging rebuke to the Conservative Party that has been in power since 2010. As of Friday morning Labour was poised to win more than 400 seats, well above the threshold of 326 needed to command a majority in the House of Commons. The Conservatives were expected to get only about 130 seats, yet the actual number is projected to be even lower.

If these projections hold, Labour leader Keir Starmer will lead Labour to gain over 300 seats, ending the Conservative Party's almost 15-year grip on power during which it has been embroiled in infighting over the kingdom's relationship with the EU.

To the hundreds of Conservative candidates, thousands of volunteers and millions of voters:

Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your support, and thank you for your vote. pic.twitter.com/GcgvI7bImI

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 4, 2024

If the exit polls hold, this will force Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who replaced Boris Johnson in 2022 without a general election after the latter faced a party rebellion, to vacate 10 Downing Street as early as this Friday. This would mark the most significant political realignment in the UK since the end of World War II. Starmer will command 170-seat majority in the House of Commons. Historically, changes in government after long periods of one-party rule have often been seen as significant political shifts in the UK. The last time Labour came to power after a long period of Conservative rule was in 1997, under Tony Blair's leadership, which was considered a major political event at the time.

The most dramatic forecasts ahead of the election painted an even more stark picture. One July 2 poll suggests Labour could win an astonishing 484 seats – translating to a 238-seat majority – while the Conservatives might be reduced to 64 seats. Political analysts emphasize that even accounting for potential polling errors, Starmer's Labour appears comfortably on track for a substantial majority.

The international implications of such a decisive Labour victory under Starmer could be far-reaching. A new government with a substantial majority might seek to reset UK-EU relations, reassess the "special relationship" with the United States, and take a more proactive approach to global climate change initiatives. Starmer's potential shift in Britain's foreign policy stance has already caught the attention of international observers and allies.

Regardless of the final tally, Starmer and his team will face a daunting inbox if they secure victory. The challenge of steering post-Brexit Britain through uncertain economic waters while addressing pressing domestic issues will require decisive action and clear policy direction. The new Labour administration would also need to work to restore faith in political institutions after years of division and controversy.

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The Israel Police has launched a probe into the new leader of the Labor Party, Yair Golan, for statements that might potentially constitute incitement, although it appears that they were taken out of context.

In a video released a month ago, Golan – who won a landslide victory Tuesday, having garnered 95% of his party members' votes – was heard calling for "widespread civil disobedience," such as refusal to do reserve duty, to exert pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. When his remarks drew reactions from the audience, Golan clarified, "I'm not saying now that this is the right move."

הוא אומר פה במפורש: ״לא עכשיו לא עכשיו״
חברים הביביסטים בישלו דייסה הוציאו מהקשר כי למה לא אם אפשר pic.twitter.com/P6V1ZqDGd7

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) May 29, 2024

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to launch a criminal investigation against Golan, accusing him of "blatantly inciting insubordination – at a time when the State of Israel is at war."

Rejecting such allegations, Golan wrote on Twitter that they were "cheap manipulation" by the "poison machine" backing the "historically failed prime minister."

"We are calling for a large, broad, and continuous non-violent civil protest that will bring about a change of government, elections, the return of the hostages, the return of the evacuees to their homes, and an end to the existential war of the Netanyahu regime," he said.

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In the wake of the mounting public pressure to end the blanket waiver Haredim get on military service, Israel Hayom has learned that the various Coalition parties have reached a general agreement on new legislation that would include financial penalties on ultra-Orthodox who don't serve once the conscription is extended to that segment of society.

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The new clause has been included in the drafts being formulated between the parties ahead of the final language that would be submitted to the Knesset under a reformed military service law.

The new measures, if enacted, would mean that Haredim who enlist would get benefits while those who do not would be financially disadvantaged through what is called "negative incentives." However, the details could be crucial. If the sanctions are merely in the form of smaller budgets to yeshivot, it will be very easy for ultra-Orthodox representatives to circumvent them by increasing the funding through other mechanisms.

According to sources involved in drafting the bill, these are far-reaching negative incentives that have not been introduced in previous iterations of conscription bills and the ultra-Orthodox parties have given a green light to having them incorporated in the new bill.

In addition, in the emerging decision, ultra-Orthodox representatives are expected to commit that Haredim enlistment rates in military or national service will increase significantly over the years, although the bill will not include specific numbers.

A meeting on Wednesday in the Knesset failed to produce a breakthrough. The bone of contention is that Minister Benny Gantz's State Party insists under the new bill a special administration would be set up to place young ultra-Orthodox men in civil or military service, with a small cap on the number who would be allowed to study in yeshivot instead.

The ultra-Orthodox are not willing to accept quotas for yeshiva students and want every ultra-Orthodox man to have the right to choose rather than have an administration or the IDF decide. The ultra-Orthodox parties are willing to compromise in that those who do not study in yeshivot will enlist or serve in national service under certain conditions.

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The petitions challenge legislation – an amendment to one of Israel's quasi-constitutional "basic laws" – passed by the Knesset in July. The amendment limits the courts' use of the "reasonableness" standard to overturn decisions by the government or ministers.

Proponents of the law argue the "reasonableness" standard gives unelected judges too much discretion to substitute their views for those of elected officials. The law's opponents – now challenging it in the high court – see the "reasonableness" standard as a key check on Israel's powerful executive branch.

The debate over this specific piece of legislation is part of the wider public debate over the Israeli government's moves to reshape the judiciary and alter the balance between the judiciary, on the one hand, and the legislature and executive branch, on the other.

Debate over the judiciary has become a proxy for an even higher-stakes battle over the balance of power in Israeli society.

As for Tuesday's hearing, the Supreme Court will convene a panel with all 15 high court justices, unusual in the Israeli system. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara – whose independence is guaranteed by Israeli law and practice – will not represent the government. That decision follows Baharav-Miara's announcement last week that she opposes the government's position – and supports the petitioners.

A ruling is not expected immediately and may be issued only in the coming months. Should the court side with petitioners and strike down the law, many in Israel fear a constitutional crisis could follow. 

Some within the ruling Coalition have hinted the government should not follow an adverse court decision, setting up a clash between the government and the judiciary. Key state institutions – including Israel's powerful and highly-regarded security services – would then need to decide which side to follow.

With this as a backdrop, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly looking for a way out. Some reports indicate he continues to hold discussions with powerful Opposition lawmaker Benny Gantz in search of an agreed compromise.

Beyond that, Netanyahu is reportedly looking to an alternative, a unilateral compromise proposal in which the government publicly commits itself to limit legislation on the judicial reform.

With that unilateral move, Netanyahu would prevent a veto from Opposition lawmakers and hope to appeal to wider public opinion, to split the Opposition, and to soften pushback from key actors, such as credit rating agencies, the Biden administration, and – potentially – the Supreme Court itself.

That said, Netanyahu would embark on that move from a position of political weakness, and with the imperative to reach out to a wider public and to manage his hard-Right Coalition.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Israel's public square has become a boxing ring where two camps, each with its own worldview, are fighting each other and losing their mind. The clash has affected practically every aspect of our lives and created a reality where it is seemingly unthinkable to embrace someone from the opposing side despite common sense and logic suggesting this is the right thing to do.

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As a result, we have unfortunately reached a situation where the restaurateurs feel that being spiteful and staying open on Tisha B'Av just to be spiteful is a legitimate weapon in the culture war that is being waged on the street. An army marches on its stomach, the old saying goes, and now that the debate is becoming increasingly militarized, it is hardly surprising that chefs are all but donning their combat fatigues and joining the battle.

Video: The Knesset's passage part of the judicial reform legislation

One of them said that he was going to open on the evening of the fasting day in which we mourn the destruction of the Temples because he "has to remain loyal to those who have been demonstrating for 30 weeks." Customers have also signed online petitions saying they planned to flock to open establishments during that somber day and will pay 200 shekels ($50) even if they won't be hungry – just for the sake of democracy.

When something is absurd, it doesn't fit with logic and triggers an immediate human response of ridicule, bewilderment, or fear. But it appears that Isrelis have let go of the first two. We no longer treat such declarations with bemusement or sneer; the only thing left to do is just harbor some fear over the ugliness that has taken over our collective national judgment. Who are the chefs trying to punish? Who are their patrons trying to take revenge against? Restaurants have been open on Tisha B'Av Eve for years; there is nothing illegal about it that should concern the authorities. But why use this reality as a means to launch an in-your-face civil disobedience campaign that is simply designed to provoke and negate the Jewish identity of other publics?

A national common denominator

On Tisha B'Av Eve 569 (1934), Berl Katznelson found out that one of the youth groups had arranged for a summer camp to begin that very night, "on the same night on which Israel mourns its destruction, its enslavement and the rebellion of its exile." A day after Tisha B'Av he wrote in the paper Davar an essay called "Destruction and Detachment."

"What value does a liberation movement have and what kind of product can it produce if it does not have roots, if it forgets rather than imbues its members with the sense of origin, if it blurs the point of departure from one's memory?" For this Zionist thinker, Tisha B'Av was a point of national origin, not just a day relegated to lamentations of religious Jews in Jerusalem.

He went on to write, "Had the People of Israel not known how to mourn the destruction on a day of remembrance spanning many generations with such intensity, as if those who perished were laid out unburied just before them, as if they were the ones who had just lost their liberty and their homeland, we would not have had Hesse and Pinsker, Herzl and Nordau, Sirkin and Borochov, A.D. Gordon and Y.J. Brenner; Yehuda Halevy could not have authored "Zion, will you not ask?" and Bialik would not have written "The Scroll of Fire"."

The distrust each side of the political divide has toward the other has naturally trickled into the daily interaction between groups and even individuals – and that is what's most concerning. The avoidance of one another and the mutual suspicion are omnipresent; they cannot be ignored. Even the banal acts of operating a restaurant, studying a chapter of the Bible with friends, and waving an Israeli flag are now considered to be all but a declaration of war. This is very troubling and it shows how our collective mindset has been distorted.

Tisha B'Av is not just for Haredim

This warped reality is a result of a series of detached and reckless steps taken by the leadership on one side. The outrageous draft legislation introduced this week just as the polarization reached new heights– which seeks to make Torah study equivalent to military service and enshrined through a basic law –  is but one example. Another is the statement made by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said that the controversial bill passed this week limiting the Supreme Court was just "the appetizer," – words that are laden with grudge. Such conduct has had the effect of instilling fear among a huge segment of the population who is increasingly worried that Israel's character will no longer be Democratic and Jewish, but just the latter. It's hard to argue with pathological findings, but you have to fully understand them. The sense of fright is very much present in their hearts, and one cannot dismiss such feelings.

On the same token, rejecting the Jewish part of the equation hurts and undermines the very essence of what most conservative and liberal Israelis – secular, observant, and religious Jewish alike, from all ethnic backgrounds – have been fighting for: building an Israel that is a laboratory for Jewish pluralism, a source of diversity and humanism that espouses equality for a variety of Jewish publics –  not just acceptance, because acceptance implies disavowal. Yes, the pursuit of such a vision is costly and is still very much ongoing; the makeup of the current government puts the gains that have been attained so far in doubt. Nevertheless, this passionate drive is very much present in Torah study halls, in the media, and on social networks, as well as in our literature and even in the tents pitched up near the Knesset on Sacher Park.

Tisha B'Av is not just for Haredim, and it is not just observed next to the Western Wall. It is part of our national consciousness and it does not need special definitions; rather, it needs introspection and a feeling that those who perished are laid out before us.

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Thousands of protesters blockaded Israel's main airport and highways on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu'scoalition pressed ahead with a justice bill that has opened the deepest splits seen in the country in decades.

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A day after parliament passed a key element in the bill, which aims to curb the power of the Supreme Court, crowds of flag–waving protesters stopped morning traffic in major intersections and on highways nationwide. Some lay down on roads, while others threw flares.

Police on horseback deployed among hundreds of demonstrators in Israel's business hub, Tel Aviv. At the entrance to Jerusalem, officers used a water cannon to disperse some protesters and dragged others away by force. At least 66 people were arrested, police said.

Around 1,000 police were deployed at Ben Gurion airport, outside Tel Aviv, where thousands of protesters turned the area in front of the main entrance into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags. A spokesman for the airport said flights were not affected, despite the large crowds. The protests continued into the night, with tens of thousands blocking the main Tel Aviv arteries near and on the Ayalon Highway, as well as in multiple places across the country, including Jerusalem. Popular singer Aviv Geffen also joined the Tel Aviv demonstrators and was even detained, only to be released about an hour later.

The United States, which has called for the independence of the judiciary to be protected and urged Netanyahu to try to build consensus for the proposals, said Israel should respect the right of peaceful protest. The drive by Netanyahu's nationalist–religious coalition to change the justice system has led to unprecedented protests, stirred concern for Israel's democratic health among Western allies, and bruised the economy.

"They are trying to ruin our judicial system, by putting and enforcing laws that will demolish democracy," said Ariel Dubinsky, who joined one of the protests in Tel Aviv. The proposals have also alarmed investors and helped push the shekel down almost 8% since January.

Video: Moshe Ben-Simhon / Protester block the Kaplan Road in Tel Aviv

The new bill won the first of three required votes to be written into law late on Monday to the cries of "for shame" by opposition lawmakers. If passed as is, it would curb the Supreme Court's power to quash decisions made by the government, ministers, and elected officials by ruling them unreasonable.

The government and its supporters say the overhaul is needed to rein in interventionist judges, many from the left, who they say have encroached on the political sphere. They say the change will help effective governance by curbing court intervention, arguing judges have other legal means to exercise oversight.

For critics, who include most of the country's tech and business establishment, Supreme Court oversight helps prevent corruption and abuses of power, and weakening it will remove a vital part of Israel's democratic checks and balances. Groups of military reservists, including combat pilots and members of elite special forces units, have also joined the protests.

Some members of Netanyahu's Likud party have said the bill will be watered down before it is brought to a final vote which they hope to wrap up before the Knesset breaks for the summer on July 30.

But Simcha Rothman, the head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee which is drafting the bill, told Army Radio: "I'm saying this explicitly: I am not convinced that any significant changes are to be expected."

Netanyahu – who is on trial on graft charges he denies – had paused the judicial campaign for compromise talks with the opposition but the negotiations collapsed in June.

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Mass protests were held across Israel Saturday against the government's planned judicial reform for the 27th consecutive week, with the main demonstration taking place in Tel Aviv and attended by a reported 140,000.

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Organizers said in a statement that rallies were held at over 150 locations throughout the country, while also issuing a call to the Israeli public to "get ready this coming Tuesday in order to join a day of resistance, should the Israeli government indeed pass the dictatorship law on Monday night."

Video: Demonstrations on the Ayalon highways, Avi Cohen

The statement refers to an upcoming parliament vote – the first of three – seeking to eliminate the so-called "reasonableness standard," which refers to the power of the Supreme Court to block government decisions it deems unreasonable.

Video: Protest outside the home of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Yaron Doron

Critics say the move would curb judicial independence and would eventually subject the court to politicians and open the door to corruption.

Ahead of the demonstrations, the police said in a statement that they will show "zero tolerance" toward attempts to damage infrastructure or hurt police officers. The Ayalon highway was temporarily blocked outside Tel Aviv and protesters were swiftly cleared from the road.

Based on estimates broadcast in the media, over 400,000 people turned out to the various protests across the country. Thousands demonstrated overnight outside the home of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in the Afikim kibbutz.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Violent protests erupted as thousands of Druze went to the site of Israel's largest renewable energy project on Wednesday. The demonstrations were against the construction of a wind turbine farm in the Golan Heights.

The protestors threw stones, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at the police, endangering the lives of law enforcement officers, according to an Israeli police statement. One of the rioters, who apparently tried to attack the policeman with a pointed object, was slightly wounded in the leg.

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Police had to call upon the border guards in order to secure the scene, and the security forces reacted by using riot dispersal methods. One of the policemen even fired live ammunition as a group of masked men armed with stones approached him.

Druze community leaders were called upon, asked to respect the legal procedure for building the wind turbines and to calm the heated tempers. The Israeli authorities also urged people not to spread false information on social networks about the alleged destruction of vegetation.

In its statement, the police expressed the hope that the Druze community, which is "at the heart of Israeli society" and has always been "a model of respect for the law", would preserve its line of conduct and good relations with the rest of the country.

Video: Scuffles between Druze Arabs and Israeli forces in Golan Heights / Israel Police

The Energix Renewable Energies company announced, in June, the groundbreaking of Israel's largest renewable energy project in the Golan Heights. The Genesis Wind project would comprise 39 General Electric wind turbines, at a cost of $350 million.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would pursue "active steps" on a contested judicial overhaul this week after what he described as months of wasteful compromise talks with the Opposition.

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"Most of Israeli society understand that there need to be changes in the judicial system," he told his Cabinet. "That's why we will meet this week and commence with active steps ... in a measured way commensurate with the mandate we were given."

The judicial drive, announced in January only a week into Netanyahu's return to office, set off one of Israel's worst political crises in years, with critics at home and abroad dubbing it a threat to the very nature of Israel's democracy.

Advocates of the proposed overhaul say the Supreme Court is elitist, left-leaning, and overreaching, and elected officials should have more power in picking the bench. Critics say that would politicize the courts and threaten judicial independence.

Western allies, including Washington, have urged Netanyahu to pursue broad consensus over reforms to the justice system. Until now, talks with the Opposition have yielded little, compounding uncertainty over the overhaul plan's future that has hit the economy and the shekel. The stakes are rising with two Supreme Court judges retiring in the coming months.

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Prominent Religious Zionist Rabbi Yaakov Ariel suggested this week that according to Jewish law, it is prohibited to form a coalition that depends on a minority in Israel.

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In an essay written for a book that deals with matters of religion and state from the perspective of Jewish law, Ariel said that minorities, such as Arabs, must not be appointed to certain positions that impact the entire nation's overall Jewish character.

Although he did not state so explicitly, he seemed to be referring to the Bennett-Lapid governments that included, for the first time in Israeli history, the Islamist Ra'am party in the coalition. Ariel also said that non-Jews cannot hold high-ranking positions in the Israeli government in some cases, saying that as a state for the Jewish people, Israel cannot ignore its core mission. "The public character of the state must remain Israeli," he said, which is expressed, among others, by the closure of commerce on the Shabbat, kosher food in public institutions, and the Law of Return.

Ariel did not, however, completely veto the participation of non-Jews in decision-making, saying that as tax-paying citizens, they deserved a say in the distribution of budgets. Representatives of the minorities can participate in politics, but only in areas that are common to all citizens, he said. A coalition, however, cannot be formed if it depends on a minority. The politicians representing Israel should only be Israelis [Jews], especially such crucial roles as prime minister, president, Knesset speaker, defense minister, IDF chief of staff, and foreign minister.

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