Our community’s response to Israel protests
We wanted to get a sense of where the Australian Jewish community stands on the divisive issue of the judicial reforms, so The AJN decided to poll our Instagram audience.
The protests against Israel’s judicial reform have had a ripple effect, with Jewish communities around the globe also divided on the issue.
Last week the Knesset approved the first part of the judicial overhaul, called the “reasonableness” bill, that strips the Supreme Court of the power to declare government decisions unreasonable.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims the judicial overhaul will reduce overreach from unelected judges and there are many who support this view, but there are hundreds of thousands of Israelis who fiercely oppose it. They have taken to the streets week after week in protest, claiming that it destroys important checks and balances underpinning Israeli democracy.
At The AJN, we wanted to get a sense of where the Australian Jewish community stands on the divisive issue, so we decided to poll our Instagram audience.
We asked: “Are you for or against the judicial overhaul package?” Here is a breakdown of the results:
The overwhelming majority of our audience – 64 per cent – voted against the overhaul, while 17 per cent voted for it. Interestingly, 19 per cent voted for a milder version of the reforms. We also received plenty of messages, with one responder saying, “It’s the first step turning Israel into a dictatorship.” Other responses included, “Would be good to change the system but need to be wary of checks and balances”; “Some reforms are needed to stop unelected judges being able to overturn elected MKs”; and, “separation of powers is needed in Israel so it doesn’t just pass bills without checks”.
We asked if the political turmoil is making Aussies living in Israel consider returning to Australia, and the only answers we got to that one were “no”.
We also asked if the situation in Israel is making Australians reconsider visiting the country, or even making aliyah.
“Absolutely! Would no longer consider aliyah” was how one user responded. “Yes but we have paid for our holiday” was another. There were a few other “yes” responses, but the majority replied “no”.
Here is a snippet of how some of our audience responded:
“I want to go help the protesters”; “Def still visiting!!! January here we come!”; and, “It makes me want to move to Israel even more than ever.”
To have your say, and to vote in any of our future polls, visit our Instagram account @jewishnews_au
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