San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Far-right initiatives raise alarm in Israel
JERUSALEM — As Israel’s prime minister designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, prepares to swear in his new hard-line government and return to office, his deals to cement the support of far-right coalition partners are raising widespread concerns about the country’s future as a liberal democracy.
The emerging coalition will be the most hard-right and religious administration in Israel’s history, made up of Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party and another five far-right and ultra-Orthodox factions. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister who was ousted 18 months ago, is on trial for corruption and has grown ever more dependent on these hard-line allies because the more liberal parties refuse to sit in a government led by a premier under criminal indictment.
That dependency, critics say, has weakened him in the coalition negotiations, forcing him to go along with at least some of the demands for farreaching changes that would limit the powers of the judiciary and curb the independence of the police.
Netanyahu’s hard-line allies need him just as much as he needs them; they, too, have no alternative path to power. But their fundamental lack of trust in Netanyahu, who has a record of breaking promises to coalition partners, led them to insist on a rush of legislation to anchor their new roles in law, with potentially damaging consequences for the democratic system.
“What we see in the legislation preceding the formation of the government is a change in the rules of the game of Israeli democracy,” said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The outgoing prime minister, Yair Lapid, a centrist, described the incoming government Thursday as “dangerous, extremist, irresponsible.”
The legislative rush and drafts of coalition agreements include proposals that would allow parliament to override Supreme Court decisions and would give more weight to politicians in the selection of judges.
Legal amendments would greatly expand the powers of the incoming minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police. BenGvir is the leader of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party and the main advocate of the bill, which would give him the authority to set policy for the police, something critics say will allow him to politicize the force’s operations.
He was convicted in the past on charges of inciting racism and of support for a terrorist group, and ran in the election on a bullish ticket of fighting organized crime and increasing governance, particularly in areas heavily populated by members of Israel’s Arab minority.
Another amendment will allow Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism party, to serve as a second minister in the hallowed Ministry of Defense. Smotrich, whose party ultimately seeks to annex the occupied West Bank, has been promised authority over the agencies dealing with Jewish settlements and Palestinian and Israeli civilian life in the occupied West Bank, in consultation with the prime minister.
A third change will allow Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, to serve as a minister despite a recent conviction and a suspended prison sentence for tax fraud. That amendment, analysts say, could end up applying to Netanyahu should he ultimately be convicted or reach a plea deal including a suspended sentence.
Netanyahu denies all wrongdoing and says the cases against him will collapse in court.