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| Netanyahu and Herzog (TOI) |
Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned of the possibility of civil war if the governing coalition won’t agree to a compromise on its judicial reform legislation.
The statement is one of the most dire pronouncements by a senior Israeli official about the tumultuous fallout from the judicial proposal, which has sparked fierce debate, months of street protests and civil disobedience. And it is a stunning pronouncement from Herzog, a public figure known for congeniality…
Indeed. Why this is happening now is not simple. However one thing is clear. This dire prediction cannot be blamed on only one side. Although that is precisely what each side is claiming with more conviction than ever.
To describe what is going on… the status quo power of Israel’s Supreme Court to overturn any and all legislation passed by its legislative body, the Knesset is in jeopardy of being reversed. Giving that power fully to a Knesset majority that will be able to legislate any law they choose without fear of any Supreme Court interference.
The Supreme Court has arrogated this power to themselves and has made decisions about which laws they like and which they don't based on their own admitted liberal judicial philosophy which they saw as the only way a democracy can operate. This of course means that any conservative legislation is rejected as undemocratic.
Most Israelis were used to the way Israel was being governed and were generally happy campers. Even though many admitted that there was no balance between these two branches, the fallout didn’t really matter that much. Most lived their lives the way they chose without interference. But right wing Israelis (both religious and political) were short changed about polices they would have preferred be in place.
But now that the right wing government has tried to reverse course - all hell is breaking loose. The left's complacency has turned into massive protests at the prospect of losing their civil liberties and having them replaced with religious laws that will restrict their freedom. Laws for example they believe will take away the hard fought rights won by LGBTQ + activists. They believe that the proposed radical changes will be highly discriminatory against their community.
I actually agree with them. But I do not agree that things should be left as they are. As I keep saying - neither branch of government should have the right to completely rule over the other. The way things stand now is entirely unacceptable
What is being perceived by the world is in no small measure the result of media coverage. Which characterizes the proposed judicial reform as an assault upon democracy. But the truth is that it is not. It just changes which branch will have power over the other. Going form the self appointed; self perpetuating Supreme Court to the elected representatives of the Israeli people. Israel's democracy will be more or less the same except that the power of one branch over the other will switch sides from left to right.
What about Herzog’s compromise that the right is rejecting? Is that not proof that the right isn’t really serous about compromise? After all the left said it is acceptable.
Hard to know the answer to that since the details of Herzog's compromise were not released. But the fact that the entire right wing government - and not just the extremists within it, which of course includes right of center Likud members has rejected it. Explaining that it isn’t much of a compromise and basically leaves things as they are. That also helps to explain why the left is so accepting of it. Where the truth lies is known only to to the two sides directly involved in the negotiations.
Lest anyone think I am accusing only the left of fomenting a possible civil war, I can assure you that I am not. The right wing parties are as much to blame as the left. It takes two to tango. They are determined to take power - come hell or high water. And they might get the former of those two options.
The right (both political and religious) needs to back off and start again. And deal in earnest with the left to craft a compromise that everyone can live with. If they instead let things deteriorate into a civil war they will share the blame. They ought to stop salivating at the prospect of getting all this power and instead concentrate on what they can do to calm things down.
It's just too bad this won’t happen. And I fear the worst.