In an interview with CNN on Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden made some unprecedented and controversial remarks regarding Israel which triggered a variety of reactions inside and outside Israel.

After describing the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia “far away”, he called the current government of Israel “the most extremist government since the Golda Meir era” and considered two of the Israeli ministers, namely Smotrich and Ben-Gvir as “part of the problem in the West Bank”. These remarks did not meet with praise inside Israel’s government. Itmar Ben-Gvir reacted to Biden’s interview, saying “the United States has to understand that Israel is not part of America”.

New realities

 On Sunday, some authorities in northern region of occupied Palestine admitted the new reality of the border with Lebanon, claiming that “what was imposed on the occupiers during the last year, was something we were not familiar with before. Hezbollah violates all the agreements relating to the borders of this part. We saw the Katyushas; we saw the fire and the tents; and only one of the tents was later removed” an Israeli media reported. The authorities say their most earnest challenge is the lack of enough shelters for the settlers of the northern occupied regions in case a war breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah.

Unit 8200 members will not be there!

 In a letter published early in the morning of Sunday addressing the commander of Unit 8200 and the chief of Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN), more than 1000 reserve forces of the Unit warned that in case the judicial reforms bill is passed, they will stop volunteering for serving in the Unit. “We will bravely stand and say that we will not submit to the idiocy of the current government. We demand the government to stop the dictatorship immediately”, the letter said. Later that day, Israel’s minister of defense (war) threatened those soldiers who avoid the service and called this action “playing with fire”. “We should not accept the situation in which some individuals use the army and intelligence agencies to promote their own political stance,” Yoav Gallant said.
 

Bribing the few

Israel’s cabinet agreed on a plan on Sunday which provides help and subsidies for the Palestinian National Authority (PLA) in case the PLA would stop its international legal activities against Israel. The package also includes an effort by Israel to avoid the collapse of current PLA administration.

The big goes striking big time

An Israeli chain store working under the brand name “big” announced today that if the judicial reforms would be ratified, the company will go on a strike and stop the activity of its branches all over the Occupied Palestine. Part of the so-called judicial reforms law is going to be put on vote on Tuesday. Reacting to the threat, a member of Ben-Gvir’s party in the Knesset called the company owners “pigs” and claimed he will personally attend in the place to avoid the closure and strike. “I, myself, will prevent the closure of Be’er-Sheva’s Big. These pigs who feed from the residents Negev, want to hurt the residents tomorrow because of their political agenda,” Cohen said.