Rusty

Israel was on the brink of an actual civil war and the country was dangerously divided in the months before October 7. Netanyahu’s government pushed a controversial judicial reform that would have weakened the Supreme Court’s power, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested for months, sometimes over 200,000 at a time. The rhetoric got really heated. Former President Reuven Rivlin warned Netanyahu to “save these people from a potential civil war.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called the rift a “clear and immediate threat to Israel’s security.” Even Netanyahu himself paused the reforms at one point, saying he wanted to avoid civil war. The most serious part was thousands of military reservists, including fighter pilots, threatening to stop showing up for volunteer duty. That hit the IDF’s readiness hard, and security officials warned that enemies like Iran and Hezbollah were watching Israel’s divisions closely, seeing weakness. The October 7 attack basically froze the whole crisis overnight. People set aside the internal fight to deal with the external one. It was a very dark, polarized time inside Israel right up until that morning.

The Dawn of Don has ended. Don Rea has been transitioned out of his role as President of the PGA of America with six months remaining on his term. Nathan Charnes will now step into the role of Acting President.