Tag: overhaul

Gun-toting, prayer-reciting protesters throng Jerusalem to back judicial overhaul

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About 100,000 Israelis in favour of the government’s divisive judicial overhaul have taken part in a demonstration outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, in the biggest rightwing protest in the country in nearly two decades.
Protesters from all over Israel, as well as settlers who travelled in buses from the occupied West Bank, chanted “the people demand judicial reform” and danced and sang as the rally got under way at sunset on Thursday, sending a message before the beginning of the Knesset’s summer session next week.
From a distance, the demonstration resembled those that have been held against the judicial changes since the start of the year – some of which have drawn upwards of 120,000 people, making it the largest protest movement in Israeli history.
Pop music blasted over a sea of blue and white flags, and Thursday’s attenders, like those at the protests against the overhaul, also said they had come to “say no to dictatorship”.
But Thursday’s rare event, organised and funded by rightwing political parties and activists, had a more religious flavour, with people praying and reciting blessings.
Many men carried guns, and there were far more children than at the anti-reform protests. One group of young men brandished the rattlesnake Gadsden flag now associated with the Capitol riot in Washington DC on 6 January 2021.
“To all my friends who are sitting here, see how much power we have,” the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said in a speech. “They have the media and they have tycoons who will fund the protests, but we have the nation.”
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not attend, but used Twitter to thank the protesters, writing that “your passion and patriotism moves me deeply”.

Noham, a 30-year-old from the illegal settlement of Geva Binjamin in the West Bank, attended the protest with his wife, Elia, 25, and their two small daughters. He called the atmosphere “powerful”.
An aerial view shows the demonstrators. Photograph: Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters
“We are praying for the reforms to happen. We can’t let a minority on the left impose themselves on everyone else,” he said.
After a brief stint in opposition, Netanyahu was re-elected in November 2022 at the head of a coalition of ultra-Orthodox and extremist rightwing parties.
The new administration’s planned reforms will limit the powerful supreme court’s ability to overturn laws, and give politicians more control over judicial appointments. Critics have denounced it as a transparent power grab.
A February poll commissioned by the Jewish People Policy Institute found that while 84% of Israelis believe the judicial system is in need of change, only one in four support the government’s proposals in their current form.
Many of those opposed to the overhaul say the public was jaded by five elections in less than four years triggered by Netanyahu’s corruption trial, and that they did not wake up to the prospect of the far-right in government until it was too late.
“I have many leftwing friends, and they say they are scared. They think the reforms will amount to a dictatorship,” said a 67-year-old woman from the affluent Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan, who gave her name as Tzipi.
“There are some elements out there that think our votes don’t count. Israel is a very young country and I guess there is still a feeling that we are still in tribes of ashkenazi, mizrahi, religious, secular.
“At the end of the day we are one people. We unite in hours of trouble and war. We have to figure it out.”
Netanyahu was forced to announce a freeze to the judicial overhaul in late March, after wildcat protests and strikes in response to his decision to fire Yoav Gallant, his dissenting defence minister, almost completely shut down the country.
During the month-long Passover recess, Israel’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, has mediated negotiations between the government and the opposition in hopes of arriving at a compromise.
The Knesset is set to reconvene on Sunday, but it is still not clear how much, if any, progress has been made.
With budget deliberations pending and the question of how to deal with a spike in violence with the Palestinians and Lebanon on the government’s agenda, some supporters of the changes fear the legislation could be kicked into the long grass.
“The supreme court has been an issue for a long time, it is corrupt and biased and makes us [rightwingers] second-class citizens,” said Mikhael, a 19-year-old yeshiva student from the settlement of Eli.
“The left wing have the right to protest; I think they still support the country. But they are living in an illusion if they think they are the majority.”
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#Guntoting #prayerreciting #protesters #throng #Jerusalem #judicial #overhaul
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 28, 2023
Congress cools on post-SVB banking overhaul

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It’s a void that’s left lawmakers all over the place, with at least one key leader — House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry — signaling that he’s wary about making changes to the cap.
“We’ve gone from the overreaction to a period of time where we’re thinking it through,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in an interview.
The fading urgency around expanding government deposit insurance — one of the first potential policy prescriptions that emerged from the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — is evidence that Congress may let the latest episode of banking turmoil pass without revamping rules for the industry.
“There’s not been consensus,” Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown said in an interview.
Lawmakers turned to the issue immediately after SVB’s collapse, which was precipitated by a $42 billion run by depositors. SVB, which catered to tech startups and investors, at the end of last year reported that 88 percent of its deposits were uninsured, with Signature Bank — which failed shortly afterward — reporting that 90 percent of its deposits were above the limit.
The Treasury Department and financial regulators responded to the meltdown by backstopping all depositors at SVB and Signature. With fears of a broader bank run looming, a coalition of mid-size lenders urged the government to temporarily guarantee deposits at all banks — a step that administration and agency officials declined to take. The turmoil appeared to encourage some depositors to move their money from regional lenders to the largest banks.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have since floated competing ideas about temporary and permanent expansions of deposit insurance. The limit hasn’t been raised since the 2008 financial crisis, which also triggered a sweeping overhaul of bank regulations.
Deposit insurance policy “is not one that has simply divided Republicans versus Democrats,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in an interview.

Warren has floated a potential expansion of coverage, in particular for payroll accounts, but is against an unlimited backstop. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he’s working with Republicans on a bill that would temporarily insure all deposits used for payroll, regardless of size.
Warren argues Congress should step in now that bank customers may expect the government to guarantee their uninsured deposits in future bank failures.
“Every depositor now anticipates that they will also be covered even for deposits greater than $250,000,” she said. “That means we need to confront that directly in Congress and authorize the FDIC both to increase the insured level and to make sure those who are taking advantage of it pay for that insurance.”
Republicans appear to be split on the issue.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) was one of the first lawmakers to call for a temporary universal guarantee to fend off runs — an idea that the House Freedom Caucus has since come out against. Luetkemeyer said in an interview that he is mulling a bill that would give the FDIC “up to 60 days to be able to guarantee deposits all the way across the board.”
Other Republicans, like Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri and Warren Davidson of Ohio, have suggested instead finding ways to incorporate more private-sector options into the banking safety net, including through tax credits.
But McHenry, whose committee would be responsible for crafting an expansion of deposit insurance on the House side, has shown no indication that he’s embracing it and downplayed the prospects for post-SVB legislation.
In a late March appearance at an American Bankers Association conference, McHenry said lawmakers needed to better understand the trade-offs involved when it comes to moral hazard and bank consolidation before acting.
Another key Republican, FDIC Vice Chair Travis Hill, warned earlier this month that raising the cap could lead to more regulations on lenders.
“People should think about how these things actually work in the real world as they think about potential reforms,” he said.
Now, conservatives and progressive advocates are arguing that policymakers are best off steering clear of the issue. A separate, bipartisan push to restrict bank executive compensation and increase penalties for failures — a policy sought by President Joe Biden — is also on the table.
“Lawmakers should focus their attention elsewhere,” said Alex Thornton, senior director of financial regulation at the Center for American Progress. “It’s a complicated discussion, and it’s not a discussion policymakers should be focusing on right now, because it’s not going to address the root problem.”
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#Congress #cools #postSVB #banking #overhaul
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 26, 2023
MEPs approve plans for long-awaited overhaul to EU asylum system

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The European parliament has approved a series of proposals to overhaul the EU asylum system in a bid to end a years-long deadlock over the issue.
Voting in Strasbourg, MEPs approved plans on the distribution of refugees and migrants across the bloc, screening of people at the EU’s external borders and giving non-EU nationals long-term residence permits after three years of legal stay in a member state.
The votes open the way for MEPs to negotiate the final laws with EU ministers. All sides have pledged to aim for an agreement by April 2024 – before the European elections later that year.
After seven years of deadlock over the issue, lawmakers who will be involved in the negotiations suggested this could be the last chance to create a truly common European asylum system.
“If we miss this chance to make it right, I am very pessimistic about having any other chance to make it right and that will be an extremely, extremely disappointing, extremely sad, extremely counterproductive kind of a message,” Spanish Socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar told reporters before the vote.
Tomas Tobé, a Swedish centre-right MEP, said the EU was at a crossroad. “Either the political deadlock continues … or we will see the situation where member states will act independently and we will have more problems ahead of us.”
The crunch point is approaching as the EU grapples with the largest number of people seeking to come to Europe via irregular routes since 2016. The EU border agency Frontex reported 330,000 irregular crossings at the EU’s external borders in 2022, a 64% jump on the previous year and the highest since 2016.
After more than 1.2 million people fleeing war and persecution sought refuge in the union in 2015, triggering a political crisis for EU leaders, the European Commission proposed mandatory quotas of asylum seekers to be distributed around the bloc. But member states failed to back the idea. While Mediterranean states, such as Greece, Italy and Spain, insisted on mandatory relocation, central European countries, such as Hungary and Poland, refused to accept such a plan.

Under a new European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU executive revised its ideas in September 2020, proposing that member states opposed to mandatory relocation could instead take charge of returning people denied asylum in the EU to their country of origin. The EU typically returns about 29% of people denied asylum to their home country and is seeking to boost this number by striking deals with governments in the Middle East and Africa.
The European parliament argues that a country that refuses to take in asylum seekers during a crisis situation should be obliged to make financial contributions to frontline countries – an idea that was fiercely opposed and ultimately blocked by central Europe, led by Poland and Hungary’s nationalist governments, during the last round of failed talks.
With the support of the European parliament’s largest groups – the centre-right, centre-left and centrists – that proposal, along with the other negotiating positions, passed with comfortable majorities of about three-quarters of MEPs present on Thursday.
But EU member states have made little progress on the most controversial aspects of the draft laws, the shared management of asylum seekers during normal times and crisis situations. EU governments have, however, fixed a common position on tightening up screening on asylum seekers at the external border.
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MEPs have also called for tougher monitoring of human rights abuses at the EU’s frontiers, in response to numerous reports of illegal pushbacks and beatings.
At the same time, sea crossings are claiming more lives. The International Organization for Migration said last week that 441 people died trying to reach Europe via the central Mediterranean route between January to March 2023, the deadliest first quarter since 2017. With more than 20,000 people having died on this route alone since 2014, the UN agency said it feared these deaths have become “normalised”.
Stephanie Pope, an expert in EU asylum policy at Oxfam, said the votes were a significant step, but she was not hopeful of a better asylum system. “A lot of the proposals in the pact were pretty much a race to the bottom when it comes to the protection of human rights and the right to asylum and not much has changed in that regard,” she said.
“The key sticking point, and the root of a lot of the ongoing human rights violations against refugees we’ve seen for years now is the lack of an effective responsibility sharing mechanism between member states.
“Push backs and the violence we are seeing at borders are an unacceptable symptom of this failure to agree on responsibility sharing between member states.”
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#MEPs #approve #plans #longawaited #overhaul #asylum #system
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 20, 2023
Kevin McCarthy issued a statement in support of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid chaos in the country over a proposed judicial overhaul.

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Tensions have increased in recent days between the U.S. and Israeli governments.

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#Kevin #McCarthy #issued #statement #support #Israel #Prime #Minister #Benjamin #Netanyahu #chaos #country #proposed #judicial #overhaul
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 30, 2023
Israeli Prez urges immediate dialogue between PM, oppn over contentious judicial overhaul

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Jerusalem: Israeli President Isaac Herzog has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leaders to immediately engage in a dialogue, a day after the government suspended a contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Herzog’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that the first meeting with teams of representatives from the ruling coalition, Yair Lapid’s centrist party of Yesh Atid and Benny Gantz’s National Unity party will meet at the president’s residence in Jerusalem later in the day, reports Xinhua news agency.
Herzog said he would work “in broad cooperation for the benefit of forging as broad agreements as possible, with the aim of rescuing Israel from the deep crisis.” He urged both coalition and opposition “to show responsibility” and agree to compromise.
On Monday night, following a day of unprecedented strikes and protests that led to the shutdown of the airport and chaotic situations in some parts of the country, Netanyahu announced in a live televised address that he was suspending the legislation of the controversial plan until April 30.
Netanyahu said he has decided to suspend the legislation in order to “allow time to try and reach a broad agreement” on the reforms.
“In any case,” the legislation blitz will resume after the Knesset, or Parliament, reconvene after the Passover holiday break on April 30, he said.
The overhaul, proposed by the ruling coalition and aimed at curbing judicial power, has divided the country for weeks, with tens of thousands taking to the streets in demonstrations and blocking major highways across Israel and rallying outside the Knesset in Jerusalem.
On Monday, factories, banks, shopping malls and local authorities participated in the general strike and shut down services.

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#Israeli #Prez #urges #dialogue #oppn #contentious #judicial #overhaul
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 29, 2023
Israel Prez Isaac Herzog urges PM Netanyahu to halt judicial overhaul

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Jerusalem: Israel’s President Icon Monday appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately halt his controversial judicial overhaul, warning that the move has put the country’s security, economy and society under threat.
Herzog’s remarks came after Prime Minister Netanyahu sacked Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for opposing his judicial reforms, sparking widespread street protests.
The president also called on the government to put aside political considerations for the sake of the nation.
“Last night we witnessed very difficult scenes. I appeal to the Prime Minister, members of the Government, and members of the Coalition: there are harsh and painful feelings. The entire nation is rapt with deep worry,” Herzog said.
“Our security, economy, society all are under threat. The whole people of Israel are looking at you. The whole Jewish People are looking at you. The whole world is looking at you,” the ceremonial president in a statement.
“For the sake of the unity of the People of Israel, for the sake of the necessary responsibility, I call on you to halt the legislative process immediately,” he emphasised.
He urged all the leaders in power to place country’s citizens above all else.
“I appeal to the leaders of all Knesset factions, Coalition and Opposition alike, to place this country’s citizens above all else and to act with courage and responsibility without further delay. Wake up now! This is not a political moment; this is a moment for leadership and responsibility,” the president asserted.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Israel last night after Prime Minister Netanyahu fired Defence Minister Gallant after he said on Saturday evening that the judicial overhaul “poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state”.
Irked by the televised speech given by Gallant, the Prime Minister’s Office in a terse statement on Sunday evening said that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided, this evening (Sunday, 26 March 2023), to dismiss Defense Minister Yoav Gallant”.
The announcement led to spontaneous unprecedented outburst of anger against the prime minister.
An unconfirmed Channel 12 report said that 600,000-700,000 Israelis were demonstrating late on Sunday across the country, with protests reported from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Eilat in the south.
Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit large bonfires, while police scuffled with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in Jerusalem.
The unrest sparked by Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and the government’s efforts to cement political control over the appointment of judges has met with resistance not only in the streets of the country but also abroad with thousands of Jewish diaspora members protesting during Netanyahu’s visits to Italy, Germany and the UK.
The protests have alarmed business leaders, former security chiefs and drawn concern from Israel’s close allies, including the United States.
The country has also seen economic disruption with talk of “flight of capital” and hi-tech leaders and firms.
The head of the Histadrut labour federation was due to give a press conference later on Monday, amid growing calls for a strike following the firing of Gallant.
The Histadrut said that trade unionist Arnon Bar-David would give a “special” statement alongside business chiefs and union leaders, without detailing what he will announce.
Several Hebrew media reports said he was expected to declare a strike.
The National Student and Youth Council, representing high school and middle school students, declared a nationwide strike to start Monday morning.
The council has called for “halting the [overhaul] legislation and starting negotiations immediately”.
There were unconfirmed reports in the Hebrew media that Netanyahu is expected to make an announcement this morning. He has been holding meetings with political allies for most of the night.
There has been no formal confirmation on this.
As protests intensified accompanied by an unforeseen display of anger, some Likud ministers relented, beginning to show their willingness to compromise.
Culture Minister Micky Zohar, a Netanyahu confidant, said the party would support him if he decided to pause the judicial overhaul.
Protest organisers, mostly common people with no declared political affiliation, continued to push for further demonstrations on Monday.
Political analysts see the development as a “grassroots movement” beyond the control of any political formation. The opposition though has been fully supportive and participating in the protests.
Legislation, which many argue is aimed at establishing executive’s supremacy over judiciary, making it subservient to the government, is slated to come for the final readings this week in the Knesset.
With the government unrelenting and moving ahead with the “reforms”, the protests have also been peaking and the country seems somewhat paralysed.
Internal differences within Israeli society have also intensified recently with the country looking broadly divided in two large blocs over the question of judicial overhaul.
Though the current governing coalition has committed to several controversial legislation, the biggest debate revolves around its push to increase political control over the judiciary.
Three key proposals being discussed are a move to legislate an “override clause” by which the Knesset can reinstate any law invalidated by the Supreme Court, put judicial appointments under political control as opposed to the current hybrid political-professional-judicial appointments panel, and to split the role of the Attorney General as both the head of the state prosecution and the government’s legal adviser.
Analysts feel that the controversial steps proposed emanate from the desire to protect Netanyahu, who is facing trial in three different cases, but altogether it serves the interest of all those included in the coalition in some way addressing each party’s concerns.
Seen at the receiving end of international ire, including a rebuke from US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu has looked weak and perplexed but also hesitant to step back from the proposed “reforms” because of fear of backlash within his ruling Likud party.
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#Israel #Prez #Isaac #Herzog #urges #Netanyahu #halt #judicial #overhaul
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 27, 2023
Israeli Defense minister calls for halt to judicial overhaul

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The government’s plan to increase its control over the judiciary has sparked the largest protest movement in Israeli history and triggered a grave national crisis, including even warnings from the president of civil war.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets as they
have every week since the start of the year — in many cases bringing parts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to a standstill. It has also raised the hackles of Israel’s closest allies, testing its ties with the United States.
Police unleashed water cannons on masses of protesters who whistled and waved Israeli flags as they marched down Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. “Shame! Shame!” they chanted in Hebrew. As the protesters advanced, officers on horseback violently rammed into the crowds. “Haven’t the Jewish people suffered enough?” read one protester’s sign.
The judicial proposal has drawn intensifying criticism from across Israeli society — including from former prime ministers and defense officials, high-tech business leaders, Israel’s attorney general and American Jews.
In recent weeks, discontent over the overhaul has even surged from within Israel’s army — the country’s most popular and respected institution, which has historically been an apolitical unifier. A growing number of Israeli reservists have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks, posing a broad challenge to Netanyahu as he defiantly plows ahead with the judicial changes while on trial for corruption.
“The events taking place in Israeli society do not spare the Israel Defense Forces — from all sides, feelings of anger, pain and disappointment arise, with an intensity I have never encountered before,” Gallant said. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded.”
In security-minded Israel, the unrest has prompted concern about the Israeli military’s stability as it maintains its 55-year-old occupation of the West Bank and faces threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and from its archenemy Iran.
Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to heights unseen in years. On Saturday, a Palestinian shot and wounded two Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank town of Hawara, the site of a violent settler rampage last month.

“This is a clear, immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state,” he said, referring to the judicial plans. “I will not take part in this.”
Gallant stopped short of saying what, if anything, he would do if Netanyahu ignored his plea. But his strong statement of concern for the polarized nation marked the first crack in Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in Israeli history.
Despite mounting dissent, the government passed a key part of the overhaul on Thursday, approving legislation that would protect the Israeli leader from being deemed unfit to rule because of his trial and claims of a conflict of interest. Critics say the law is tailor-made for Netanyahu and encourages corruption.
That day, Gallant met with Netanyahu, reportedly to voice concerns that protests by Israeli reservists and other security forces were hurting Israel’s international image and power of deterrence. After the meeting, Netanyahu nonetheless announced that he would become directly involved in the overhaul, declaring his hands “untied.”
Israel’s attorney general issued a sharp rebuke on Friday, warning that Netanyahu had broken the law by announcing his direct involvement in the overhaul while facing criminal charges — a stern statement that raised the specter of a constitutional crisis.
Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he could find an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul his government is advancing.
Supporters of the judicial overhaul — which includes plans to increase the coalition’s control over judicial appointments and diminish the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down laws passed by Parliament — say it will restore power to elected legislators and make the courts less interventionist. Critics say the move upends Israel’s system of checks and balances and pushes it toward autocracy.
In spite of the backlash, Netanyahu has dismissed offers for a compromise, including from Israel’s mainly ceremonial president earlier this month.
“For the sake of our security, for the sake of our unity, it is our duty to return to the arena of dialogue,” Gallant said.
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#Israeli #Defense #minister #calls #halt #judicial #overhaul
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 26, 2023
Israeli protest against planned judicial overhaul for 11th week

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Tel Aviv: Thousands of Israeli protesters participated in nationwide demonstrations that continued for the 11th straight week against the government’s plans to shackle the judiciary, Times of Israel reported.
The protesters vowed to escalate the demonstrations if the coalition doesn’t halt its legislative proposals, which lawmakers are due to advance next week, declaring this coming Thursday a “national day of paralysis.”
This weekend’s protest came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers slapped down President Isaac Herzog’s proposal for an alternative judicial reform.
Herzog proposed the plans to allow a simple majority of 61 in the 120-seat Knesset to override almost any supreme court rulings and to allow politicians to appoint most of the justices to the bench.
The changes are spearheaded not by the prime minister but by his Likud colleague Yariv Levin, the justice minister, and the Religious Zionist MK Simcha Rothman, who chairs the Knesset’s law and justice committee, according to Times of Israel.
“Next week Israel’s government intends to pass the dictatorship and religious coercion law,” protest organizers said in a statement Saturday.
“Hundreds of people will line up against them like an iron wall and back the High Court and heads of the [judicial] system to stop the coup. Every citizen must come out and take a stand in these fateful moments of the State of Israel. Together, hundreds of thousands will save Israeli democracy,” they added.
Over 260,000 people demonstrated across the country, including 175,000 in Tel Aviv, 20,000 in Haifa, 4,000 in Netanya, 11,500 in Herzliya, 18,000 in Kfar Saba, and 6,000 in Beersheba, according to a count by company Crowd Solution cited by Channel 13 news.

Meanwhile, Jacob Frenkel, a former Bank of Israel chief who until recently chaired JP Morgan Chase International, warned that the coalition’s far-reaching plans for overhauling the judicial system are “destroying the Zionist enterprise from within.,” reported Times of Israel.
In a separate development, at least 4 Palestinians were killed and 23 others were wounded in Jenin on Thursday in the occupied West Bank region, CNN reported citing the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
The Health Ministry stated that five of those injured are in critical condition.
Israel’s second war of independence – The whole country is protesting on the streets opposing Netanyahu’s’judicial’ coup. pic.twitter.com/WjIL1834t1
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) March 18, 2023
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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#Israeli #protest #planned #judicial #overhaul #11th #week
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
Hyderabad: OU students demand overhaul of TSPSC, Rs 1 lakh compensation

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Hyderabad: Tensions broke out near the main library building of Osmania University (OU) as hundreds of students protested demanding the overhaul of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) over the paper leakage row.
The rally was conducted from the library building to the Arts college. Various student parties and unemployed youth demanded an investigation by a sitting judge of the Telangana High Court as well as a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each unemployed candidate of the TSPSC exams.
OU student Ramana shaved his head on the road to show his dissatisfaction with the cancellation of the Group 1 exam that was announced by the commission on Friday.
“The fact that the paper leakage gives one candidate undue advantage over another is in itself a violation of my Fundamental Rights,” said Pottepaka Sandeep, a Group 1 qualified candidate and political science research scholar.
He said that examinations conducted by state public commissions are prone to paper leakages due to the presence of political patronage.
Speaking to Siasat.com, state vice-president of Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU) Gaddam Shyam said that it is hard to believe the commission was not aware of the leak done by its own employee.
Holding the entire board responsible for the mishap, Shyam demanded the formation of a new commission.
The All India Students’ Federation (AISF) general secretary Nelli Satya spoke about the hardship a candidate goes through while preparing for the examinations.

“The government scrapped the Group 1 prelims exam conducted in December 2022 and conveniently decides to re-conduct in June. They are blissfully unaware of the mental stress a candidate goes through, the preparation time and months of hard work and dedication invested,” he said.
He said that chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao must respond and demanded an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016. “The government should compensate give Rs 1 lakh to all unemployed candidates,” Satya added.
On Saturday, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by former minister Eatala Rajender presented a letter to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan demanding CM KCR’s resignation.
However, students feel that with the onset of Assembly elections later this year, political parties are taking advantage.
“The opposition parties approaching the Governor to take action would only open a window for the Centre to culminate it into a political issue. We believe this is a state issue and should be dealt with by the state government. This threatens the federal spirit of the nation,” said OU student Sandeep.
Background
The TSPSC conducted the examination on March 5 for 833 vacancies for the post of Assistant Engineer, Municipal Assistant Engineer, Technical Officer, and Junior Technical Officer in various engineering departments. A total of 55,000 candidates had written the exam.
However, the Commission suspected leakage of the question paper and lodged a complaint with the police.
On March 13, police arrested nine people including two employees of the TSPSC.
Following the arrest of the accused the Commission cancelled the exam and also postponed other exams scheduled to be held later this month.
Amid doubts that the accused may have leaked question papers of some other exams, the Commission on Friday decided to cancel three other exams including Group I Prelims.
Nearly 2.86 lakh aspirants of Group I posts appeared in the Group-I exam conducted on October 16, 2022.
Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday said that the four Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exams cancelled due to a paper leak will be re-held without fee as the students have already paid for the cancelled exams.
Speaking to the media at BRBK Bhavan on Saturday he said that the government will ensure that all the coaching material for the four exams will be uploaded online. He said that the government will strengthen the study circles across the state and keep the study rooms open round the clock through the day.
(With excerpts from IANS)
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#Hyderabad #students #demand #overhaul #TSPSC #lakh #compensation
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 18, 2023
Scholz voices concern on Israel overhaul as Netanyahu visits

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Berlin: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced concern about the Israeli government’s planned overhaul of the country’s judicial system as he hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, offering praise for efforts by Israel’s president to seek a “broad basic consensus.”
Netanyahu met with German leaders in Berlin the day after Israeli President Isaac Herzog unveiled a compromise proposal for overhauling the legal system, an approach that Netanyahu rejected.
Lower-level German officials already had voiced concern about the Israeli government’s plan, which would allow parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions and give Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition the final say over all judicial appointments.
Germany is a close ally of Israel in Europe and has tended to refrain from strong public criticism of its government.
“As close friends of Israel with shared democratic values, we are following this debate very closely, and I cannot hide the fact that we’re following it with great concern,” Scholz said at a news conference alongside Netanyahu. “The independence of the judiciary is a precious democratic asset. We agree on that.”
“It is good and valuable that President Herzog talked to a large of actors in society in order to counter a further polarization of Israel,” Scholz said. “Allow me to add that I think this search for a broad basic consensus is right and important.”
Of Herzog’s suggestion, Scholz said: “As friends of Israel, we would like the last word not to have to have been spoken on this proposal.”
Netanyahu showed no sign of being swayed. “Israel was, is and will remain a liberal society,” he said.

The prime minister argued that appeals for discussions with the Israeli opposition were “met with complete refusal” and that “there is a desire to reach a moment of crisis, perhaps a governmental breakdown, a search for new elections.”
“If that continues, that’s regrettable, but we will do whatever we think is the right thing to achieve something that corrects the imbalance that exists today between the branches of government and yet, at the same time, could over time be accepted as the best solution for Israel in line with my principles of keeping Israel a liberal, balanced democracy,” Netanyahu said.
The leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, met Netanyahu himself earlier Thursday. Schuster said he voiced concern to the prime minister that “his government is increasingly dividing Israeli society and is squandering confidence in democratic Israel,” German news agency dpa reported.
Around 500 Israelis protested at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate, waving Israeli flags, singing and holding up banners against Netanyahu’s visit.
“He is destroying our democracy for the sake of staying out of jail,” Nasich Philip, a project manager in construction who moved to Berlin nine years ago, said. “He is sacrificing the whole country to protect himself and his family.”
Germany and Israel share concerns about Iran’s nuclear activities. Netanyahu has threatened military action against Iran’s nuclear program as it enriches uranium closer to weapons-grade levels.
Germany is one of the world powers that entered a 2015 deal with Tehran to address concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The agreement unraveled after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States.
“The Jewish state will do everything necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, period,” Netanyahu said, without giving details.
“Our hope is that we will ultimately succeed in preventing this with a diplomatic solution,” Scholz said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 16, 2023