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State of maryland judiciary jobs4/10/2023 ![]() “What we’ve seen now is that you have a group of ministers who declare themselves without shyness that they are basically Jewish supremacists, that the land belongs to them based on their read of the bible,” said Shibley Telhami, professor of political science at the University of Maryland and senior fellow with the Brookings Institutions. Smotrich has tried to walk back his comments after Netanyhau alluded to them as “inappropriate.” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price called the comments “ repugnant.” “I don’t recall a moment like this where there are so many negative forces that seem to be coming to a head,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has served in Republican and Democratic presidential administrations focused on the Middle East. This has been further inflamed by far-right members of Netanyahu’s party, with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the Palestinian village of Huwara to be “wiped out” by the State of Israel, after it was attacked by Israeli settlers following the killing of two Israeli brothers by a Palestinian from the village. Israelis and Palestinians are caught up in a particularly heinous cycle of violence, that includes civilian Palestinian casualties amid Israeli security raids in the West Bank, Palestinian terrorist attacks targeting Israelis and Israeli settlers in the West Bank attacking Palestinian villages in retribution attacks. The judicial reforms are one element of what regional watchers are saying is an unprecedented collision of political and security crises. “I have very serious concerns about the level of violence and threat of escalation of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, today and over the next several months.” ![]() Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he was in regular contact with diplomatic and security leaders in the region. “I don’t conduct all my relationships with Israeli officials in public, some of that happens in private as well.” Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he had “faith” Israel would “maintain its rock-solid commitment to democracy,” but said he was engaged on the issue. The lawmakers included nine Democrats and five Republicans. Schatz’s comments represent some of the most outspoken criticism among 14 Senators asked for comment by The Hill. Other legal proposals in the coalition agreement are criticized as targeting discrimination protections for religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQ individuals. ![]() Netanyahu secured a governing coalition by agreeing to the demands of far-right politicians that included - on top of the judicial reforms - commitments to pursue annexation and settlement expansions in the West Bank. Israeli politics has undergone its own extreme polarization. Former President Trump, upon succeeding Obama, wholeheartedly embraced Netanyahu’s positions on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict and moved the U.S. Netanyahu is a controversial figure for many Democrats who remember his 2015 snub of President Obama in an address to Congress. There is deep bipartisan support for Israel in Congress even as partisan tensions have erupted. “What I hope will happen is that, as they work through judicial reform, how to make judges more accountable, that they’re mindful of the idea that an independent judiciary needs to be still standing,” he said. “My hope is that the proposals will be reconsidered, modified, and I am following developments in Israel,” Coons told The Hill.īiden and his top officials, in unprecedented warnings, have told Netanyahu that moving ahead with the changes threaten the “shared values” of the U.S. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a key foreign policy surrogate for Biden. “We’ve seen the most widespread demonstrations in modern Israeli history against the proposed reforms, so, I think, more importantly than whether I’m concerned, the Israeli people are concerned, and it’s produced I think a real moment of crisis for Israeli democracy,” said Sen. and Israel relationship into uncharted territory, with some lawmakers questioning what is happening to democracy in the longtime U.S. ![]() The demonstrations over the controversial reforms are also driving the U.S. Protesters have blocked highways, harassed Netanyahu’s wife and have been targeted by police with stun grenades and foul water cannons. Weeks of protests have drawn an estimated 100,000 people. The reforms have been criticized by opponents as stripping Israel’s Supreme Court of its independence - an issue central to the nation’s democratic principles. ![]()
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