 How's it going, friends and subscribers? Welcome back to my YouTube channel. This is Daniel Rosel and this is a YouTube channel where you can find content about everything to do with living in Jerusalem and Israel. And today we're sticking with the theme of the day here in Israel, which is politics and the ongoing crisis in Israel surrounding the democratic reform proposals. Today I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across the following tweet from Jacob Cornblue, who's a senior political reporter at The Forward, a prominent Jewish publication in the US. The tweet caught my attention because it referenced an open letter sent by MK Dan Eluz to members of Congress. Dan Eluz is a new member of Israel's parliament who delivered his first speech only last month. He's originally from Quebec in Canada and represents the Likud party. I've met Dan once or twice, which is why the tweet caught my eye. He seems like a nice guy although because of his background he's also been billed as representing the interests of fellow immigrants to Israel like me. Thus the tweet and the letter felt oddly personal as if I was being unwittingly represented. So I thought I'd put together a video with my thoughts about it. This isn't intended as a rant but rather as a heartfelt plea for better and more sensitive communication from those who hold themselves out as representatives of Israel and its citizens because that collective includes me. And personally communications like these are not the way I want to be presented to the rest of the world. The letter references comments made by US President Biden yesterday. Asked what he thought about the ongoing judicial reform protests in Israel, Biden responded. Hopefully the Prime Minister will act in a way that he's going to try to work out some genuinely compromise. In reaction to those comments, Iluz decided to write not only a letter to all members of Congress but to also pen an open letter to the entire world which is now circulating on Twitter. Unfortunately the letter could have used a few proofreads but it's more its contents that I find troubling. Let me state here exactly what my bias is. Unlike Iluz and like the majority of Israeli citizens, I'm broadly against the judicial reform proposals. But more than that I'm concerned by the fact that Israel seems to be losing its limited remaining pockets of international support and alienating key allies like the United States. In fact there are times when it feels like Israel or at least its spokespeople are going out of their way to piss people off. The US-Israel relationship is important but diplomacy and tact I believe are always called for, which is why you could say that I have a lot of grievances about both the tone and contents of this communication. Iluz begins his letter to Congress pretty abruptly by stating, I am writing to you following the statements made by President Biden regarding the state of Israel. He then jumps straight into a pretty tough allegation using Israeli politicians time favorite analogy of a red line. He states, at this time I feel that the statement given yesterday crossed a red line in the relationship between our two great countries. Here's my first recommendation for Dan Iluz. Many years ago a guy by the name of Aristotle decided that the ability of a speaker to convince an audience of an argument could be boiled down to three constituent parts. Isas meaning the speaker's ability to convince the audience of his importance and credibility when discussing an issue. Pathos which means roughly the speaker's ability to show an understanding for the sensitivities and needs of the audience. And finally Logos which is the content of the argument itself. This rhetorical triangle has been studied and used by speech writers ever since. It's referenced frequently by Simon Lancaster whose expert guide to speech writing I highly recommend for anybody else who occasionally gets paid to write speeches for people. In fact, every time I write a speech or proof read one I try to keep this three part breakdown in mind. After throwing in the red line allegation in paragraph two, Iluz continues on the attack stating, friends do not act like this towards each other. We do not intervene in each other's actions. The accusations made by President Biden were a blatant intervention in Israel's democratic process. At this point in the open letter I'm seeing a number of glaring problems. Firstly, Iluz, a rookie parliamentarian who delivered his first speech only a month ago, is writing to congressmen and congresswomen and has chosen right off the bat to attack their president, the president of the United States. Relative to the enormous clout of the US, Israel is let's face it kind of a minnow. Iluz's tone is angry and scolding and makes no effort to either establish rapport with the recipients or establish the speaker's credibility. Remember again that three part breakdown which Aristotle famously promoted. Three paragraphs later, the letter continues by urging its recipients to please use all the tools at your disposal to ensure that these types of problematic statements do not happen again. I see here a problem of Logos or the soundness of the argument being advanced. Iluz is requesting that his recipients intervene to effectively muzzle the presidents of the United States. The problem is that this is not an action which the recipients are empowered to take. It also strikes me as urging recipients to interfere in the domestic politics of the US which is exactly what MK Iluz is writing to complain about. The letter lashes out at the red line stuff again before attempting a little bit of politeness and flattery in the closing paragraph. I write to you in the utmost respect and I am more than glad to offer you a thorough briefing on the events taking place in Israel. The problem is that the tone and demands presented in the letter up to now have shown no respect so trying to claw back some good feelings in the last paragraph is like trying to save a sinking ship by filling up a bucket of water and pouring it back into the ocean. Sorry that's the best analogy I could come up with. Israel is currently going through trying and important times. It's not an exaggeration to say that the entire world is watching developments here. I believe that at times like these it's critical to treat our allies with respect. And whether you agree with the grievance that President Biden's remarks constituted interference in Israel's domestic politics I think that the letter sent today by Danny Iluz showed none of that. His words do not represent my views or those of countless others. Thanks for hearing me out and if you want to get more videos about Israel and Jerusalem which will occasionally touch on politics and my hot takes about it consider liking this video and subscribing. Until next time.