Crackdown

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Revolution From Above

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What’s happening in Israel? = Nimrod Goren on the attack against the rule of law in= the country and the massive public response.

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Yoav Aziz

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A divisive political confl= ict has roiled Israel for weeks now, fo= llowing a government proposal to give the country’s legislature enorm= ous new powers over the judicial branch. In January, shortly after Prime Mi= nister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new Cabinet took power, the government pu= t forward a draft law that would make it far more difficult for the Supreme= Court to void legislation—and that would allow the ruling coalition = to appoint judges, now appointed by a committee of mostly unelected officia= ls. The bill would also enable the Knesset, Israel’s legislature, to = overrule any Supreme Court decision by a simple majority vote.
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The proposal triggered immediate a= nd fierce opposition. Right away, President Isaac Herzog asked Justice Mini= ster Yariv Levin, who’d drafted the bill, to reconsider it. Hundreds = of thousands of Israelis kicked off protests throughout the country, which = have continued for the past eight weeks. On March 1, police turned water ca= nnons on protesters and threw stun grenades at them in Tel Aviv. Even some = of the country’s staunchest international allies have spoken out agai= nst the proposal, with U.S. President Joe Biden emphasizing the fundamental= democratic importance of an independent judiciary and of finding consensus= for fundamental political changes.
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Netanyahu’s Cabinet says the= draft law would restore balance between unelected judges and elected offic= ials, while opponents say the law would destroy judicial independence and u= ndermine Israel’s democratic system. What's happening to Israel&#= 39;s political environment?
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Nimrod Goren = ;is a senior fellow for Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute and th= e president of Mitvim—the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Poli= cies. Goren sees the proposed law as formed by different agendas, a kind of= political storm induced from Netanyahu’s personal interests and his = coalition partners’ political interests. The government may have wron= gly anticipated the extent and intensity of the response, but the coalition= Netanyahu now depends on appears adamant about pushing the bill through. Y= et vast numbers in the Israeli public appear at least as adamant about resi= sting the law, through protests and other actions. The passage of the bill,= Goren says, would set democracy in the country back in ways that would be = difficult to undo; but the public’s reaction, meanwhile, is a remarka= ble counter that’s pressing democracy forward in ways that could have= their own lasting effects.

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Eve Valentine: Wh= at does the Israeli government want with this law?
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Nimrod Goren: Wha= t the government wants goes far beyond the law itself. The law is part of a= strategy. Similarly to laws passed in Hungary or Poland, it would effectiv= ely eliminate the judiciary’s independence. So the implications of th= e law go not just to the judiciary but to the very pillars of the Israeli d= emocratic system.
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Israel’s new governing coali= tion, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is the most hard-right government the coun= try has ever had. It has a number of key members who were broadly seen as i= llegitimate in our political system only a few years ago. Once they were el= ected, they began to voice intentions for various kinds of legislation that= go against the foundations of Israeli democracy. And the legal-reform bill= was part of that.
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A lot of the motivation behind thi= s bill comes quite evidently from Netanyahu’s personal status, as he = faces a major, ongoing corruption trial. So it’s not necessarily legi= slation that comes directly from his party’s policy priorities—= let alone from his party’s traditional interpretations of Israeli nat= ional interest. It comes principally from Netanyahu’s interpretation = of his own interests. And in that context, some of the country’s more= extreme political actors are supporting the bill as a means to advancing t= heir own ideological priorities.

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In this sense, the current state o= f Israeli democracy was taking shape before this new law was drafted, and i= t was drafted to alter the state of Israeli democracy.
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Valentine: How da= ngerous is it to democracy in Israel, then?

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Goren: Very fully= . There is some gap in the sense of urgency between most people in Israel a= nd many people abroad. People in Israel are going to the streets in enormou= s numbers, because they really feel a tremendous threat to the democratic i= ntegrity of the state. It’s extremely tangible—and visible&mdas= h;that it’s all happening at a very fast pace. The government may try= to advance this legislation even before Passover, which is in about a mont= h. So it’s happening quickly, and it would be very hard to go back fr= om. That’s why there’s such a sense of momentousness about it.<= br /> =09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09

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Out in the international community= , it may look different. Some say, Maybe it’s exaggerated; it&rsq= uo;s a process; it’s still in debate; let’s see what happens; l= et’s wait and see if it’s for real or not. So there&r= squo;s a real gap in how this legislation is being perceived in Israel and = abroad. For the vast majority of Israelis who support their country’s= democratic institutions, for the vast majority of Israelis who understand = their country to be essentially democratic in nature, this issue is somethi= ng that needs immediate attention and an immediate response—from them= and from any allies in the international community who are willing to pitc= h in.
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Valentine: What d= o you think the response within Israel says about the country’s polit= ical environment?
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Goren: Our societ= y has always been very active politically—something you can see in th= e consistently high voter turnout in Israeli elections over decades. But in= creasingly, many in Israel, across different political ideologies, feel the= y need to do something more—and that something more has been evolving= .
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It’s interesting to see how = this new protest movement came to life. It didn’t begin with the regu= lar weekend youth demonstrations you see today; it didn’t begin throu= gh organized institutions. It began with sporadic actions coming from the b= ottom up—from people within their own local communities, or professio= nal communities, speaking out against statements by ministers or top govern= ment officials who are calling for new forms of discrimination, who are exp= ressing support for curtailing women’s rights, who are advancing anti= -LGBT policies, and who are supporting this legislative effort to weaken th= e judiciary.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09So people began to protest aga= inst the new government in a very unorganized manner. And once that happene= d, the protests grew in momentum. They led many people to go into the stree= ts regularly. And increasingly, it’s now leading them to go beyond de= monstrations, to identify concrete actions they can take and have an impact= with. That’s meant high levels of involvement, high degrees of engag= ement, and more coordination across Israeli society.
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Now, it’s important to note,= this isn’t true in all parts of Israeli society to the same level. S= pecifically, you don’t see many from the Arab participation in this m= ovement. Which is not so surprising. In Arab-Israeli society, many feel tha= t their status has never been a good one, so for them, the erosion of democ= racy isn’t something new. But in the experience of the mainstream Isr= aeli population, it’s definitely a new occurrence—and an unprec= edented threat.

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Hanay

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More from Nimrod Goren at The = Signal:

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=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09“Traditionally, = the country’s business sector has for the most part bee= n very cautious about engaging in political controversies. … Many of= these are people who were previously making the case, on the grounds of Zi= onism, for staying within the Israeli banking system and investment system,= even if it wasn’t the most profitable thing to do. Now, you hear the= m saying not only that they don’t support the government’s new = initiative and the threat to Israeli democracy it represents; you hear them= saying that the entire picture is fundamentally risky for their business. = You see companies starting to pull their money out. And you see signs, alre= ady, that the younger generation will start looking for opportunities abroa= d.”
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=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09“I think Netanya= hu has wanted Israel’s regional normalization to g= o ahead as planned. That would be his agenda in its own right—plus, h= e would like to see as much quiet as possible on the international front, i= n order to maintain as much space as possible to insulate himself legally o= n the domestic front. … normalization is definitely slowing down. Of= course, it’s not happening primarily out of Arab countries’ co= ncern for the fate of Israeli democracy as such; it’s happening becau= se Israel’s democratic decline grants more power and authority to ext= remist ministers and coalition partners—who’re carrying out pro= vocations against the Palestinians and advancing policies that increase ten= sions and escalation.”

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=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09“The election result = that put this government into place was basically split: In Parlia= ment, there was a clear majority of seats for Netanyahu’s coalition. = But in the popular vote, about 50 percent of Israelis voted against it. And= many of those who did vote for Netanyahu didn’t know that this is wh= at they were voting for—as public-opinion polling being conducted now= bears out. In this context, Israelis from across the political spectrum, l= eft to right, are coming together and experiencing a shared sense of common= purpose. This is something that hasn’t really happened in the histor= y of Israeli politics. We’re usually very divided—secular versu= s religious, left versus right. But now in Jerusalem on a Saturday night, y= ou will see religious people and secular people, you will see right wing an= d left wing, all together, waving the Israeli flag. This is something very,= very powerful.”

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= Continue reading ...<= /a>

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