Two weeks ago Benjamin Netanyahu became the first serving Israeli prime minister to go on trial. And yet, this is NOT the most important or interesting thing happening in Israel right now.

Netanyahu, 70, was indicted in November in cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favours for media tycoons in return for favourable coverage.
...
The hearing lasted an hour. The court excused Netanyahu from appearing in person at the next hearing, set for July 19. Israeli analysts say the trial could last months or even years.

Despite being obviously corrupt, Netanyahu's popularity is actually going up for very Trumpian reasons.

In the poll’s most amazing finding, 42% of respondents said they believed law enforcement authorities, part of a “deep state” system, were hounding an innocent, gifted, brilliant leader. Had the poll been confined to Jewish respondents, the results would have been even more astounding, likely indicating that a majority — albeit slim — of Jewish Israelis believes the State of Israel is framing a prime minister suspected of severe crimes.

But the really Big Happenings occurred in just the last few days. Over the weekend Israelis demonstrated against Netanyahu's plan to annex the Jordan Valley, an act that would be universally denounced by any nation not named Israel.

The protest was organised by left-wing groups and NGOs, and did not appear to have the support of the wider population.

Around half of Israelis support annexation, according to a recent opinion poll.

Unfortunately the left in Israel has no political power and barely even exists. Much like in the U.S.
This demonstration showed this tragedy again. So it appeared that the annexation was going through, and would have even more tragic consequences.

Palestine will declare statehood over all of the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital, and push for global recognition if Israel goes ahead with plans to annex land it occupies, the Palestinian prime minister has said... In May, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, announced that all previous agreements signed with the US and Israel, including security cooperation, were void.

The Oslo Agreement was a dead letter for decades anyway, but these actions would force Israel to crush the PA once and for all, and that would have legal and political ramifications. The phony pretense of a peace process would finally have to be acknowledged.

Then the Israeli Supreme Court threw a monkey wrench into the process.

Israel’s highest court on Tuesday struck down a contentious law that sought to retroactively legalize thousands of West Bank settlement homes built unlawfully on private Palestinian land.

Israel’s parliament passed the law in February 2017, but it was frozen by the Supreme Court shortly thereafter while it heard petitions against it.

The court’s decision was criticized by the ruling pro-settlement Likud party, but welcomed by its coalition partners in the Blue and White party, exposing a rift in the fragile new government.

Finally, yesterday the International Criminal Court Prosecutor gave the final go-ahead for a war crimes investigation against Israel.