News From Israel- Oct. 07, 2020

        ILTV Israel News

Shock Israeli Poll Shows Support for Netanyahu Cratering Amid Coronavirus Protests

Algemeiner Staff

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speaks to supporters, following the announcement of exit polls in Israel’s election, at his Likud Party’s headquarters, in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 3, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad.

A new poll rocked the Israeli political establishment on Tuesday, showing that support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party appeared to be cratering, while his longtime rival for the hearts and minds of rightists, Yamina chief Naftali Bennett, was surging.

According to the poll, conducted by Midgam for Israel’s Channel 12, if elections were held today, Likud would receive 26 Knesset seats, while Bennett’s Yamina — positioned to Likud’s right — would take 23.

Behind them would be centrist Yesh Atid-Telem, with 18 seats; followed by the largely-Arab Joint List party with 15 seats.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s center-left Blue and White, a member of the current governing coalition, would receive only nine seats; as would the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party Shas.

Secular-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu would receive eight seats, Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism seven, and left-wing Meretz only five, barely crossing the electoral threshold.

Regarding the party blocs necessary to form a coalition, the poll found the right had 49 seats, the religious 16 and the center-left 32. The Joint List has always refrained from joining coalitions with Zionist parties, and Yisrael Beiteinu remains a wild card, with its leader Avigdor Lieberman giving little indication of which bloc he would be willing to partner with.

The poll also showed that Israelis seemed to desire a change of government. A full 49% said they wanted elections to be held soon, while only 30% said they wanted the current government to stay in power. Some 21% said they did not know.

Israel has seen widespread street protests in recent weeks over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Netanyahu’s popularity has also been dented by the corruption charges for which he is currently on trial.

Gaza rocket fired at Israel

TV7 Israel News

Helen Reddy, Australian Jewish Singer Behind Feminist Anthem ‘I Am Woman,’ Dies at 78

Shiryn Ghermezian

Singer Helen Reddy from The Carol Burnett Show in 1973. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Jewish Australian singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, best known for the 1972 feminist anthem “I Am Woman,” died on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 78, her family announced.

“She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman,” the family wrote on her official Facebook fan page. “Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”

The news of her death comes just one month after the official release of Reddy’s biopic, also titled “I Am Woman.”

Reddy was born in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 25, 1941, and moved to the United States in 1966 after winning an Australian TV talent show called “Bandstand.” The divorced mother, who had a young daughter named Traci, converted to Judaism to marry her Jewish manager, Jeff Wald, in 1968.

The singer initially found success with the song “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” in 1971, but “I Am Woman” in 1972 made her a global superstar and feminist icon at the age of 30 when it reached No. 1 in the US, Canada and Australia by September of that year. The song appeared on her debut album, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” and earned Reddy a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Reddy co-wrote “I Am Woman” with Australian musician Ray Burton. She explained that it was partially inspired by her experiences facing misogyny and sexism in the entertainment industry.

“Women have always been objectified in showbiz. I’d be the opening act for a comic and as I was leaving the stage he’d say, ‘Yeah, take your clothes off and wait for me in the dressing room, I’ll be right there.’ It was demeaning and humiliating for any woman to have that happen publicly,” she told Australia’s Sunday Magazine in 2003, as reported by AOL.

She added: “I couldn’t find any songs that said what I thought being woman was about. I thought about all these strong women in my family who had gotten through the Depression and world wars and drunken, abusive husbands. But there was nothing in music that reflected that. The only songs were ‘I Feel Pretty’ or that dreadful song ‘Born a Woman.’ These are not exactly empowering lyrics. I certainly never thought of myself as a songwriter, but it came down to having to do it.”

Reddy followed up the popular song with a number of hits, including “Delta Dawn,” “Angie Baby” and “Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady.”

The singer officially retired from the music industry in 2002. She was diagnosed with dementia in 2015.

38 anti-Netanyahu protesters arrested, several attacked

TAMAR BEERI

Numerous demonstrators left injured after being attacked by opposers to protests

Anti-Netanyahu protester in Tel Aviv confronts Israel Police / (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)

A total of 38 protesters against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “failed” leadership were arrested on Saturday night as clashes broke out in Tel Aviv and violence erupted at a handful of protest locations among over 1,000 throughout the country.

A woman was attacked by a man who opposed the protests in the Ramat Hachayal neighborhood of Tel Aviv on Saturday evening. The attacker had been walking – with his wife and child – through the area where dozens of protesters had gathered. He then attacked the woman and her husband, injuring both.

He took the horn that the woman had been blowing into and pushed it into her face, cutting her across the cheek, and broke a flag over the head of her husband. Both were evacuated from the protest and received first aid.
The attacker then reportedly continued to walk away and a couple of protesters followed him with a camera until police arrived. When they did, the attacker claimed the protesters had attacked him. One of the demonstrators who had followed him to make sure he stayed in the vicinity was taken into police custody.

Throughout the country, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at their nearest bridges and junctions to protest. This comes after the Knesset passed a bill stating that, due to the coronavirus crisis and the lockdown, protesters may only demonstrate within a one-kilometer radius from their homes.

The insistence of the government to uphold this rule has caused fury across the nation, as many claim it to be an unfounded attempt to mute the voices of the angry public.

“There is no logic to the arbitrary decision,” the Black Flags Movement spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post regarding the one-kilometer decision. “It is only the logic of an accused man who is trying to stop the protests against him. Despite this, we call everyone to go out and protest according to the restrictions.”

Others, however, believe that it is an all-too-necessary coronavirus precaution.

Brig.-Gen. Asaf Agmon (ret.), who has participated in dozens of protests and has been one of the lead organizers of the demonstrations across from the Prime Minister’s Official Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem, told the Post following the violent incident in Tel Aviv that he believes the police is not properly defending the country’s citizens equally and fairly.

“This is part of the prime minister’s incitement,” Agmon, a leader in the “No Way” political organization, said. “Today, a recording came out of Likud supporter groups telling other Netanyahu supporters to come to the protests and to act in violence. Israel Police have not acted against this until now. We call on our people to be careful and be ready. Why is the police not protecting the people?”

He further explained that he does not feel that he can trust the police to protect the people at this point. “As someone who served in the defense forces for over 50 years, my obvious answer should be ‘yes,’” he said. “However, the results are proving otherwise.”

A number of other violent incidents have occurred surrounding protests throughout the country. In Ness Ziona, one man attempted to fight with protesters, allegedly because they were making too much noise. He ignored police, who instructed him to stand by, and so he was arrested.

“In the State of Israel, the police are responsible for securing the safety of protesters and to allow them the freedom to protest,” a Black Flags Movement spokesperson told the Post. “We send a letter every week to the police with protest locations with a demand for protection and as usual the police do not do their job.”

Another couple of men in Hadera claimed the protesters in their area were making too much noise and proceeded to assault them. They only stepped away when the police were called to the scene. Later in the same location, demonstrators reported that passersby had thrown stones at them. Once police arrived, however, the stone-throwers had run away.

Pardes Hana saw a protester get his hand broken by an anti-protest attacker. Police arrested a young man suspected of perpetrating the attack. He is currently being investigated.

Ramat Gan, Jerusalem, Holon and Haifa all saw violent incidents as well at the time of writing.

Tel Aviv protests, in the meantime, saw clashes between protesters and police throughout the evening and nighttime. At the time of writing, 15 protesters were taken into police custody, and even more were fined for not wearing masks, and being farther from their homes than the legal limit. A reporter for the Israeli publication Haaretz, Bar Peleg, was fined for not social distancing, despite showing a press pass, which should legally allow him to enter and walk among protesters. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai was slightly injured during protests amid the havoc that ensued.

Netanyahu “and his group of inciters that surround him are responsible for every drop of blood that was shed in the past week,” the Black Flags Movement said in response to the escalations at protests. “Israel Police massively failed to protect the demonstrators. After the events of the previous week, the question arises whether this is incapability to protect the public or lack of desire to do so.”

“Sadly, throughout all of the protests, police were busy – and this is a generalization, it’s not true everywhere – acting against protesters, sometimes illegally and sometimes violently,” Agmon told the Post.

“Police units are mobilized in different areas of the country in order to deal with the demonstrations and make sure that all safety, health and security measures are being kept, with social distancing, staying one kilometer from one’s house, and masks being worn at all times,” Israel Police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld told the Post. “Anyone not wearing a mask will be fined.”

Protesters throughout the country reported that they had been verbally assaulted by passersby, including those that drove by them. Demonstrators in Rishon Lezion reported that a vehicle repeatedly drove pats them with someone inside comparing them to “Nazi Germany.”

This comes after Thursday protests during which one demonstrator was run over. She required medical assistance on the spot as the attacker drove away unidentified.