Middle East Press on: Isaac, Israel, Judiciary, Jenin, Holocaust: New Age Islam's Selection, 27 January 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
27 January 2025
Appointing Isaac Amit Risks Further Eroding Trust In Israel’s Judiciary
Netanyahu's Hidden Intentions In Hostage Deal Are Concerning
Hamas' Long Shadow Will Require Greater Investment Into Mental Health Resources
Syria Sends A Message To The West
Israel Continues Cycle Of Violence With Jenin Attack
Israel’s Future Depends On Embracing The Lessons Of Holocaust Survivors
Social Media Is Becoming A Battleground For Israeli Democracy
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Appointing Isaac Amit Risks Further Eroding Trust In Israel’s Judiciary
By Jpost Editorial
January 27, 2025
In the best of times, meaning when the Supreme Court and judicial system enjoy broad public trust, appointing someone to head the court who has unresolved ethical questions would be problematic.
In more difficult times, when public trust in the court is already low, such an appointment would be a significant setback. Today, Israel is clearly in those more difficult times.
How difficult? According to the Israel Democracy Institute’s 2004 annual democracy index, 79% of the public expressed trust in the Supreme Court. In the IDI’s 2024 report, that figure had plummeted to 39%.
That drop is both astounding and deeply troubling. Many factors contributed to this precipitous fall, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign against the courts is definitely one of them. Still, that public faith in the judiciary has been nearly halved in two decades is a stunning reversal.
For the sake of the country, that hemorrhaging of public faith in the courts needs to stop. Israel, like all democracies, needs a Supreme Court and judicial system that commands respect and confidence. Appointing a man with unresolved ethical concerns as Supreme Court president will not achieve that.
Allegations casting a shadow
Unfortunately, Isaac Amit has ethical issues involving conflict of interests hanging over his head. To appoint him now – before thoroughly investigating the allegations – is self-defeating.
Among the allegations that have emerged against Amit in recent weeks is that he adjudicated cases involving lawyers who represented him in a case involving a family-owned property in Tel Aviv; that he heard cases involving the Tel Aviv Municipality even as the municipality was fining the family-owned property; that he heard appeals in cases adjudicated by judges in cases involving the Tel Aviv property while also deciding on their promotions; and that he was the judge in a case where his brother had a clear interest.
In several of these legal processes, Amit appears under the name Goldfriend, his family name before he changed it, and did not report his involvement in personal legal proceedings to the Supreme Court president, as required.
Though no one has accused Amit of criminal wrongdoing, if these allegations are true, they constitute ethical violations. Rather than enhancing the court’s reputation, his appointment would tarnish it further – precisely at a time when the judiciary’s integrity needs bolstering.
Amit has denied any wrongdoing, and in a stinging letter last week to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has been vehemently opposed to his appointment for months, Amit dismissed the allegations as a smear campaign against him.
It is worth noting that the allegations were first uncovered in Yediot Ahronot, not known as a newspaper with an anti-court agenda – if anything, the opposite is true, with follow-up reporting done by Channels 11, 12, and 14.
Amit’s defense echoes Netanyahu’s own defense over the years: “I have done nothing wrong, this is all a campaign against me.”
Even if the timing of the allegations – just days before the Judicial Selection Committee was to meet on his appointment – is politically motivated, that is irrelevant. What matters is whether they are true. And if they are, Amit should not be appointed court president. That position needs to be held by someone above all ethical reproach.
This does not mean that Amit can’t sit on the bench, only that as one with clouds of suspicion over his head, how could he – as the country’s top judge – reprimand other judges for ethical violations?
The source of the allegations matters far less than whether or not they are true. Yet in a very puzzling decision, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara – in a highly confrontational relationship with the government and Levin – declared that no further investigation is needed. We believe she is wrong.
As legal commentator Yuval Elbashan said on his program on KAN Bet on Friday, if someone has a stain on their shirt, the shirt is dirty, and how the stain got there is immaterial.
To appoint Amit, as brilliant a jurist as he might be, to lead the country’s highest court under a cloud of unresolved conflict-of-interest allegations is counter-productive. Israel needs to build up the public’s confidence in the judiciary. This only erodes it further.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-839347
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Netanyahu's Hidden Intentions In Hostage Deal Are Concerning
By Susan Hattis Rolef
January 27, 2025
This past Saturday morning, four of our five captive female surveillance soldiers – Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa, Karine Ariev, and Naama Levy – were released by Hamas into the hands of the Red Cross.
The Red Cross then drove the four to IDF personnel in the Gaza Strip, who took them to the Re’im military camp in Israel, where they met their parents. They were then flown by helicopter to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva.
It was a joyous sight. All of the 19 to 20-year-old women looked much better than anyone had expected or hoped, even though there is no doubt that Hamas had used all sorts of cosmetic and medical methods to achieve this result. The true state of their health is currently being assessed, but there is certainly reason for optimism.
We were also grateful that in the short ceremony organized by Hamas before handing the four over to the Red Cross, none of the four was ordered to present a short speech full of gratitude to their Hamas (or Islamic Jihad) captors in Arabic – which some observers in Israel feared might occur, but the Israeli authorities had made great diplomatic efforts to prevent.
A less pleasant sight was the large numbers of Hamasniks, in uniforms and armed, running the show, attended by thousands of enthusiastic Gazan civilians.
It is rather shocking to see the carefully placed sets (less heavily destroyed buildings) and props (flags and posters, etc.), after we had been continuously informed by politicians and military men that Hamas had been almost totally crushed and defeated after 15 months of fierce fighting.
We did cause massive destruction in the Gaza Strip, and according to the Hamas Health Ministry, we killed tens of thousands of Gazan civilians.
However, we have totally failed to create a semblance of an alternative rule to Hamas in Gaza, which, despite the staged event on Saturday morning, made Hamas’s performance of bravado look, at least on the surface, authentic.
It’s a depressing thought that for the next five weeks we shall see similar performances be repeated another five times, as the remaining 26 hostages in this phase are released.
Add to this that among these 26 hostages there will be an unknown number of persons in poor health – possibly even in wheelchairs or on stretchers – and in black plastic bags or coffins. We must prepare ourselves for some extremely bumpy emotional experiences.
However, the prospect of the process being cut short either because of an Israeli or Palestinian decision is even more depressing.
This is because it is primarily our hostages – both Israelis and non-Israelis – who are likely to pay for such an event with their lives, while an overwhelming majority of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention camps are most likely to survive, even though their lives are no picnic.
Ever since Itamar Ben-Gvir became National Security Minister just over two years ago, their living conditions have been deliberately downgraded, and I would concede that this was a policy decision that was overdue.
Odeh receiving fire
LAST WEEK MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash-Ta’al) drew fire from Likud MKs and calls for his removal from the Knesset after he welcomed the agreement to return the Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners home.
I agree that it is erroneous to compare innocent hostages to prisoners incarcerated for acts of terror in which innocent civilians were killed, but I do not think it is so terrible a sin that justifies calling for Odeh’s removal from the Knesset.
Odeh had criticized Hamas for its criminal acts on October 7, though not their actual right to struggle against the occupation. He should have expressed his hope that the released Palestinian prisoners do not return to terrorism as they carry out their struggle.
Regarding what will happen after the first stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal is completed, I am concerned about Netanyahu’s true intentions.
Though he keeps making vague statements about returning all the hostages, he also keeps making statements to the effect that Israel will not continue the ceasefire beyond the current stage of the deal.
This is contrary to the agreement signed by Israel and Hamas on January 15, according to which the fighting shall cease completely after all the hostages and the designated Palestinian prisoners are set free.
It is said that Netanyahu’s statements are meant for the ears of Ben-Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Both object, on principle, to the swapping of Palestinians with Jewish blood on their hands for our hostages, and to ending the war in Gaza before Hamas is completely eliminated.
Ben-Gvir has resigned from the government for these reasons but has not concealed his plans to return before long if appropriate conditions are created. Smotrich has not left the government but has stated that if Israel does not change its course after the current stage of the agreement is completed, he too will resign.
Has Netanyahu made up his mind that he is less concerned about the return of all the hostages, before none of them remains alive, than about the survival of his current government? The Left, Center-Left in Israel, and less extreme right-wingers believe that the current situation is a perfect opportunity to get rid of the worst national security minister and finance minister Israel has ever had, both of whom also support policies that a majority of Israeli citizens reject.
It is difficult to fathom that Netanyahu, who on February 17, 2021, stated in an interview with Channel 12 news that “Ben-Gvir will not be a minister in the government,” has, within close to four years, changed his position on the issue and is willing to sacrifice the remaining hostages to bring Ben-Gvir back into the government from which he resigned.
It is also difficult to fathom that Netanyahu, one of Israel’s most successful finance ministers, is willing to make the same sacrifice to keep in the government someone who believes that “the more Israel will promote the Torah and Judaism, God will bestow greater abundance upon us” (Smotrich’s interview to the haredi weekly Mishpacha, December 7, 2022).
We appear to be forced to put our full trust in President Donald Trump to once again push Netanyahu to do what he ought to do of his own volition: bring all the remaining hostages home. If necessary, will the capricious Trump deliver?
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-839329
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Hamas' Long Shadow Will Require Greater Investment Into Mental Health Resources
By Jonathan Lieberman
January 27, 2025
Like everyone else in the country, when I finally saw the images of the first three hostages being released, my emotional stability disintegrated.
It was as if all my different feelings had been put in a smoothie blender turned on to full power.
There was joy at the reunion of Romi, Emily, and Doron with their respective families.
There was the fervent, almost painful desire for their co-hostages to join them in their reunion.
There was disgust at the media-driven frenzy of blood lust displayed by their captors.
There was fear of the consequences of the release of so many hardened terrorists.
There was sadness and sympathy for the victims of the crimes committed by those being freed from prison.
There was hope that the nightmare might be coming to an end.
And there was the prayer that these brave young women and all the remaining hostages will be able to return to some sort of normalcy at the end of this madness.
The initial focus, of course, will be on the physical health of the released captives, but we must not ignore or minimize the impact of the epoch-making horrors of October 7 and the subsequent effects on the psychological health, not only of the hostages, but the injured, the bereaved, the displaced, and every single citizen of the country.
After World War II, there was an almost universal silence from the survivors of the Holocaust until the floodgates were opened, initially by the Eichmann trial in Israel in 1961 and later in 1978 by the screening of the US TV miniseries Holocaust. Following this, there was a cathartic outpouring of testimony from survivors and their families.
However, the horrors were such that in those early years, there was a repression and desire to “just survive” and not to talk about the events. There was survivor’s guilt, although it was not well known at that time.
The desire for all the survivors was to “put it all behind us and to live our lives going forward.”
But it was not so straightforward.
Thirty-five years ago, when there was a spate of exposures of Nazi war criminals, some very prominent, including former UN general-secretary and president of Austria Kurt Waldheim, the German publicist Arno Plack asked, “ How long will we go on defeating Hitler?”
It is to him we owe the phrase “Hitler’s long shadow” – a shadow that has only lengthened since Plack first coined it some 35 years ago.
This expression has numerous iterations and means different things to different people.
For some, it has the meaning of Bertolt Brecht’s famous warning that “the bitch of fascism (you could substitute the word antisemitism) is still in heat.”
Others have understood the long shadow to be the still-felt political fallout of the war, which led to the Cold War between the East and West and the invention of NATO and the utterly corrupt and morally bankrupt United Nations.
To psychologists and psychotherapists, the long shadow of Hitler is the ongoing and deep trauma felt by the second and even third generations of Holocaust victims or survivors.
Their desire to “just get on with our lives” was not possible. The trauma ran too deep and pervaded every moment and relationship – with their spouses, children, and grandchildren.
Studies have shown that the level of PTSD in second and third-generation survivors is very significantly greater than that of their contemporaries.
The collective trauma that we as a nation have gone through since October 7 and are still experiencing will parallel this picture, and we must prepare for the “long shadow of Hamas.”
There is a dire shortage of psychologists, psychotherapists, and other mental health professionals in Israel.
This may be due to a number of factors, including a lack of funding, poor working conditions, and a high demand for services.
The long-term solutions to this crisis must include greater investment by the state in mental health infrastructure and resources to address the long-term impacts of the war.
There is an urgent need to train more therapists, especially those who are proficient in trauma counseling.
In the short term, we all need to step up and become “amateur psychologists.”
We need to learn to spot the signs of PTSD in ourselves and others and to signpost those who are struggling to the appropriate services.
In practical terms, this may include:
Being a supportive listener.
Listen without judgment: Don’t try to fix the situation or give advice.
Give them space: If they don’t want to talk, don’t push them.
Be patient: PTSD symptoms can persist for years.
Be consistent: Keep your support ongoing, even when they seem to be doing better.
Provide emotional support.
Offer understanding and encouragement: Let them know you care and are there for them.
Share positive distractions: Plan activities that can help them relax and enjoy others.
Learn about PTSD: This can help you understand what they’re going through.
Encourage professional help.
Encourage them to talk to a doctor: A mental health professional can help them recover.
Help them find a professional: You can go with them to appointments or help them keep track of them.
Respect their privacy.
Don’t share details without permission: They might not want you to tell others about what happened to them.
We can also continue to pray for a complete healing of all those in need, as we say in our synagogues daily, refuat hanefesh urefuat haguf – both a physical and psychological recovery, however long it takes.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-838996
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Syria Sends A Message To The West
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib
January 26, 2025
The flurry of foreign ministers rushing to visit Damascus and meet with Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the general commander of the military operation that ousted Bashar Assad, received an unlikely addition on Friday: Belarus’ Maxim Ryzhenkov. One might look at this visit the same way one looked at the visits of the German or Norwegian foreign ministers. However, such a visit has added important significance. Belarus is very close to being a client state of Russia — if it is not so already.
The takeover of power by the Syrian rebels has been smooth, with minimal casualties or destruction. Life went back to normal in no time. The security situation is acceptable. This can in no way be compared to the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, which led to chaos. Nevertheless, Syria has one big impediment: Western sanctions.
These sanctions were imposed on the Assad regime and they crippled it. Today, after Assad’s fall, the sanctions remain. They are hindering Syria’s rise from the ashes. Assad left behind a decimated country. The Syrian central bank’s foreign reserves are very low — some say as low as $200 million. The country’s infrastructure has been decimated by 14 years of war. The services are mediocre. At the same time, people’s expectations are very high. Regardless of what Al-Sharaa does with his team and regardless of what the future transitional government does, the country cannot recover as long as there are sanctions.
The logical step would be to lift sanctions now that Assad is no longer there. However, the West is very suspicious of the new leadership. Al-Sharaa has a checkered past, as he once fought for Al-Qaeda. His group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, has been designated as a terrorist organization by many countries. Although it broke with Al-Qaeda in 2016, the fundamentalist reputation still follows it.
A trimmed beard and clean-cut suit have not made the West forget the previous look of Al-Sharaa, who some still refer to as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani. Though he has so far shown moderation since gaining power and not enforced any practices on anyone, the West is suspicious. It is mostly suspicious of the followers of his group and the repository of fundamentalist fighters in Syria.
Therefore, it is a chicken and egg situation. As long as the sanctions are in place, a full-fledged Syrian state cannot be built. On the other hand, the West does not want to empower “Islamist structures,” as the German foreign minister recently stated. Syria is deadlocked.
All of the visits so far have been from countries in the Western sphere or their allies: France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Qatar and Ukraine. Syria has taken a very clear pro-West position. New Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani even got invited to Davos — the first time Syria has been invited and represented at the World Economic Forum’s annual summit. Of course, it is not expected that the new government will welcome the Assad allies who are anti-West: Russia and Iran. This is why the visit of the Belarus delegation is significant. It shows that Syria wants to send a subtle message to the West: “If you do not help us, we will look for an alternative.” The Trump administration is aware of this.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, when questioned by Congress during his confirmation hearing, made it clear that the US must be pragmatic and engage with the new Syrian government because, if it does not, someone else will. He expressed reservations over the history of HTS, saying its origins do not “give us comfort.” Meanwhile, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide last week called for the removal of all sanctions on Syria. The US has issued a temporary exemption on certain sanctions. This allows the central bank in Syria to receive transfers from countries that are willing to help. But the exemption will only last six months. It is known that removing sanctions is much harder than putting them in place and America’s Caesar Act was only renewed by Congress in December and is now due to last until 2029.
Ryzhenkov’s visit came as Syria terminated its agreement with Russia to operate the port of Tartus. This is serious for Moscow. Syria provides its only access to the Mediterranean. For centuries, Russia has had a strategic interest in warm-water ports. This was one important reason for its wars with the Ottomans, which spanned four centuries. Russia wanted access to the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits to allow its Black Sea Fleet to reach the Mediterranean. Ryzhenkov could not have visited Damascus without a greenlight from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Syria is of strategic importance to Russia. The Kremlin will be keen to negotiate with the new leadership. This is an important pressure point Al-Sharaa and his administration can exert over the West. Europe was very happy to see the influence of Russia dwindle in the Middle East. Does it want to see that reversed? I doubt it. This is a chance for the West to provide the necessary support for Syria. Windows of opportunities are usually short and close if they are not grabbed at the right time.
The West must think strategically. Instead of talking about “Islamist structures” and trying to micromanage the new administration by placing demands on it regarding the representation of women and minorities, it must think about whether it would like Syria — a country that has a very important strategic location — to be in the Western fold or Russia’s fold.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2587901
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Israel Continues Cycle Of Violence With Jenin Attack
Daoud Kuttab
January 26, 2025
The ceasefire in Gaza was meant to signal a reprieve from violence, but it took less than two days for the fragile calm to shatter. Israeli military forces, armed with heavy equipment, last week bulldozed into the Jenin refugee camp, clashing with Palestinians and leaving at least 10 dead and many more injured. The operation, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed was intended to “eradicate terrorism in Jenin,” is part of a broader pattern of escalating tensions in the West Bank. The implications of these developments are as dire as they are far-reaching.
The Jenin refugee camp has long been a flashpoint of resistance against Israeli military incursions, but the situation has grown increasingly complex. Internal divisions among Palestinians have compounded the suffering of those living in the camp. Clashes between Palestinian security forces and local militant groups, including the Jenin Battalion — an alliance of Islamic Jihad and Hamas fighters — had only recently subsided. This internal discord, coupled with Israel’s aggressive actions, underscores the volatile state of Palestinian politics and the mounting pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
For Abbas, the stakes could not be higher. His government, based in Ramallah, faces growing criticism for its inability to maintain order or deliver meaningful progress toward Palestinian independence. The crackdown on the Jenin Battalion — hailed by Abbas as a necessary step to “restore security” — has divided Palestinians. While some see it as a move to assert the PA’s authority, others view it as a betrayal of the resistance against occupation. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have labeled the operation a “full-fledged crime” and even factions like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have condemned it as a “red line” being crossed.
These divisions within Palestinian society are mirrored by a broader ideological schism. Abbas and the Palestine Liberation Organization have largely abandoned the notion of armed resistance, favoring diplomacy and negotiation. This stance, formalized in 2007 when the PLO officially dropped the term “armed resistance” from its platform, contrasts sharply with the positions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which continue to advocate for violent struggle as the only viable path to liberation. The disconnect between these factions reflects not just a tactical disagreement but a profound divergence in visions for the future of Palestine.
The timing of the Israeli operation in Jenin cannot be ignored. It came on the heels of the devastating Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas from Gaza, an event that has reshaped regional dynamics. Abbas’ government fears a similar buildup of militant capacity in the West Bank could trigger another catastrophic Israeli response. This fear — combined with a broader strategy to prevent the militarization of the West Bank — has driven the PA’s aggressive stance against groups like the Jenin Battalion.
But these measures have done little to quell unrest or restore faith in Abbas’ leadership. Polls indicate that his approval ratings are abysmally low, with 84 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza wanting him to resign. Meanwhile, support for Hamas continues to grow, a reflection of the disillusionment many feel toward the PA’s leadership and strategy.
Israel, for its part, has not hesitated to exploit these divisions. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for Jenin to “look like Jabaliya,” referencing the destruction of a Gaza neighborhood, lays bare the government’s intentions. Israeli media has said that the attacks on the West Bank are part of a deal for Smotrich to stay in the Netanyahu government after the Gaza ceasefire.
The humanitarian toll of Israel’s actions in the West Bank is staggering. Checkpoints have proliferated, isolating communities and paralyzing daily life. Settlers, emboldened by the military’s operations, have carried out violent attacks under the protection of Israeli forces. In the villages of Jinsafut and Al-Funduq, homes, workshops and vehicles were set ablaze last week. Thousands of Palestinians are now stranded, unable to return to their towns, while the international community remains largely silent.
This silence is perhaps the most damning indictment of the global response to the ongoing crisis. The attacks on the West Bank cannot be justified by the hostage issue or the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
While the violence escalates, world leaders continue to issue perfunctory statements calling for calm without addressing the root causes of the conflict. The failure to hold Israel accountable for its actions in the Occupied Territories has emboldened its government to pursue ever more aggressive policies. At the same time, the international community’s unwillingness to engage meaningfully with the Palestinian political divisions has left Abbas and his government increasingly isolated.
The path forward for Palestine is fraught with challenges. The PA must find a way to restore its legitimacy and address the grievances of its people, both in Jenin and beyond. This requires not only asserting control over militant factions but also demonstrating a commitment to democratic governance and the broader aspirations of the Palestinian people. For Israel, the choice is clear: continue down the path of occupation and repression or take meaningful steps toward a just and lasting peace. The international community, too, has a role to play. It must abandon its passivity and hold all parties accountable, ensuring that peace efforts are grounded in justice and respect for human rights.
The stakes are nothing less than the future of the Palestinian people and the prospect of peace in the region. The events in Jenin serve as a stark reminder that the status quo is untenable. Without bold action and a renewed commitment to dialogue, the cycle of violence will continue, leaving devastation in its wake.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2587898
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Israel’s Future Depends On Embracing The Lessons Of Holocaust Survivors
By Yigal Cohen
January 27, 2025
Tzivia Lubetkin, a leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and one of the founders of the Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot and its museum, has previously spoken about the sources of strength and inspiration that the young men and women, members of youth movements and leaders of the resistance against the Nazis, drew upon to rise up in revolt. She said: “Only thanks to the education we received were we able to endure this period…”
Tzivia and her companions, most of whose families were sent to death camps, started leading and educating others even before the uprising began, and continued to do so afterward in Poland, across Europe, and lastly in the young State of Israel, where they built a revival that remains a model of inspiration to this day.
Even during the early years of the war, they established and led educational, cultural, and welfare activities in the ghetto, and when the time came to take up arms and revolt against the Germans, they were there.
Amid tumultuous days, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I would like to shine a spotlight upon those Holocaust survivors who emerged from the greatest catastrophe ever to befall the Jewish people. It was an event in which entire Jewish communities were destroyed and millions of Jews were murdered, losing their property, their homes, and their families.
These Holocaust survivors, who endured multiple hellish trials, arrived in the young state with nothing, directly into the War of Independence, a war that is still regarded as the hardest and longest in our history.
With their bare hands, they rebuilt their lives, created an admirable education system, established impressive settlements, integrated and led the development of Israeli society and economy, and most importantly – built in this young state an exemplary society that was then regarded as a symbol and model for many countries around the world. A glorious revival.
The great source of strength for these survivors was the education they received, the values they adopted – values of partnership, camaraderie, and personal example. They understood that as a group, as a collective, they could endure even the hardest of times and emerge from them stronger, creating a better future.
Embracing education
The precious resource of education, that Israel needs to adopt more than anything else today, must be embraced.
More than 75 years after its establishment, following over a year and four months of war, of communities that were torn apart, evacuated, and have yet to return, of a generation enduring trauma, the State of Israel and its leaders must learn from the past and internalize the understanding and belief that investment in education and the values that brought about the revival of the state then is the most important and critical investment facing us today – indeed, at an existential level.
Through this fundamental understanding, the economy, security, and most importantly, a strong and benevolent leadership grounded in moral principles, will arise, setting an example for all of us.
Just before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we have an opportunity to learn from the spirit of those Holocaust survivors who arrived in the young state and to draw inspiration from the very revival they created here.
From them, we must learn today, and from that, form our own priorities, understanding that this is how our strength will be built. Through this, we will heal, grow, and fulfill the dream of the exemplary society that the founders of this state envisioned, which is within our power to realize.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-839330
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Social Media Is Becoming A Battleground For Israeli Democracy
By Edan Ring, Nitsan Yasur
January 27, 2025
The inauguration of President Donald Trump was unusual in many ways, but what stood out most was the presence of the leaders of the world’s largest and wealthiest social media platforms.
It wasn’t just X owner Elon Musk, who had been involved in the campaign along with many other tech companies, but also the CEOs of Google, Meta, Amazon, and Apple. These figures, often described as the “new oligarchs” of the global arena, signaled their intention to align with the policies of the returning president – one who challenges the authority of the media, legal, and political establishment, and perhaps even the very concept of facts or truth itself.
While many Americans were concerned on inauguration day about Trump’s positions on issues such as immigration, climate change, and gender, the presence of these powerful digital platform owners should raise concerns far beyond US borders, affecting citizens around the world.
Only a few days before the ceremony, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company decided to “get rid” of independent third-party fact-checkers and shift to a “community notes” system based on users’ feedback on disputed content.
This decision raised tough questions regarding user safety on the company’s key, popular platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, as well as the quality of the information we consume, including here in Israel.
If this approach sounds familiar, then it’s because it is almost identical to the model that Elon Musk – Trump’s close ally and donor – introduced at X (formerly Twitter), where the crowd-sourced “Community Notes” mechanism has replaced the policy of actively labeling or removing fake or harmful content by expert checkers.
The ensuing outcome could not be any clearer: a network full of disinformation, antisemitism, violence, and incitement, together with fake and abusive content. The damage that this caused to public safety and democracy has been indisputably evident in Israel over the last year due to the Israel-Hamas War and the ensuing waves of public protest.
Meta's perspective
Zuckerberg’s claims that the new rules prioritize “freedom of expression” are no more than empty slogans designed to sugarcoat the fact that Meta has decided to sacrifice key values, such as user safety and information credibility, on the altar of increased involvement, and to signal that his company is not going to stand in the Trump’s administration’s way in the upcoming term.
Zuckerberg also said in his message that we will see more of what he refers to as “bad stuff” on his social media platforms. This is precisely what will lead to accentuated polarization and incitement within society, undermining trust in institutions and professional authority, while harming the stability of democracies and society as a whole.
In Israel, we have had considerable first-hand experience of such damage on popular networks like X and Telegram. We would do well to remember that human rights – including “freedom of expression” – should be given to humans – not to bots, hostile influence networks, and fake accounts operated by foreign countries and malicious actors, which lately have became more widespread.
Just ask the Iranians, who have been operating unimpeded on these social media networks in Israel for years, intensifying internal friction and factionalism and recruit agents.
IN A WORLD in which disinformation gains traction more rapidly than the facts it buries in an avalanche of fake news, independent fact-checkers have been providing a much-needed protective shield for civilians, even if this has been far from perfect.
Admittedly, this working method has its drawbacks – the checking process is often too long, and dealing with misinformation can give rise to additional issues. Nonetheless, it is clear from Meta’s decision that it prefers to relinquish responsibility for verifying the truth and put it on the users instead.
In doing so, Meta has created a new playing field in which the rich and powerful will have much greater influence in labeling the truth. Though fact-checking is no miracle panacea, it is a vital tool in democracy in which facts and precise information are essential.
In stark contrast to Zuckerberg’s statements – which are thinly disguised efforts to reverberate the rhetoric and messages of both Musk and Trump – fact-checking is certainly not censorship nor is it designed to harm freedom of expression. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Fact-checking provides the all-important context and background to the content and discourse in the public domain. It does so while enabling freedom of expression and opinion in a world that is rapidly sinking in a flood of toxic, deceitful, inflammatory, and fraudulent content.
Fact-checking mechanisms are often forced to contend with thorny challenges of limited scope and impact – only a small handful of content is exposed to checks to verify important facts, among others, due to issues of prioritization and woefully inadequate investment by the platforms.
Now, they have taken one step further, discarding these checks altogether and leaving the users to their own devices to contend, “unarmed,” with the highly polarized, unstable information environment, which is flooded with malicious and manipulative content.
In the struggle against disinformation, Meta has chosen sides. Instead of standing up to this challenge, it has elected to embrace the danger of becoming a platform where a profusion of lies and falsehoods is disseminated with almost no effort.
Just as X has developed into a much less safe and fact-based domain over the last year, so Facebook and Instagram – the largest and most influential social networks in the world – might well turn into nothing more than a pale shadow of X in the Musk era.
All this is occurring at an extremely sensitive and problematic time, with the worrying increase in the use of AI for content creation coupled with the erosion of democratic regimes and the rising intervention of states such as Russia, China, and Iran in ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.
For small and marginal countries with unique languages, such as Israel, the ramifications might be particularly severe, as the platforms invest only limited resources in them for content moderation. In an extremely polarized and unstable country such as Israel, the outcome could easily determine the course of lives.
In the wake of the second Trump administration, these trends should be of concern to anybody wishing to live in a free and democratic society, and among them, and maybe especially, the citizens of Israel.
Social media dominance in the public discourse, the ongoing offensive on established media outlets, and the severe lack of political and security stability are key factors that are making Israeli democracy much more vulnerable and sensitive to the threats posed by false information and malicious foreign influence.
The decision by leading social media networks to follow Trump’s lead and absolve themselves of any responsibility for protecting their users, and the quality of the information they receive via these outlets, could be catastrophic.
For those concerned about the future of democracy in Israel, the battle for facts and truth on social media has never been more important – though now it has become much more complex.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-839337
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