While the U.S. Supreme Court is in the throes of partisan and personal corruption not just concerning Clarence Thomas but also Samuel Alito, in Israel the extreme-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to neuter the country’s judicial system in a way that many charge is leading the country to a virtual dictatorship. It’s not that Netanyahu hasn’t “tried” in the past to achieve "peace" with the Palestinians within the confines of democracy; for whatever reason (international pressure), Netanyahu met with Yasser Arafat in 1996 to discuss “peace,” but perhaps predictably talks went nowhere, with Arafat asking for “too much.”
Today, while the tiny Gaza Strip remains a Wild West of violence that Israelis tend to avoid, the West Bank is de facto Israeli territory, with settlers slowly encroaching bit-by-bit on supposed “semi-autonomous” Palestinian territory, small as it is. This settling has of course upset the “natives,” but obviously Netanyahu has no interest in “talk” anymore. Outside of Iran and Syria who wish to continue instability in the region by funding terrorism, people have become tired of the whole thing, which 75 years of missed opportunities for peace (mostly on the Palestinian side) tends to engender.
While there are still some in Israel who desire some kind of peaceful coexistence with the Palestinian and do the “right thing,” most of the population simply does not believe such a thing is possible, that the sand ran out in that hour glass long ago, and there seems no point in turning it over again. “Security” is the overriding issue now, but at what cost?
In 2015 Gideon Levy wrote in the HAARETZ that government policy had been co-opted by the far-right ultranationalists. Like all such ideologies, it "bases its power on incitement to hatred" using "folkloric religion,” and seemingly has reached its apogee today in Israel as the current far-right government of Netanyahu seeks to end the “reasonableness” standard which enables judicial overview of extremist policies that endanger civil society, resulting in the current street protests in Israel by those who see new laws weakening court overview of government as leading to de facto dictatorship.
The far-right extremists are, unlike pro-democracy “liberals,” not divided by squabbling, but rather united behind elemental emotions like hate, fear and paranoia. As Levy asserted, the far-right is willing to meet violence with violence, even to precipitate it. They didn’t “rule out” any means, and basically gaslight the rest of society with “guilt” over how previous governments were unable to bring “peace.” Levy noted that
They did so systematically and smartly: First they established the foundation of their existence, the settlement enterprise. After they achieved their goal– the killing off of any diplomatic agreement and destruction of the two-state solution– they were free to turn to their next target: taking control of the public debate in Israel on the road to changing its power structure, character and substance.
Now controlled by a slim majority of ultranationalists and religious fanatics, the Knesset seems poised to do a Reichstag act, simply voting away democracy and being a rubber stamp for an authoritarian regime, much as Republicans wanted to do when they had the majorities when Trump was in office (with the insane rhetoric of some of their number figuratively burning the Capitol Building down).
The AP reports that proposed changes to judicial oversight in the coming days will give
Netanyahu’s allies control over the appointment of judges and the power to overturn court decisions they do not support. His opponents say the plan will destroy the country’s fragile system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies. They also say that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest because he is on trial for corruption charges. Wide swaths of Israeli society, including reserve military officers, business leaders, LGBT and other minority groups, have joined the protests.
One law (since passed) will
prevent Israel’s courts from scrutinizing the ‘reasonableness’ of decisions made by elected officials. The legislature could hold a preliminary vote on the bill as early as Monday. The ‘reasonability standard’ was used by the Supreme Court earlier this year to strike down the appointment of a Netanyahu ally as interior minister because of a past conviction for bribery and a 2021 plea deal for tax evasion. Critics say removing that standard would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions and grant it too much power.
For those who think Trump shouldn’t even be running for president again with all the criminal charges hanging over his head, Netanyahu—who seemingly has been around “forever”—was the subject of an investigation for corruption and bribery back in 2016, and police decided there was enough evidence to prosecute him in 2019. But apparently “justice” moves slowly for certain people, and it is reported that the number of prosecution witnesses has been whittled down to “only” 60 in order not to waste the court’s “time,” with nothing of substance that would affect Netanyahu's position expected to happen until 2024.
Meanwhile, The Times of Israel reported that like in the U.S., the Pandora’s Box has been kicked open and its contents escaping to create hate and ignorance. It can come from anywhere; here in the U.S. it is being reported that a black female Democratic Georgia state legislator, Rep. Mesha Mainor, has switched parties because, among other things, she is an anti-Hispanic immigrant fanatic (to people like her, all Hispanics in Georgia are “illegal”). In Israel, the “pre-eminent far-right, ultra-nationalist member of the Knesset, Itamar Ben Gvir, a man convicted in the past of incitement to racial hatred and who, until recently, had a picture of a mass-murderer hanging in his living room,” is one of the most popular politicians in the country.
The Times notes that “Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party — the name translates to Jewish Power — is the ideological successor of the far-right and racist Kach party which was founded and led by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated in 1988 in New York. Kach advocated the removal of Arab citizens from the country and the establishment of a theocracy. It and its immediate splinter Kahane Chai were both blacklisted by Israel in 1994, after follower Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians at prayer in the Cave of the Patriarchs.”
While Ben Gvir “insists that Otzma no longer advocates for the kind of racist and segregationist policies of Kach,” his own followers are not “fooled” by this lie. Ben Gvir admits that his “party identifies with Kach’s ideology and Otzma presents itself unabashedly as an ultra-nationalist, Jewish supremacist political outfit.” Not surprisingly, the “plan” to “overhaul” the courts hopes to allow right-wing extremists like senior party member Baruch Marzel to run for office after having been banned from office for inciting racism; he apparently believes “a majority” of Arab Israelis are enemies, although maybe “not all of them.” The fact that Ben Gvir is considered more “moderate” than others in his party merely highlights its level of extremism.
It’s easy to see from images of protesters…
…that most are derived from the “European” stock who have a more unconditional support for democracy. Those who seem more willing to accept dictatorship as the “price” for “safety” are what The Times notes are “Mizrahi Jews, of Middle Eastern or North African descent,” who “skew in very general terms to the right of the political spectrum and some are likely attracted to chauvinistic nationalism (and religious fundamentalism), especially younger voters disillusioned with the status quo.”
For now, the “left” in Israel seeks a “one-state” solution where everyone, including Palestinians, are equal citizens, although it isn’t clear that is what Palestinians on the West Bank want. According to the German news source DW, liberal views in Israel have limited support:
Israel today focuses too much on security to the neglect of other important issues such as education or the high cost of living. "We are always busy dealing with security; feeling like the victim in this big thing that is the Middle East," said (activist Roni) Amir. The current atmosphere also weighs on their mind. "Even being an activist, trying to help the Palestinian people, you are treated as a traitor of your country," said Roni. "Instead of saying we are doing something good to help others."
On the other side there is people like Naor Meningher, who is “disappointed” with the protests:
"We just had an election four months ago. The results are undeniable. It's a government that enjoys a very clear mandate from the people to act," said the 34-year-old podcaster and social commentator, who lives in Tel Aviv. The most pressing issue for his generation, he said, is to abolish the idea of a "welfare nation" and "the remains of socialism that still hang in this country as a residue from the years past," adding that "I think if they went on the streets for that, they would actually find a lot of allies on the right." As for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, his position is clear. "I think the best foreseeable circumstance is some kind of a status quo like we have now, where we annex everything that we can annex that is not highly populated.”
We can presume that what he means by "welfare state" and "socialism" is that non-Jews (meaning Palestinians) who are less "fortunate" than others benefit from "his" tax money. Obviously Israel is like a lot of countries with “Western” underpinnings, with democracy under threat by extremism from the right, at it is not yet clear who will win out in the end, although the far-right with authoritarian impulses seems to have the upper hand for now.
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