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Impunity under state law is a good reason for having federal laws.

Victor Orban closed the university in Hungary started by Soros. Is that an anti-Semitic move or just reactionary? Orban also allowed China to set up a branch of Fudan University.

So perhaps mom can ask for a c-section at the point of viability. Then baby can get out of jail.

Citi sold their Thai retail operations to UOB last last year. https://www.citibank.co.th/en/personal-banking/online-services/faqs/

Citibank is closing retail branches as they switch to serving wealth customers in Asia. If you have an account here, you can send enough money for your entire visit, then withdraw at ATMs and avoid the 220 Baht charge

I have an Everyday Global account at HSBC Singapore. It has 12 currencies, but not Thai Baht. I used it in Japan - quite easy to withdraw at an ATM brand which is well distributed - no need to find an HSBC branch. I just topped up the Yen sub-account in Singapore as needed.

Obviously the fetus is an accessory.

About spelling, Americans like to use Z and Brits use S. Also the French use S.

Progressive students including Jewish ones are the people protesting Israel's apartheid. Have you heard of Jewish Voice for Peace? They are not advocating the end of Israel. They want Israel to respect international law and stop discrimination against Palestinians, and they support BDS. Concerning apartheid, consider the Wikipedia entry, in the section "International legal, political, and social uses of the term" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid "The South African experience has given rise to the term "apartheid" being used in a number of contexts other than the South African system of racial segregation. For example: The "crime of apartheid" is defined in international law, including in the 2007 law that created the International Criminal Court (ICC), which names it as a crime against humanity. Even before the creation of the ICC, the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of the United Nations, which came into force in 1976, enshrined into law the "crime of apartheid."[256] The term apartheid has been adopted by Palestinian rights advocates and by leading Israeli and other human rights organizations, referring to occupation in the West Bank, legal treatment of illegal settlements and the West Bank barrier.[257][258][259][260] Within the pre-1967 Israeli borders, Palestinian rights advocates have raised concern over discriminatory housing planning against Palestinian citizens of Israel, likening it to racial segregation.[261]" While the Jewish people were present in Palestine in antiquity, so were others. It's not that Arab Israelis want to participate in oppression of fellow Palestinians, but they would like to have access to some of the many benefits that are reserved to army veterans.

Very sensible, even if it takes time for the world to arrive at this conslusion.

When talking about Greater Israel, have a look at the map in this Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah If the West Bank and Golan is gobbled up, where will it end? Maybe someone else equated Israel with Putin's Russia, but I did not. However, due to the US Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a million Russian Jews emigrated to Israel. That's definitely changed Israel, maybe not for the good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson–Vanik_amendment (see Effects - Soviet Union) People outside Israel may be oblivious of the unequal treatment afforded Arab citizens of Israel. It's very difficult for them to get building permits even to enlarge homes for a growing family. The reason is that permits are not managed by their community, but by regional authorities. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/israel-discriminatory-land-policies-hem-palestinians https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-know-about-arab-citizens-israel Other discrimination keeps them from living in smaller Jewish towns. A progressive response: https://www.nif.org/stories/social-and-economic-justice/breakthrough-for-housing-rights-in-israeli-arab-towns/ As Palestinian Arabs (not including Druze) cannot serve in the army, they miss a lot of perks in education, etc, where service in the army is a prerequisite. Maybe this also applies to ultra Orthodox who choose not to serve in the army?? Israel's apartheid has its unique characteristics that distinguish it from the South African case, but how can Israel claim to be a democracy if the benefits are just for Jews? As for the BDS movement (boycott, divestment, sanctions) in the US, it and student organizations sympathethic to Palestinians are under attack by what is called lawfare. One pretext for forcing university administrations to ban activity on campuses is that Jewish students feel uncomfortable or threatened. As time goes on, this attempt to suppress political speech may be consistently rejected in the courts, as the premise of BDS gains currency and legitimacy in public discourse.

That's the most extreme version of Greater Israel.

With the help of Egypt, they turned Gaza into a prison.

The veto power has been so abused that it has rendered the UN useless in major conflicts, now with Ukraine. That's why the US and other countries have to institute sanctions independent of the UN. This will probably be the case for Israel as well.

You are right that the Palestinan issue and the two-state solution were not a campaign issue. The Israeli media tend to accept the police and army reports as true, i.e. that Palestinians killed were terrorists. After it came out that an old Palestinian lady hit by a bullet in her home was one of the body count, it would be "investigated". The example of how the high profile dealth of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was "investigated" by the army laid bare the quality of such investigations, as multiple independent international media exposed the truth Unfortunately for Israel, their local TV coverage thus tends to amplify the threat posed by ordinary Palestinians. After decades of media coverage of the occupation, this has driven public opinion ever further to the right. Outside Israel public consternation is slowly building against the occupation as settlements increase and the Israeli government passes increasingly oppressive laws violating international law. A proposed law would revoke Israeli citizenship of families of "terrorists". Current practice is to demolish their homes, a practice that amounts to collective punishment. Meanwhile, settlers are a daily threat to Palestinians, not to mention the increasingly frequent army raids. When the army stands around while setllers commit terrorist acts, what are the Palestinnian victims to do? There are significant protests in Israel these days about the Israeli government's plan to undermine the authority and independence of the Supreme court by giving the parliament, a/k/a Knesset the ability to override Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority vote. In addition, the appointment of jusdges would be made by the gevernment. The protestors are interested in how this would affect their rights, not how it could affect Palestinians who are really under threat by the proposed legislation mentioned above. In the end it will be widespread international recognition that Israel has become an apartheid state that will force Israelis to confront the truth and make a choice, just as South Africa did. It will not be surprising that the US will continue in denial to the last, just as happened in the South African case. The Arab states are mostly run by autocrats, some of whom live in fear of Iran, so they cooperate with Israel in this sphere. That does not extend to the dream of some people in Israel for a mass transfer of Palestinians to other Arab countries. The relationship advances of the Abraham Accords and previous non-public interactions could be set back if ultra Orthodox extremists commit especially serious crimes against the Islamic sites on the Temple Mount, for example. Maybe Israel needs better leaders, too.

Maybe they sampled Gaeng som from a "Thai" restaurant in Boston.... After checking the list, gaeng som is not longer there. At #12 is balut, an embyonic duck egg, to be eating from the shell! This list is ridiculous, anyway. Much aversion to various blood sausages, plus bland American icons such as Jello and Cheez Whiz. Australia is not ignored - two mentions of Vegemite.

Yes, Israel needs a constitution that protects the rights of all. Such a constitution can nonetheless contain inalterable provisions for Jewish languages and cultures as primary, while preserving the status quo for the Temple Mount, and protecting individual rights from oppression by zealots of the Three Abrahamic Faiths. I've asked several Jewish friends about the constitution question, and got no reply. After the present government, this may change. The "basic law" is becoming the "emperor's new clothes". In the end it will likely be pressure from the outside that will make the difference.

First of all, Crimea was part of Russia from 1783 until Khruschev incorporated it into Ukraine in 1954. The story is complicated. Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire until the First World War. At that time the British promised the Sharif of Mecca that, in return for revolt against the Ottomans, the Arab lands would be independent, including geographical Palestine. There was some contradiction with the 1917 Balfour Declaration promising Lord Rothschild the creation of a Jewish homeland. The reality for West Bank Palestinians is being harassed and killed by encroaching settlers. What would you do in their place? Israel's activity in the West Bank harks back to 19th Century colonialism with extraterritorial legal treatment for settlers.

That's what hard core Zionists would have us think.

In the end, can Israelis endure getting the South African treatment? Palestinian citizens of Israel are second class citizens, while Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are bordering on stateless, with hundreds of checkpoints and economic isolation. BDS is the progressive movement to end this: https://bdsmovement.net/ Netanyahu & Co have over the years created an atmosphere of siege, that compromise is an existential threat to the state. Meanwhile the Greater Israel project proceeds. With this new government, the world will clearly see that Israel is not a true democracy, and it's moral contradictions will be plain to see.

That might be OK if the settlers would follow Palestinian law and not have criminal intent.

The Palestinians were hoodwinked into the 1993 Oslo deal, which was supposed to be a two-state solution. In 2002 the Saudis seconded the two-state solution, but the US and Israel ignored them.

If it wants to be a democracy, Israel should have a constitution that assures equal rights to all. Aside from far-right US Evangelicals and ultra Orthodox, most Americans will eventually figure this out.

Don't forget about the 1994 massacre perpetrated by an American MD on Muslim worshippers in Hebron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Patriarchs_massacre

Since you mention the Peel Commission, this Wikipedia entry shows that it was not accepted by all Jews, either, and Ben-Gurion and Weizmann saw it "as a stepping stone to some further expansion and the eventual takeover of the whole of Palestine." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Commission Arab countries saw it as a betrayal of the promise of an independent Palestine. Furthermore, what really happened in 1948 when 750,000 Palestinians fled from a newly created Israel, came to light in the 1980s through the efforts of Benny Morris: https://www.akevot.org.il/en/article/intelligence-brief-from-1948-hidden-for-decades-indicates-jewish-fighters-actions-were-the-major-cause-of-arab-displacement-not-calls-from-arab-leadership/?full