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And to be sure, I am in favor of allowing Jews to go up as much and as often as they want and to allow them freedom of prayer on Har Habayit. Even if you think Jews should not go up for halachic reasons, that should be a personal decision. The State, being a democracy, should allow freedom of worship and of access to the maximum. Not going up for halachic reasons should be for me and you to decide for ourselves, not the State.

I did find the ensuing exchange humorous.

After the brouhaha began, with many criticizing Ben Gvir's actions solely meant to antagonize the Arabs, The Prime Minister's Office released a statement saying that the status quo on Har Habayit has not changed one iota. The status quo being that Jews can go up (within the limited hours set for this) to Har Habayit but they cannot pray on Har Habayit.

Shortly thereafter, Ben Gvir's office released a statement that Ben Gvir prayed on Har Habayit as per his office's policy to allow it.

Did the status quo change or not? Does it matter. Ben Gvir said it has been changed and acts accordingly, while the PMO says it hasnt and his only purpose seems to be to make the world think it hasn't even if in practice it did. 

Gamliel said to either make regional representatives or to raise the minimum electoral threshold dramatically in a way that would only allow for a small number of large parties. Today, she said, there is one small party with the Foreign Ministry, and another small party with the Finance Ministry.  This is not proportional.

Minister Gamliel is right, in my opinion. She only gave two examples but many important and significant ministries are controlled by small parties. Every time an election is held, the members of the largest party forming the coalition complain that they are left with crumbs while the small parties who are needed to form the coalition take the bulk of the powerful positions, so this isnt unique to this government. 

In the past we have had very low thresholds and higher thresholds. Right now it is high, though Gamliel wants to make it higher. The arguments all have some logic to them in both directions, but the system allows for loopholes to get around the attempt to set limitations. When the threshold is low it allows for a lot of small parties and each one is perhaps less powerful but each needs to be paid off more because each might only bring one or two mandates. When the threshold is high, the parties make technical blocks (like UTJ is, like Smotritch and Ben Gvir did) and often split after the elections, the coalition requires fewer parties but once the government is formed those technical blocks often split making more smaller parties again with exaggerated power.

I do agree the small parties should be absorbed into the large parties, and there should be some form of direct representation so politicians are accountable to the electorate, which as of right now they are not. Absorbing the small parties into the large parties does not mean nobody will take care of the issues those small parties were concerned with - it means the large parties, once accountability is included, will also be concerned for those issues which right now they often give low priority to.

Can it be done?

I dont know. I have found that the only thing you can count on politicians for is to make the changes they think will benefit themselves rather than the system, so I am skeptical, but maybe.

[and when pushed further as to how that can possibly be more important than dealing with Iran and their nuclear ambitions, the return of the hostages, the military victory etc Eliyahu explained] The way to free the hostages goes through total military victory, and to achieve that we are obligated to ensure a deep repair of the judicial system which begins with the deposal of the Attorney General..

  -- Minister Amichai Eliyahu

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  -- Mayor of NY Eric Adams when asked why he visits the graves of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Ribnitzer Rebbe as frequently as he does...

For 14 months they’ve told you about “the Nakba”… but what they didn’t tell you is that the Nakba was a lie.

Watch. Share. And Share again

This is the truth about the mythical Nakba… the greatest lie they ever told.

All credit to the phenomenal @rehoov. A must follow pic.twitter.com/u6DgKGieQb

— Cheryl E 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🎗️ (@CherylWroteIt) December 22, 2024

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