MARCH MADNESS
Rather than heralding the ‘end of democracy,’ Israel’s mass protests are proof that the system is working
IS Israel’s democracy in danger? You betcha, but if you think the bad guy is Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, think again.
Usually, making sense of complex judicial reforms at the center of any nation's political fury takes time, patience and a law degree. But in the case of Israel right now, it’s all very simple: The country’s courts currently enjoy an unprecedented degree of power and influence. And last November, Israeli voters overwhelmingly opted to tamper down on what they rightly saw as not enough checks and balances.
How unfettered are the courts? Israel’s 12 Supreme Court justices, for example, have the privilege of approving or denying the appointment of judges, which means that unless you play nice with this dainty dozen, ambitious legal types can have a hard time seeing bench time. And because Israel has no constitution, the courts also sometimes strike down laws they don’t like, even absent a clear legal reason to do so.
Only recently, Israel’s Supremes ruled that the head of the country’s fifth largest political party, Aryeh Deri, may not serve as Health and Interior Minister despite having broken no law specifically prohibiting him from doing so. Why? The appointment, they wrote, was unreasonable owing to Deri’s previous conviction for tax fraud. Perhaps, but by deciding as it did the court was making law— not enforcing it. Such subtleties, Israel’s judiciary apparently believes, are no matter for the unwashed masses to worry about.
And so, to no one’s surprise, those same masses revolted, and voted for the guy who ran on a ticket of hope and change. What changes did Bibi promise his base? Basically, to allow elected officials to appoint judges. You know, like we do here in the US. To which, with perfect comedic timing, the Israeli left responded with accusations of fascism, mass demonstrations, threats of bankrupting the economy, and other measures more suited to hangry toddlers than responsible adult citizens.
Even the country’s centrist and beloved president, Isaac Herzog, couldn’t keep the arsonists from burning down the house: No sooner had the president proposed a compromise in the form of watered down legislation than Yair Lapid, the former Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, turned it down, saying that his was an all or nothing fight.
Let’s recap: One hundred thousand or so people, most of whom affluent folks from around Tel Aviv, decide they don’t like the government their deplorable countrymen had elected. They denounced said government’s perfectly plausible reforms as the second coming of Mussolini, and instead of presenting concrete counter-arguments, took to the streets to shout slogans and issue threats.
Tel Aviv’s progressive mayor, Ron Huldai said ominously that should the issue of judicial appointees not be resolved, blood will be spilled. All middleroads are rejected. All opponents are denounced as beyond the pale fascists who are a clear and present danger to “democracy,” whatever that may mean. Sounds familiar? The most tragic thing, perhaps, about Israel’s current round of lefty hysterics is that it was imported wholesale from America; all the protestors had to do was translate “Never Trump” into “Never Bibi” and presto, they had a fullblown local version of American wokeism. Everyone who disagrees with us is Hitler? Check. Give us all the political power or else women, gays, and other minorities — who, in real life, are quite safe — will face pogroms? Check.
Refuse to acknowledge the possibility of any viable alternative point of view? Check, check, and check. Never mind that a lot of Israelis actually support the government’s decisions regarding Supreme Court reform.
So should you be worried for Israel’s democracy? Yes and no.
On the one hand, the people you see protesting are the privileged and the powerful. They run most of Israel’s institutions and corporations, and they’ve already begun punishing their peers by moving their money offshore: Israeli media recently reported that an estimated $4 billion have already been transferred from Israeli bank accounts to financial institutions abroad in just the past three weeks.
This won’t hurt the rich, but it could devastate the poor, an overwhelming majority of whom support Bibi. Israel — which has endured five general elections in the last four years — is now looking at even more political and economic upheaval, this time at the hands of its most influential citizens.
But these influencers aren’t dumb. They know they’re the minority, which is why they’re clinging so bitterly to the uncontested power they enjoy courtesy of their affluence and that unchecked judiciary. They realize that while they may benefit from an Israel that’s progressive, westernized, and cosmopolitan, the lion’s share of their neighbors want a Jewish nation that is . . . well . . . Jewish. For most Israelis, religion and nationalism aren’t threats; they’re promises of a better future, one in which their values are actually represented by branches of government, without curtailing civil liberties and rights.
If history teaches us anything, it’s that a small and smarmy minority, no matter how shrill and self-entitled, can’t lord it over their neighbors for very long. Let the preening protestors do what they do best: block traffic, shout slogans and issue threats. And let the responsible grown-ups do what they do best: Work and pay taxes, raise children and worship God, and trust that democracy — like freedom and faith — won’t die as long as there are enough good men and women to defend it by example.