VFI News Amid Judicial Turmoil, Almost One-Third of Israeli Citizens Consider Leaving

Discover the latest developments in Israel's judicial reform, as the passage of a controversial bill restricts the Supreme Court's power to void laws based on reasonableness.

This week's edition of VFI News delves into the reactions from various quarters, including political leaders, citizens, and international financial organizations.

As the nation faces unprecedented challenges, join us in prayer for a vision that can steer Israel towards a path of stability and prosperity amid the changing political landscape.

Stay informed with VFI's comprehensive news update. Shalom from Israel.

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A survey carried out Tuesday, July 25, in the wake of the government passing the first law in its divisive judicial overhaul package found that over a quarter of Israelis are considering leaving the country. More specifically, the poll found that 28% of respondents were weighing a move abroad, 64% were not, and 8% were unsure.

The survey reflected the impact of the coalition passing the law on Monday, despite sustained mass protests, vehement opposition from top judicial, security, economic, and public figures, and thousands of Israeli military reservists vowing to quit service.

Over half of the survey’s respondents — 54% — said they feared the judicial overhaul was harming Israel’s security, and 56% were worried about civil war.

Only 33% of respondents said they believed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that he wants to compromise on the rest of the judicial overhaul legislation, although 84% of voters for the premier’s Likud party said they believed him.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said leading opposition figures Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz should return to negotiations. Israel’s opinion polls can often be unreliable, but they influence politicians and voters.

In the meantime, last week, an unprecedented number of 1,338 distress calls were received by ERAN (emotional first aid organization), including dozens of calls that were defined by the applicants as directly arising from the political and social situation and hundreds of distress calls that were intensified only by the unprecedented crisis in Israeli society. (TOI / VFI News)

“God, we ask for a unified Israel and judicial fairness. We pray that our leaders will make decisions that benefit all Israeli citizens and that the current turmoil will not lead to devastating outcomes that could hinder the future of our nation. Furthermore, we hope that distressed Israelis will be able to take care of their mental health and receive the help they need in appropriate settings.”

The articles included in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vision for Israel. We try to provide accurate reporting on news pertinent to Israel, the Middle East, the diaspora, and Jewish issues around the world—and we hope that you find it both informative and useful for intercessory prayer.

Almost 70 percent of Israeli startups are taking active steps to pull money and shift parts of their businesses outside the country due to the uncertainty created around the proposed judicial overhaul, according to a survey by Start-Up Nation Central, which tracks the local tech ecosystem.

The findings of the survey showed that 68% of Israeli startups have started to take “legal and financial steps,” including the withdrawal of cash reserves, moving their headquarters outside of Israel, relocating employees, and conducting layoffs.

Overall, 78% of the surveyed startup executives reported that the government’s controversial plan to weaken the country’s judicial system is “negatively” impacting their operations, and 84% of venture capital investors said it has a negative influence on their portfolio companies.

Meanwhile, Israel’s sovereign credit rating on Tuesday, July 25, was lowered by credit rating agency Morgan Stanley, and Moody's warned of a "significant risk" that political and social tensions will lead to "negative consequences for Israel's economy and security situation."

The tech ecosystem is a key engine of growth for Israel’s economy, as it generates about 16% of GDP and over 50% of exports, and contributes more than 25% of the total income tax collected by the government. (TOI / VFI News)

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” - Deuteronomy 30:15-16

With Israeli society increasingly fractured over the country’s democratic character and future, Iran on Sunday, July 23, mocked the Jewish state’s troubles while also joking at the expense of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his health problems.

“It is reported in the news that doctors have used a battery for the heart of the prime minister of the Zionist occupation regime,” the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, tweeted in Farsi, referring to the revelation that a pacemaker had been implanted in the premier following a potentially life-threatening cardiac event.

“But it is clear that the crisis in the heart of the Zionist regime is deeper than the crisis in the heart of its prime minister,” Kanaani added.

This was not the first time the Iranian Foreign Ministry has weighed in on the political crisis in Israel lately and implied that it may be a harbinger of the impending demise of the Jewish state.

In a tweet on July 14, Kanaani commented on clashes between protesters demonstrating against the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul and police: “For many years, the occupying and criminal Zionists tried to make their fake regime appear as the most democratic entity in the West Asian region.” (TOI / VFI News)

“God, we pray that enemies will not view the current internal conflicts as an opportunity to instill hatred against Israel and harm our nation. We pray for Your protection over our nation and that the conflicts will soon be resolved and that You will receive all the glory.”

IDF combat soldiers shot and killed three Palestinian terrorists who attempted a shooting attack targeting the Israeli force near Nablus, in Judea and Samaria, the military said Tuesday morning, July 25.

Hamas has claimed in a statement that the three killed by Israeli forces were its members.

According to the IDF, a vehicle with three armed individuals pulled into a neighborhood near the city of Nablus and an armed man got out and began shooting at the soldiers stationed there.

The soldiers, members of the 603rd combat engineering battalion of the IDF, killed all three men on the spot. They then confiscated three M-16 firearms, a pistol, and other military equipment.

There were no casualties among Israeli forces. (JPost / VFI News)

“God, we thank You for protecting our soldiers from terrorist attacks. We are humbly grateful for You and our defense forces that valiantly strive to bring peace and security to our region. May their daily efforts be rewarded.”

Join Batya Segal for this week's Parasha, where she talks about how Moses stresses to the Israelites the importance of keeping God’s commandments when they enter the Land of Israel. This week's Torah portion is from Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11.

The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) conducted a minor escalation against Judea and Samaria terror overnight between Sunday and Monday, July 23 - 24, arresting 17 Palestinians in one night of raids, including using somewhat larger forces and one raid which lasted an unusual five hours long.

The number of arrests, altercations, size of IDF forces, and amount of time the forces spent in some of the Palestinian areas was more extensive than the average nightly IDF raid.

However, Israeli media have learned that the IDF did not view the raid as a "mini-Jenin" operation or a warm-up to such an operation. This, despite the fact that many top officials announced that, after the massive two-day operation in Jenin earlier in July, other similar massive operations might soon be necessary.

An IDF statement said that 10 explosive devices were seized in addition to the arrests, with many arrestees providing useful intelligence information regarding terror cells and trends going forward.

Arrests were also made in Beitut, Misakan Shaabiyah, Beit Kahil, Dura, el-Moir, Katanah and Tapuach. There were also operations in Beit Omar and Bethlehem.

In Nur-al-Shams, Beitut, and Katanah, local Palestinians responded to the IDF operations with a mix of gunfire, tossing improvised explosives, and stone-throwing. (JPost / VFI News)

“For He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones.” - Proverbs 2:8

British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has been charged with three terrorism offenses after being arrested in London last week, police said on Monday, July 24.

Choudary, 56, has been charged with membership of a proscribed organization, directing a terrorist organization, and addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organization, police said.

Once Britain's most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary was imprisoned in Britain in 2016 for encouraging support for Islamic State before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.

Choudary, former head of the now-banned organization al-Muhajiroun, drew attention for praising the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque. His followers have been linked to numerous plots across the world.

A 28-year-old Canadian man, Khaled Hussein, has also been charged with membership of a proscribed organization after being arrested on the same day as Choudary when he arrived on a flight at Heathrow Airport, police said. (JPost / VFI News)

“Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.” - Proverbs 3:25-26

A Christian abbot was asked Wednesday, July 19, by an official at Jerusalem’s Western Wall to hide his cross while accompanying Germany’s education minister to the holy site, drawing censure and an apology in the latest incident of Jewish-Christian tensions in the capital’s Old City.

The incident, which took place outside the prayer area of the Jewish holy site, was filmed and posted online by a reporter for German media.

Nikodemus Schnabel, the abbot of the Old City’s Dormition Abbey, was stopped by a woman who was said to be an employee of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the Haredi-dominated state-run body that administers the site.

The footage shows the woman telling Schnabel the pectoral cross he was wearing was “really big and inappropriate for this place” and asking him to stow it away, as Germany’s Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger stands by.

“This is very harsh, you’re not respecting my religion. You’re hindering me from my human right,” Schnabel says. “This is not a provocation, I am an abbot. This is my dress. The cross is part of my dress code. I’m a Roman Catholic abbot. You want me to not dress as my faith, that is the reality.”

The visit eventually took place as planned and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation issued a statement apologizing “for the distress that was caused,” but defending the actions of the woman while also noting that the site is open to all and there are no rules “on this issue” there. (TOI / VFI News)

Jewish fencer Eli Dershwitz made history Tuesday, July 25, at the World Fencing Championships in Milan, Italy, where he became the first American man to win an individual title in sabre.

The 27-year-old two-time Olympian and grandson of Holocaust survivors defeated No. 1-ranked Sandro Bazadze 15-6 in the sabre final.

But Dershwitz’s semifinal victory was perhaps even more notable: Facing Áron Szilágyi, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and the reigning world champion, he came back from a 10-4 deficit to advance to the final round.

“I’ve been working most of my life for this moment, this tournament, and towards Paris 2024,” Dershwitz said, according to American media. “Hoping my third Olympic Games is the one.”

Dershwitz — who celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Conservative Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, and fenced at Harvard University — won two gold medals at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Prior to the 2016 Rio Games, Dershwitz had said that he considers himself a “proud member of the Jewish community.” (INN / VFI News)

“In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.” - 1 Samuel 18:14

The suggestions, opinions, and scripture references made by VFI News writers and editors are based on the best information received.

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