Holding up democracy
The first piece of Israel’s governing coalition's controversial judicial overhaul package passed into law on Monday night, amid the throes of protest.
(With Times of Israel) – Tens of thousands of protesters marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem were not enough to convince Israel’s governing coalition to suspend voting the first piece of its controversial judicial overhaul package into law on Monday night.
The bill barring the judiciary from using the “reasonableness” yardstick to invalidate government decisions passed in a 64-0 vote after the opposition boycotted the vote.
Activists poured into the streets to protest the vote, blocking freeways and facing off against police, and promised to ratchet up their demonstrations as lawmakers vowed to push ahead with the rest of the contentious program.
At least 33 people were arrested throughout the day and night in demonstrations in the two cities, police said.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid promised to petition the High Court as the coalition celebrated its win, which came over a month after the collapse of talks aimed at finding a compromise on the overhaul.
“It’s a sad day,” Lapid said. “This is not a victory for the coalition. This is the destruction of Israeli democracy.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu countered, “Today we did a necessary democratic act, an act that is intended to return a measure of balance between the branches of government,” and vowed to seek renewed dialogue with the opposition while calling for national unity.
Supreme Court president Esther Hayut and other senior justices cut short an overseas trip in order to return home and hold a hearing on petitions against the legislation.
The White House joined major Jewish organisations and community leaders around the world in expressing dismay at the passing of the legislation.
The Jewish Agency for Israel, World Zionist Organisation, Keren Hayesod and Jewish Federations of North America signed a joint letter addressed to both Netanyahu and Lapid noting their “concern” about the “great polarisation and discord in Israeli society”.
“We must place the wellbeing of the entire Jewish people before us, moderating the discourse and the verbal radicalisation and striving to reach agreements,” they said.
On Tuesday, Credit agency Moody’s warned about “negative consequences” and “significant risk” for Israel’s economy and security situation following the bill’s passage, while Israeli shares continued to take a dive and the shekel weakened for a second day amid market concerns.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah gloated that Israel was on the “path to disappearance” amid the crisis.
In Australia, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Jillian Segal said the manner in which the legislation had been “steamrolled into law is shredding Israel’s social consensus and adversely impacting on Israel’s international reputation”.
“It is a supreme irony that as we approach Tisha b’Av, the hard lessons of Jewish history about the dangers of internal disunity seem to have been forgotten,” she said.
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said it was disappointing the bill was passed “in such a partisan, hasty and divisive manner”.
“We urge both the Israeli government and the opposition to modify their stances and come together in a spirit of civility, mutual respect, goodwill and patriotism, and genuinely try to reach a consensus position,” he said.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said while there was a legitimate case for judicial reform, “Alterations to the fundamental structures at the heart of Israel’s system of government should be embraced based on the widest conceivable agreement.”
Friends of Likud Australia president Alex Goodman said Israel’s government “hasn’t done a good job of selling its reform” but noted that it flagged its intentions on judicial reform prior to last year’s election.
“We hope and pray for unity above all else,” he said.
Calling on Jewish leadership in Australia to do more, UnXeptable Global Movement local representative Tal Silverstein said that if the judicial push is not thwarted, a year from now “Israel will become a poor, religious, messianic, and extremist state, and the Supreme Court will have no power and no authority to stop that madness.”
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