Tel Aviv Diary September 15, 2023

Protest Continue as Supreme Court Reviews Controversial New Law, a Review and Start Ups Get Funding

SHANAH TOVAH to all my readers. May you have a healthy, peaceful and prosperous year!

SATURDAY NIGHT PROTESTS AND DISTURBING INCIDENT

Last Saturday night's demonstrations against the judicial overhaul were the largest in some time. This latest protest was preceded by a strange incident. On Saturday morning, police arrested Yoav Anderman, a North Tel Aviv resident and architect, for placing a poster in support of democracy, across from the home of his new neighbor, Otzma Yehudit Party Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf. Anderman's arrest sparked a wave of protests demanding his immediate release; he was released after a few hours. This latest arrest of an activist raised troubling questions about the police. During Saturday night’s demonstration, several protesters were hit by a driver who ran into them. No one was critically injured, and following a police inquiry, the driver was released after claiming he confused car’s the gas peddle with the breaks

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JUDICIAL OVERHAUL GETS TO COURT

An historic Supreme Court hearing took place this week. For the first time in Israel’s history, all 15 members of the high court sat together to hear a case. Prior to the hearing, two competing narratives regarding proposed changes to the judiciary prevailed — first, that an agreement was close to being reached between the coalition and opposition members; and alternatively, that rumors of a potential agreement were merely spin and would never materialize. Meanwhile, protests continue, if anything, with greater vigor.

Now, to the court hearing itself. This unprecedented hearing addressed whether the Supreme Court should overturn the law recently passed by the Knesset that eliminates the court's ability to use reasonableness as a criterion in deciding cases. The 12-hour-plus proceeding was covered live on all major Israeli channels, and watched by millions. A year ago, most Israelis did not even know what Basic Laws were, let alone comprehend the legal concept of reasonableness. However, this week, they intently watched a lengthy court proceeding that delved into both.

Representatives of the government and Knesset presented their position first. Their primary assertion was that the court has no authority to overturn a Basic Law. The justices frequently interrupted, asking tough, clarifying questions. They inquired, for instance, what would happen if the government passed a law delaying elections to every 10 years — in the absence of judicial oversight, who could intervene to ensure timely elections are held?

Another line of argument raised by the justices concerned the origins of the right of the Knesset to pass a Basic Law. Their questions were two fold, first if as the government claimed they had no rights to overturn a basic law where was the power of the Knesset to pass a basic law.  That brought the discussion of the role of the Israeli Declaration of Independence as a foundational document. Many of the Justices believe the declaration accords them special rights to ensure that Israel remains both a Jewish and Democratic State.

The lawyer representing the government, Ilan Bombach, caused a stir when he downplayed the Declaration of Independence, stating, “It is illogical to think that 37 unelected individuals, without intending to do so, created a document which would be called a constitution that would be binding on future generations.” Bombach’s words triggered broad incredulity and condemnation as he stated the signers of Israel’s Declaration of Independence were some random group of people and not the official representatives of the Yishuv at the time.

Simcha Rothman represented the Knesset Law Committee, which he heads. Rothman delivered a mostly political speech and claimed that the judges were only interested in their own vested interests. The Chief Justice Esther Hayut interrupted and countered that “the judges were there to represent the interests of the people.”

Regarding the matter of reasonableness, the major question raised by the high court judges revolved around what rights individuals would have to challenge the actions of the government if reasonableness were removed as a criterion. Although the government’s lawyers argued that the courts would have other means, many of the judges seemed skeptical.

After several hours of debate, one of the senior judges, Yitzhak Amit stated (almost as an aside) that he did not understand the need to eliminate reasonableness as a judicial tool. Justice Amit pointed out that despite being characterized by some as overly activist, the supreme court had struck down or modified only 23 of the 4,000 laws passed over the course of the last 30 years.

At the end of the hearing, after more than twelve hours of intense debate, it seemed clear to the majority of legal scholars and pundits that the judges would conclude that they had the right to overturn a Basic Law. However, whether or not the justices will actually overturn this specific law remains unclear.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Amir Ohana, Speaker of the Knesset threatened that should the court overturn a Basic Law, the Knesset would consider creating a new constitutional court and appoint all the judges themselves.

Later on Thursday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case brought to force Justice Minister Levin to convene the judicial selection committee. The Supreme Court placed the burden of proof on the Justice Minister to explain why the committee should not be convened. In response, Justice Minister Levin said that formation of the committee is his sole prerogative, and moreover, the court has no authority to tell him what to do. Levin also asked to present new arguments in the case. On Friday, the court agreed to Levin’s request and moved to delay the hearing on this matter.

It should be noted that there continue to be rumors of a compromise on the judicial reform proposal in the offing. President Herzog claims that a compromise has already been agreed to by both sides. The general sense however, is that although the parties may be close, Netanyahu is not willing to take on the hardliners in his government, thus ultimately, there will be no agreement.

UMAN FEVER

At the Sunday cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to dissuade the tens of thousands of Charedim planning to go to Uman amid the Ukraine war. He said, "Israeli citizens going to Uman need to take personal responsibility. Historically, God has not always shielded us, especially in Europe and Ukraine.” A number of Charedi party leaders attacked the statement. MK Eichler, a member of the coalition, was the most extreme. He stated:

"It has been more than a hundred years since the God of Israel has been saving the land of Israel from the idols of power, evil culture, and the secular regime. The Zionists and the partisans did not prevent the Holocaust in Europe. The Germans were stopped on their way to conquering the land of Israel by miracles, not because of the Zionists.

The Zionists turned their backs on the Jews of the Diaspora. Some members of the Judenrat collaborated with the Nazis. Some traded and sold the Jews of the Diaspora. The Zionist leadership in the land failed and thwarted 'rescue plans,' (as is known from the book 'Min HaMeitzar' by Rabbi Weissmandl and many historical books like those by Shabtai Beit Zvi, S. Tamir, and 'Kahash' by Ben Hecht and more). Some Zionists even called the Jews of the ghettos: 'Human dust - go to your fate.’

Even after the Holocaust, all Jewish immigrants in the diasporas of the world have since lived in relative peace and quiet. Only in the land of Israel has Jewish blood been spilled like water, ever since. The threat of nuclear annihilation threatens only the State of Israel.

Recently, the failures and lows of the idols of power and lies and the failures of the government were revealed in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The 'generals' of the past, the 'rebels' today, are inciting a blood war within the Hebrew ghetto in the land of Israel. When you see who the generals were, you understand that we only survive by the miracles of the God of Israel.

The leaders of the dictatorship war of the IDF have become informers against Israel all over the world and accuse it of apartheid and war crimes, like the worst enemies in Islam. So it is when you accuse the God of Israel, of your failures and crimes.

In a period when terror is rampant and the streets are burning, we need to pray to the guardian of Israel. If not for the merit of the keepers of the Torah, the State of Israel would have long been erased from the map of the Middle East.

The guardian of Israel will guard the remnant of Israel, those who say Shema Yisrael.”

MK Eichler’s comments were attacked by members of the Likud who demanded he apologize. He did not.

COALITION MK’S VS. PRISONER AUTHORITY

Fourteen members of the coalition wrote a letter to the director of the prisons, asking to improve the conditions under which Amiram Ben Uliel is being held. Ben Uliel was convicted of brutally murdering a Palestinian family in Duma. The prison authority responded by stating that Ben Uliel remains unrepentant and continues to spread hatred. In addition, they said they are willing to give him a cellmate, but no one in the prison wants to share a cell with him.

DEFENSE

On Friday morning an explosive device detonated in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, no one was injured. The security services opened an immediate investigation and within hours two suspects were arrested while driving on road 443. Additional explosive devices were discovered in their car.

Palestinians made another attempt at firing a missile from the Jenin area. The rocket failed to reach its target.

Israel launched a two-pronged attack in Northern Syria. First, the IDF attacked Syrian anti-aircraft installations from the sea. A few hours later, Israeli planes attacked the true, undisclosed target.

BUSINESS

Elbit Systems Ltd announced that it was awarded a contract worth $109 million to supply BAE Systems Hägglunds (BSH) the Iron Fist Active Protection System (APS) for its CV90 platform, for a European customer. The contract will be carried out over three years.

The Iron Fist APS is characterized by low volume, weight and power requirements. The system provides armored platforms with 360-degree protection from a wide variety of anti-armor threats, such as rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and up to KE tank rounds in both open terrain and urban environments

CoffeeTech startup ansa Roasting Inc. announces it has secured a total of USD 9M in seed funding. Leading this fruitful round is Jibe Ventures, a Tel Aviv based early-stage fund. Additional participants include Closed Loop Ventures, New Climate Ventures, Millennium Food-tech, and Seeetwood.

The new capital fast-tracks full commercial roll-out of ansa’s hi-tech coffee micro-roaster across North America.

Zenity, a company founded in 2021 by Ben Kligler and Michael Bergori that specializes in securing no-code development, has raised $16.5 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Intel Capital and included participation from previous investors Vertex Ventures and UpWest, as well as new investors Gefen Capital and B5. Prior to this round, the company, which employs 25 people, had raised $5 million. Yoni Greifman, a portfolio manager at Intel Capital, will join Zenity's board of directors

.Prisma Photonics, an Israeli start-up specializing in the development of technology for long-range infrastructure monitoring through fiber optic sensing, announced that it has raised $20 million in a Series C funding round. The fundraising was led by Insight Partners, an American investment firm that also led the company's previous investment round last year. Since its inception, Prisma Photonics has raised more than $50 million in total funding. Additional investors in this current funding round include the young Israeli CleanTech fund Elements, the investment arm of Schneider Electric, the investment arm of German energy giant E.ON, and the Israeli fund Incapital.

The company floLIVE, which is the creator of the world's first and largest global cellular network and a leading provider of connectivity, networks, and global connectivity management platforms for IoT (Internet of Things) devices, has raised $47 million in a Series C funding round. The round was led by Greenfield Partners and existing investor 83 North. Other participants in the funding round included Qualcomm Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Saban Ventures, and Hazelnut Partners. Up to this point, the company has raised a total of $41 million and employs 160 people, half of whom are based in Israel.

SQream develops a platform that accelerates and simplifies Big Data analytics by using graphical processors (GPUs) for parallel data processing. According to CEO Ami Gal, SQream's solutions can operate in public and private clouds as well as on-premises. They allow for the execution of complex SQL queries at speeds up to 5 times faster than competitors and at lower costs. Clients reportedly save up to 90% in data preparation time, computing costs, and even reduce their carbon footprint by 90%. SQream announced the completion of a $45 million Series C funding round led by World Trade Ventures, with participation from other investors such as Schusterman Investments, George Kaiser Foundation, and others. The company's clients include Samsung, LG, and Orange among others.

The cybersecurity company Tamnon, which developed the Assisted Cloud Remediation platform— a service aimed at helping cloud infrastructure security experts quickly and securely fix security issues — has announced a seed funding round of $5.1 million.

A TASTE OF TEL AVIV—VESPERR CAFE

RESTAURANT REVIEW, by Tali Schulman

Step inside the Fiverr office building on Kaplan Street, and you'll stumble upon Vesperr Cafe, a delightful establishment owned by the "We Like You Too" group. Vesperr is your go-to destination for superb coffee, delectable pastries, and mouthwatering sandwiches that cater to the local community's cravings. If you're in the mood for a fantastic cafe-style lunch, Vesperr has you covered with a diverse menu featuring salads, pastas, schnitzels, and more.

Personally, I relish meeting friends at Vesperr, sharing one of their unique sandwiches, and savoring their incredibly flaky pastries. While their offerings change daily, rest assured that you can't make a wrong choice here. The ambiance is perfect for getting some work done, catching up with friends, or simply enjoying a leisurely lunch. So, the next time you find yourself in the vicinity and yearning for a scrumptious lunch, make sure to pay a visit to Vesperr – you won't be disappointed.

For more Tel Aviv restaurant recommendations, you can find me on Instagram @talischulman where I save all my food adventures in my highlights!