{"id":10282,"date":"2023-03-26T14:01:09","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T14:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10282"},"modified":"2023-03-26T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T14:01:09","slug":"the-two-revolutions-that-explain-israels-massive-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10282","title":{"rendered":"The \u201ctwo revolutions\u201d that explain Israel\u2019s massive protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Netanyahu was elected to a sixth premiership this November, but this time with the most extreme, nationalistic, and exclusionary government in Israeli history<\/a>.
 From the get-go, the Israeli government has sought to make significant changes to the high court<\/a> that would hollow out its independence and its power to serve as a check on the Israeli parliament, or the Knesset. The several bills put forward would restrict the court\u2019s ability to overturn laws it sees as unconstitutional and allow a simple majority in the Knesset<\/a> to reject its decisions. It would also give government lawmakers and appointees effective power over the committee of nine individuals that appoints judges, and rescind key authorities from the attorney general. These and other changes would weaken the independent judiciary\u2019s power in a parliamentary system that otherwise lacks checks.
 This is all complicated by the fact that Israel doesn\u2019t have a constitution, but a set of regulations passed as the basic law. The proposal\u2019s backers, like a group of Israeli academics who recently published an open letter in support<\/a>, say the court has grown too powerful. But, according to a recent survey<\/a> by the Israel Democracy Institute, \u201c66 percent of Israelis think the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down a law if it is incompatible with the Basic Laws.\u201d
The result of the judicial overhaul would be a form of majoritarian rule, where minority groups \u2014 especially Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are about 20 percent of the country\u2019s population \u2014 would face serious threats. \u201cMinority rights will be protected by the majority\u2019s benevolence. That contradicts a core element of democracy, of course,\u201d writes<\/a> Natan Sachs of the Brookings Institution.”  
…
“It should be noted that Netanyahu is on trial for alleged corruption<\/a> \u2014 charges that he\u2019s denied but that have plagued his political life in recent years. There\u2019s been speculation that those allegations are why he\u2019s been pursuing a major overhaul to the Israeli judiciary, with the effect of weakening its independence.
But that\u2019s only part of the story. 
There are three pillars of his governing coalition \u2014 Netanyahu\u2019s conservative Likud party, ultranationalist settlers, and the ultra-Orthodox \u2014 and they each have something to gain from this massive judicial overhaul. \u201cFor the first time, they have a complete alignment of interests with no daylight in between, to destroy the judiciary and institutions, for different reasons,\u201d Shaul told me. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes this moment so dangerous.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…
“For the ultranationalist settlers led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, such judicial changes would open up the opportunity of annexation of the occupied West Bank and other policies that would benefit settlers. And for the ultra-Orthodox supporters, it would \u2014 perhaps through changing the makeup of key judiciary appointments \u2014 lessen the Supreme Court\u2019s likelihood of ruling that exemptions to the military draft are unconstitutional, among other issues of church and state important to this constituency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, the judicial reforms might be the most incendiary and attention-grabbing of the coalition\u2019s proposals at this moment, but they\u2019re in keeping with its broader goals.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Netanyahu\u2019s government is also proposing radical changes to the way the occupation of the West Bank is administered and other legal shifts inside Israel that will severely affect Palestinians.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/world-politics\/23629744\/why-israelis-protesting-netanyahu-far-right-government-judiciary-overhaul<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Netanyahu was elected to a sixth premiership this November, but this time with the most extreme, nationalistic, and exclusionary government in Israeli history.<\/p>\n

From the get-go, the Israeli government has sought to make significant changes to the high court that would hollow out its independence and its power to serve as a check on the Israeli parliament, or the Knesset. The several bills put forward would restrict the court\u2019s ability to overturn laws it sees as unconstitutional and allow a simple majority in the Knesset to reject its decisions. It would also give government lawmakers and appointees effective power over the committee of nine individuals that appoints judges, and rescind key authorities from the attorney general. These and other changes would weaken the independent judiciary\u2019s power in a parliamentary system that otherwise lacks checks.<\/p>\n

This is all complicated by the fact that Israel doesn\u2019t have a constitution, but a set of regulations passed as the basic law. The proposal\u2019s backers, like a group of Israeli academics who recently published an open letter in support, say the court has grown too powerful. But, according to a recent survey by the Israel Democracy Institute, \u201c66 percent of Israelis think the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down a law if it is incompatible with the Basic Laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result of the judicial overhaul would be a form of majoritarian rule, where minority groups \u2014 especially Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are about 20 percent of the country\u2019s population \u2014 would face serious threats. \u201cMinority rights will be protected by the majority\u2019s benevolence. That contradicts a core element of democracy, of course,\u201d writes Natan Sachs of the Brookings Institution.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“It should be noted that Netanyahu is on trial for alleged corruption \u2014 charges that he\u2019s denied but that have plagued his political life in recent years. There\u2019s been speculation that those allegations are why he\u2019s been pursuing a major overhaul to the Israeli judiciary, with the effect of weakening its independence.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s only part of the story. <\/p>\n

There are three pillars of his governing coalition \u2014 Netanyahu\u2019s conservative Likud party, ultranationalist settlers, and the ultra-Orthodox \u2014 and they each have something to gain from this massive judicial overhaul. \u201cFor the first time, they have a complete alignment of interests with no daylight in between, to destroy the judiciary and institutions, for different reasons,\u201d Shaul told me. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes this moment so dangerous.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“For the ultranationalist settlers led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, such judicial changes would open up the opportunity of annexation of the occupied West Bank and other policies that would benefit settlers. And for the ultra-Orthodox supporters, it would \u2014 perhaps through changing the makeup of key judiciary appointments \u2014 lessen the Supreme Court\u2019s likelihood of ruling that exemptions to the military draft are unconstitutional, among other issues of church and state important to this constituency.
\nIn short, the judicial reforms might be the most incendiary and attention-grabbing of the coalition\u2019s proposals at this moment, but they\u2019re in keeping with its broader goals.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Netanyahu\u2019s government is also proposing radical changes to the way the occupation of the West Bank is administered and other legal shifts inside Israel that will severely affect Palestinians.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[431,194,196,362],"class_list":["post-10282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-democracy","tag-israel","tag-netanyahu","tag-protests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10283,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10282\/revisions\/10283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}