Due to increased defections from dissatisfied Yamina party members, the coalition was unable to function and became increasingly reliant on Arab parties within the coalition and in the opposition to function. Given that, Bennett and Lapid took to two podiums to announce the breakup of the 24th Knesset, handing Yair Lapid the role of caretaker Prime Minister until new elections.
This move gives Lapid, an ardent secularist, what he has always sought – control of Israel – albeit with limited powers and only until a new government is formed. Still, with elections in September, the damage a Lapid government can do, especially in partnership with Arab parties, may be irreversible.
With President Joe Biden arriving in Israel in July, a Prime Minister Lapid may attempt to sell Israel out to the Arabs in order to make irreversible changes to Israel’s standing vis a vis Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. While no agreement is binding, the mere mentions of unilateral concessions is dangerous.
Even without a public capitulation, Lapid’s standing in Israel will be increased and his ability to manipulate the body-politic going into elections will be higher than ever. (Micha Gefen, Israel Unwired, 6/21/2022)
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SOUTH AFRICA
Ramaphosa calls Putin to discuss food and fertiliser supplies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine scrambled global markets.
During a phone call on Wednesday, the two BRICS leaders stressed intention to ‘expand mutually beneficial cooperation’
“They also discussed in detail issues of food security, including the supply of Russian agricultural products and fertilisers to the African continent, in particular South Africa. The leaders also noted the importance of joint work within BRICS in order to further promote the role of this association in global politics and economics.” Western governments have accused Russia of manipulating food supplies to gain a diplomatic advantage. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently stated: “There are credible reports, including as we saw in one of our leading newspapers today, that Russia is pilfering Ukraine’s grain exports, to sell for its own profit.”
Last month, Russian Industry Minister Denis Manturov raised eyebrows when he proposed at a meeting of BRICS industry ministers that all five countries should jointly refine oil and gas and develop green energy — avoiding the need for “unreliable external partners.” This was seen by some as a Russian attempt to bypass Western sanctions by calling on its BRICS allies.
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THE FAR-RIGHT AND NORSE GODS
Payton Gendron, the suspect in the killing of ten people in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, is the latest far-right extremist to allegedly murder defenseless people in the name of white supremacy. His hate-filled manifesto is full of baffling contradictions, vile stereotypes, unhinged conspiracy theories and, predictably, Norse symbolism.
Gendron ended his manifesto with the contradictory message: “God bless you all and I hope to see you in Valhalla.” This follows the lead of the terrorist who attacked a summer camp in Utøya, Norway, who named his guns after the weapons of the Norse gods. Even more recently, the shooter who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand bookended his manifesto with references to Norse culture. (The Week, 6/20/2022) (https://dennis.slgnt.eu/optiext/optiextension.dll?(ID=MefMeMVdRQlZ9rarZ%2BbAQ7HC4pwiH7YOeft3i1vGc9iOtAawUn3dMx5eNE3Ff0DjUeDTIy0yd5ps_RwHW%2ByRzm64E2e25)
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“UNSTABLE AS WATER”
“Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it – he went up to my couch!” (Genesis 49:4 ESV)
The results of the French parliamentary elections have been “much worse” for Emmanuel Macron than “almost anyone anticipated”, writes Jonathan Miller in The Spectator. The French president “has been humiliated by voters, weeks after being re-elected by an unenthusiastic electorate”, he says. “The hyper-president with ambitions to lead Europe looks like he will not even be able to lead France,” and the country “looks more ungovernable than ever.” Having lost his parliamentary majority, Macron “must now hope to create ad hoc” coalitions to pass reforms, “but he has few allies and will pay a high price.” And he “is not only incapable of uniting the country, he bears heavy responsibility for dividing it” too. Macron “commands little to no affection” and is now “doomed to preside over escalating chaos” as France faces cost-of-living, law and order, and energy crises. (https://dennis.slgnt.eu/optiext/optiextension.dll?ID=MefMgjmtq5ZUHTiP0SV_nGXxz9tSTkjXVlmvD7%2BWo_Jwz%2BiwV4Mli_KaNiikwThT37hVDCk2V45iuf05EZq0GCBJE7Owc)
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THE EU’S CHARM OFFENSIVE IN ISRAEL
People dining this week on the charming terrace at Jerusalem’s King David hotel were surprised to find at the next table Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.
Given the EU’s long-standing hostility towards Israel, it was a bit like spotting Amber Heard knocking back the tequila with Johnny Depp in a Los Angeles bar.
That may be unfair to von der Leyen herself, who was described later that day by Israel’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, as “a great friend of the Jewish people and a great friend of Israel.”
She had certainly come to Israel on a charm offensive. In a speech at Ben Gurion University where she was awarded an honorary degree, she said: “I have put the fight against antisemitism and fostering Jewish life in Europe at the core of the European Commission’s agenda. Our democracy flourishes if Jewish life in Europe flourishes, too. Throughout the centuries, the Jewish people have been ‘a light unto the nations.’ And they shall be a light unto Europe for many centuries ahead.”
So she pressed all the right buttons about the Jewish people. The real reason for her trip, however, was panic.
As a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the EU has boycotted Russian natural gas. This has left its energy supplies seriously depleted. Until the war, Russia was supplying some 40 per cent of the gas that Europe consumes.
Now that Israel has emerged as a major player in the energy market, the EU is desperate to import Israeli gas to keep the lights on this coming winter. This week, it signed a deal that will see Israeli gas sent to Egypt, where it will be liquefied and from there shipped to Europe where it will be changed back to gas. (Melanie Phillips, 6/17/2022)
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AMERICAN BELIEFS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The vast majority of U.S. adults believe in God, but the 81% who do so is down six percentage points from 2017 and is the lowest in Gallup’s trend. Between 1944 and 2011, more than 90% of Americans believed in God.
Gallup’s May 2-22 Values and Beliefs poll finds 17% of Americans saying they do not believe in God.
Gallup first asked this question in 1944, repeating it again in 1947 and twice each in the 1950s and 1960s. In those latter four surveys, a consistent 98% said they believed in God. When Gallup asked the question nearly five decades later, in 2011, 92% of Americans said they believed in God.
A subsequent survey in 2013 found belief in God dipping below 90% to 87%, roughly where it stood in three subsequent updates between 2014 and 2017 before this year’s drop to 81%.
Gallup has also in recent years asked other questions aimed at measuring belief in God or a higher power. All find the vast majority of Americans saying they believe; when given the option, 5% to 10% have said they were “unsure.”
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PRINCE CHARLES INTERFERING IN POLITICS
British cabinet ministers have fired a warning shot at Prince Charles, who they fear will plunge the country into a constitutional crisis if he continues to meddle in government business when he becomes king.
Clarence House issued a statement on Saturday insisting Prince Charles would remain “politically neutral” as monarch, despite reports he had branded the UK government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda “appalling.” His alleged comment followed a High Court ruling in favour of the policy. The first such flight to the east African country is scheduled for Tuesday.
The Times reported that Charles had been heard expressing opposition to the policy several times in private, and that he was “more than disappointed” by it. Cabinet ministers are concerned by reports from courtiers that Charles wants to be more forward in stating his views.
A rift is said to have developed between Charles and Boris Johnson because of the UK prime minister’s “disrespectful” behavior during the men’s first meeting. (The Times, 6/12/2022)
Britain’s Prince William turns 40 on 21 June 2022: 40 photos.
The world watched as Prince William grew from a towheaded schoolboy to a dashing air-sea rescue pilot to a father of three. But as he turns 40, William is making the biggest change yet: assuming an increasingly central role in the royal family as he prepares for his eventual accession to the throne.
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TO THE POINT
- Economic growth in the UK will be the worst in the G20 apart from Russia, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has forecast. The Paris-based organisation said the effects of high inflation and a further round of tax increases will be the main factors in the UK’s expected weak economic activity. Laurence Boone, chief economist of the OECD, said the UK was unique because it was simultaneously facing high inflation, rising interest rates and increasing taxes. (The Week, 6/9/2022)
- The Queen’s health is now a topic of constant discussion. To see her looking fit and well during the Jubilee celebrations was a relief for the millions who regard her as the ‘proper’ face of the contemporary monarchy. But given the self-indulgent shenanigans that her family seem intent on creating during the final years of her reign, she might be forgiven for wanting to abandon the whole pack of them, retiring to Windsor Castle and letting her ungrateful brood get on with sabotaging the institution that she has spent seven painstaking decades protecting. Many of us would sympathize with that desire. (“The royal rabble versus the Queen,” Alexander Larman, The Spectator, 6/13/2022)
- Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia (born 10 June 1976) is a German businessman who is the current head of the Prussian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia. He is the great-great-grandson and historic heir of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who abdicated and went into exile upon Germany’s defeat in World War I in 1918. Thus, he is a fourth great-grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and a distant cousin of many European monarchs. (Wikipedia article based on a German article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Friedrich,_Prince_of_Prussia)
- The world economy will pay a “hefty price” for the war in Ukraine through weaker growth, stronger inflation and potentially long-lasting damage to supply chains, according to the OECD club of rich nations. The grim outlook came as talks between Russia and Turkey brought no signs of progress on a deal to unblock shipments of Ukrainian grain in the face of a global food-supply crisis. Even worse, a United Nations expert said removing mines near Ukraine’s key ports could take months. As the war passes 100 days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the ongoing battle in the city of Sievierodonetsk may be the most critical of the conflict, and could determine the fate of the east of the country. (Bloomberg, 6/9/2022)
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FINAL THOUGHT
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” (Benjamin Franklin)
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