105: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs' Dan Diker: Africa seeks Israeli defense, judicial reform

Israel's judicial reform row is proving an awful spectacle for the watching world.

I wanted to find voices of moderation and considered opinion - and in particular, within the ruling Likud Party: is there anyone willing to stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu over the division this is causing?

As a diaspora Jew, I look on in dismay at the threat to unity of the Jewish people.

Just as bad has been some Jews in the diaspora publicly dissociating themselves with the Jewish State. Never. Not in this podcast.

I’m not saying for a moment the judiciary doesn't need reform.

It's just the way this is unfolding which is causing such upset. Benjamin Netanyahu's government are trying to force legislation "down the throat of half of the population", according to Israel's former ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon.

And my guest today calls the Netanyahu government’s attempt at change a “sledge hammer” in what he calls an “I’ll show you” kind of political culture.

It’s the new CEO of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dan Diker. Alongside, Dan, Ambassador Ayalon also appears in this episode, a Likud grandee confronting this issue.

There's also comment from Jerusalem's deputy mayor, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum.

We also talk about the long-awaited arrival of Sudan to the Abraham Accords table and the sudden opportunities for defence and security from Africa plus the "untenable" violence from the Palestinians against everyday Israelis.

Then there's a definition of Jeremy Corbyn's version of political antisemitism and in the shifting sands of Middle Eastern diplomacy, what on earth has happened to Oman, who seem to have fallen under the spell of Iran's mullahs.

LISTEN to this fascinating, passionate, eyewitness conversation with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs' new president, Dan Diker.

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