In Israel, the saying goes, there are four seasons: election, war, strike, and summer. These bleak, blazing days in the country are a result of the first. Last year, elections brought to power the most extremist government in its history. Israel has no written constitution, but until last week the authority of the government and the Prime Minister was limited by the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn decisions and appointments that it deemed “extremely unreasonable.” Now the Knesset, with its right-wing majority, has passed a law eliminating this power, and legal experts warn that a rise in cronyism and corruption is likely. As Mordechai Kremnitzer, a scholar of constitutional law, wrote in the liberal newspaper Haaretz, “Limiting the judicial review will encourage the government to make unacceptable decisions, both in Israel proper and in the occupied territories.”
The new law can hardly be seen in isolation. It is just the first fissure in an already fragile edifice. The measure is part of a planned legislative package aimed at transforming Israel from a liberal democracy—for its citizens, but not, crucially, for the roughly 2.5 million Palestinians under military occupation in the West Bank—into a hollow democracy, with only the veneer of competitive elections, a free press, and independent courts. Right-wing legislators seek to change the makeup of the committee that selects judges, diminish the role of Israel’s Attorney General, and allow government ministers to act against the advice of legal counsels. They also intend to enshrine the exemption of the ultra-Orthodox from serving in the military.
The divisions in Israeli society have never been more distinct or alarming. The ultra-Orthodox, settlers in the West Bank, and other hard-right factions represent between fifteen and thirty per cent of the public, but in the current political battle their interests have so far taken precedence over those of every other sector of society. Leaders of industry and of the security establishment are among the protesters in the streets. So are many religious citizens and people who hardly consider themselves left-wing. Last week, a hundred and fifty of the country’s biggest firms, along with almost all the country’s doctors, went on strike. For the first time in Israel’s history, there is even a risk to its military preparedness: thousands of reservists, including hundreds of pilots, have signed letters saying that they may suspend their volunteer duty.
In the days leading up to the Knesset’s vote, the few relatively moderate voices remaining in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition tried to assure the public—and the troubled markets—that the legislative effort would end after the elimination of the “unreasonableness” standard. Their assurances were belied by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the extremist minister of national security, who tweeted, “The salad bar is open.” In other words, his faction is just beginning to reveal its appetites. Netanyahu himself attempted to frame the passage of the law as a technical matter, describing it, in an interview with ABC News, as a “minor correction.” But, if it is indeed trivial, why bring Israel to the brink of civil war? The fact is that the Prime Minister is on trial for corruption, facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, all of which he denies. Critics argue that there is a direct line between his legal woes and the package of bills, particularly those which would curb the powers of Israel’s already beleaguered Attorney General.
Seven months of unrelenting protests failed to quash the judicial overhaul. But they have awakened Israel’s liberal camp, giving it a sense of purpose. Tens of thousands of Israelis marched on Jerusalem last week, and slept in tents outside parliament. In Tel Aviv, protesters faced off against an increasingly violent police force that charged at them on horseback. The leaders of the protest movement have announced that they are expanding their fight to include “financial strikes” and the provision of security for the gatekeepers of civil society.
The protesters have exhibited remarkable perseverance and creativity. A key question now is whether their energy can translate into political action. The centrist opposition parties of Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz appear to have benefitted electorally from the events of the past few months. The Knesset has a total of a hundred and twenty seats; Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc holds sixty-four of them. If elections were held today, a poll released by Channel 12 found, the right would lose at least ten seats, and thus its majority.
The center-left in Israel has spent the past two decades on the defensive. That is no longer an option. Faced with a coalition of cynical populists and conservative extremists bent on turning Israel into a Jewish theocracy, the liberal camp will have to present its own vision of the country. Part of the liberals’ battle will be to reclaim the public sphere: to insure gender and minority rights, an education system that promotes secular and humanist values, and a more equitable distribution of employment, taxes, and conscription.
The day after parliament removed the standard of unreasonableness, lawmakers from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party put forth a bill concerning the Haredi military exemption. It says that “the State of Israel, as a Jewish state, sees the utmost importance in encouraging the study of the Torah and Torah students.” Israel is one of just a few countries in the world with mandatory military duty for men and women (by law, if not by practice). Yet this bill seeks to place yeshiva study on equal terms with military service. Politicians from Netanyahu’s Likud Party admitted that the timing of the bill was, as one put it, “miserable.” But it couldn’t have come as a surprise. The bill, and others like it, are spelled out in agreements between Netanyahu and his coalition partners. These politicians are simply cashing in.
The “Basic Law: Torah Study” bill may soon land on the desks of Knesset members. Given the power that the hard right wields in Netanyahu’s coalition, it could pass. If civil groups then petition to challenge the bill, as they are likely to do, it will wind its way to the Supreme Court. Israel’s justices will be helpless to strike it down for what it is: extremely unreasonable.
This week, Israel’s parliament begins its summer recess, and the flames will lower, but only for a while. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the unreasonableness law and could overturn it, throwing the country into deeper chaos. The judicial overhaul is expected to continue in October. Up next, the coalition has announced, will be the proposal to change the committee that selects judges. ♦
