There is a lot of pain in the Jewish world right now. Not only have we seen a surge in Neo-Nazi and anti-Israel activity in the West but the Jewish state has also dealt with non-stop terrorism since the start of the new year. While usually, these are not issues that are out of the ordinary, what makes this time feel much worse is the internal chaos we are experiencing here in Israel.
This weekend marked the ninth consecutive week of protests against Israel’s proposed judicial reform. Reports say that these are some of the largest demonstrations Israel has seen in years, with people from all across the political spectrum participating.
Most level-headed people will agree that reform is necessary and political leaders from all parties have stated that Israel’s High Court of Justice holds too much power. Advocates of the proposed judicial reform have argued that no judiciary in the world has as much control over the government as Israel’s.
On that basis alone, there is something to be said about giving elected officials the authority to pass laws without many restrictions (while the public has little to no involvement in the selection of Supreme Court justices). However, the current proposed reform is the most extreme response to an existing problem.
What's wrong with Israel's judicial reform?
The most significant problem of the reform is the override clause, which would enable the Knesset to override a supreme court’s “nullification of a statute” with a simple majority (61 out of 120 votes). It is scary to think that the bare majority (whether made of a right-wing or left-wing coalition) would have the power to override the Supreme Court. Another significant issue is how the reform would change the selection process of the Supreme Court justices.
The proposed reform would give the ruling government the power to pick five out of nine selection committee members, giving the people in power the majority of control in appointing new Supreme Court justices. The details of this are complex because today’s committee has two members of the Israel Bar association. There has been past public discourse that the Bar association has no place in the committee and that the selection committee needs to be reflective of the public with new blood.
A THIRD major concern surrounding the reform is that it would no longer be able to make decisions based on reasonability. Natasha Kirtchuk from i24news gives two examples of how the High Court has put this into practice:
- In January, the High Court ruled that Netanyahu’s appointment of Arye Deri, head of the Shas party, as a minister was highly unreasonable due to his long criminal history and convictions of fraud and corruption. Without the Supreme Court making this decision, Deri would be serving as a minister in the Israeli government.
- In 2007, the High Court overturned Ehud Olmert’s government decision not to reinforce classrooms in Sderot against rocket attacks. The court decided it would be unreasonable to expect entire classrooms to be able to run to a bomb shelter and ordered that Sderot classrooms be reinforced.
Majority Rules, Minority Rights
A core part of any democracy is the concept of Majority Rules, Minority Rights. Healthy democracies keep the majority in check. We, as Jews, are all too familiar with this. When these principles begin failing in democratic countries, the results end poorly for us. The proposed changes remove many checks and balances on any ruling majority and therefore take Israel farther away from its democratic principles.
The reform represents the epicenter of all the discourse in the country that has reached beyond just those involved in politics. Tech companies and law firms have allowed their staff to attend protests, with the fear that the reform will damage the economy, as foreign investors will not want to do business with Israel. On Sunday, 37 out of 40 reservist members of an Israel Air Force fighter jet squadron stated they would not attend one of their planned training sessions in protest of the government’s plan to change the status quo of the country’s judiciary.
More than anything, what we are seeing unfold in Israel is because of terrible leadership. As an Israeli, I always felt like no matter what came our way, whether terrorism or outside threats, my government would always do everything to ensure my safety. I no longer feel that way.
The coalition and opposition have both failed Israel
The coalition has failed us by prioritizing power over the people and turning this country into an unstable society. It has put in power someone like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich whom 120 American Jewish have collectively refused to meet because of his terrible remarks against the LGBTQ community, Arabs, Palestinians and non-Orthodox Jews. It has created an environment where extremists from our community think they can take the law into their own hands and attack Palestinians in response to terror attacks.
THE OPPOSITION failed us by not sitting with the coalition to discuss and fight judicial reform. Instead of finding a compromise, the opposition seems to care only about taking the current government down. Opposition leader Yair Lapid had refused to negotiate with the coalition over the judicial reform and rejected Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s offer to meet at the President’s Residence. While we like seeing our politicians in the streets, we need them at the negotiating table.
With all this in mind, several things need to be made clear surrounding the conversations of reform: This is not a right-wing or left-wing issue (although both sides carry extremist voices within their circles). Israeli civilians and politicians on the Right and Left have participated in the protests.
The international community must respectfully stay in its lane. We are not Americans, Canadians or Europeans; our system differs from yours. Israel does not get involved with external government or judicial court issues so non-Israeli politicians and figures have no right to comment on what is happening here.
All the criticism of this reform and this government is not an excuse for the international community’s deafening silence on Palestinian terrorism.
In the past, anti-Israel activists have tried to push the notion that “Israel cannot be a Jewish and democratic state,” but look at how Israelis react when our democracy is on the line. These are the largest protests the country has seen in years, brought together by so many people from all walks of life and from across the political spectrum.
While the chaos surrounding this reform makes a lot of noise, it is inspiring to see the Jewish people genuinely living up to Zionism and ensuring that we do everything in our power to protect the integrity of our country.
The writer is a social media activist with over 10 years of experience working for Israeli, Jewish and cause-based NGOs. She is the co-founder and the COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm specializing in geopolitics.