Israel

Israel’s Netanyahu not on Trudeau’s invite list despite proposed U.S. visit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is not currently planning to join the American president in inviting his Israeli counterpart for a visit.

“We remain steadfast friends of Israel, but every now and then we do have to point out where we disagree,” Trudeau told reporters Thursday.

Trudeau is slated to speak with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon, after months of strain between the two countries.

2023 looks on track to be the deadliest year in Israel since 2015, under Obama, and the bloodshed is an eightfold increase in Israeli deaths since Trump’s last year in office.

The Biden administration restored Obama’s old policies and doubled down on them. And the death toll in Israel looks the way that it did under Obama. Under Biden, Israelis are dying at similar rates to the way that they did under Obama, but not at all as they did under Trump.

Both George Orwell and Mark Twain would have demanded that we take notice.

The results of a recent “trust index” survey, conducted in Israel, revealed far more than just the dry numbers they report — although of course they are important. Even more important are issues concerning public trust — the very core of democracy.

On April 17-18, Israel observed Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. Sirens sounded across the country while people stood for two minutes of silence in remembrance of six million Jews who had been murdered. Wreaths were laid at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech calling on Israelis for unity.

On the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding, the right to self-determination has fallen tragically out of favour.

Israel will start celebrating the 75th anniversary of its creation this evening. Given the hatred Israel evokes from Islamists, regional powers and Western leftists, it is remarkable it has survived for so long.

To be sure, Israel has also had substantial international support at times. From the late 1960s onwards, it could rely on America as an ally – although that backing seems to be waning today, particularly among Democrats. It is also often forgotten that left-wingers used to be staunch supporters of Israel. Indeed, from Israel’s foundation in 1948 through the 1960s, the left generally celebrated Israel as an expression of Jews’ right to national self-determination. This began to change in the 1970s, as sections of the left increasingly came to view Israel as an imperialist power. It was only in the 1990s, however, when Western elites started to reject the idea of national self-determination, that support for Israel on the left really began to erode.

A debate raged throughout the day on Sunday about the veracity of what appeared to be a leaked classified US intelligence analysis saying the Mossad sought to promote protests against the government’s proposed judicial overhaul.

On the one hand, a New York Times report, based on what seemed to be authentic Pentagon intelligence, alleged that senior Mossad officials encouraged the nationwide protests.

On the other hand, The Jerusalem Post has indications that the American intelligence, even assuming it is an authentic classified document, might have misunderstood a number of complicated trends within Israel’s intelligence community.