The solemnity that dominated the Knesset a few days ago to celebrate its 74th anniversary gave way this Monday to tense tension with the first of the three votes necessary for the approval of an important part of the comprehensive judicial reform proposal in Israel. With massive protests in its surroundings, the Parliament in Jerusalem reflected the fracture that threatens to break the bridges that continue to unite society. The ultra-conservative government coalition, sworn in on December 28 with the support of 64 of the 120 deputies, approved in first instance two bills that weaken the judiciary before the executive branch hours after tens of thousands of protesters denounced it abroad with the same concern with which economists, academics, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and High Tech businessmen, feminists, former judges and former heads of security organizations signed their protest manifestos. Although the final text could be softened, agreed upon and even slowed down in an approval process that can last months in Parliament, the day marked another turning point in the political crisis that is shaking the country after five elections since 2019.
The demonstrations have grown since the Minister of Justice Yariv Levin announced the reform on January 4. The protests in front of the houses of various leaders and roadblocks preceded the massive gathering in Jerusalem on Monday, including a march of Israeli flags surrounding the Knesset. Some protesters were expelled from the guest rostrum after hitting the glass that separates them from the plenary shouting “shame”.
“A mafia has taken control of the Government and with a coup it intends to end judicial independence and democracy to help those who have problems with the Justice, such as Netanyahu on trial for corruption,” says Sagi Regev, coming from a kibbutz from the north, to THE WORLD.
In various demonstrations, the words of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are disseminated before being accused, presuming to stop the initiatives to weaken the Supreme Court (TS). The prime minister, who returned to power after a year and a half in opposition, is prohibited from intervening in the judicial proposal given the conflict of interest agreement (due to his trial) signed in 2020. Without his green light, however, the reform it would not have been promoted. “Today we vote at the first reading and then we are ready to talk and reach agreements,” Netanyahu announced, accusing the opposition leaders of “trampling on democracy, not accepting the results of the elections and the decision of the majority and not condemn protesters who call for bloodshed and civil disobedience”. In the opposition, they condition the negotiation to the brake on the initiative in the Chamber. The two amendments approved in the first instance determine that the TS cannot annul basic laws of the Knesset and grant the Government a majority (5 out of 9 members) to select judges. Today, the commission is made up of judges, lawyers and politicians who need to agree on each appointment. When we commented to Keren Saar, a protester from Jerusalem, that the promoters of the reform say they seek to correct historical errors that gave supremacy to the Supreme Court in the 1990s, He responds: “There is no problem in reviewing a system, but not if it is done without dialogue and in charge of a corrupt and legal but illegitimate government that promotes a judicial revolution that will make us stop being a democracy.” The president, Isaac Herzog, maintains contacts public and secret to reach a consensus on the reform in order to regulate relations between the powers and prevent the split from turning rhetorical duels in the Knesset, networks and media into violence in the streets. Otherwise, Israel is doomed to an unprecedented institutional crisis with two parties, entrenched in their positions, claiming to defend democracy and accusing the rival of wanting to end it. The Channel 12 poll shows a majority in favor of pausing the reform to agree. Even 45% of the voters of Netanyahu’s Likud ask for it while 17% condition it on the end of the protests. 28% of the voters of his party support continuing. The Channel 13 poll indicates that the coalition loses the majority it achieved on November 1. Netanyahu is no stranger to polls, demonstrations, US advice and warnings about the damaging effects on the economy and especially on his powerful technological ecosystem. The big question is whether he has the will or ability to stop the momentum of his squire in the Likud, Levin (a well-known nemesis of the Supreme Court) and the two ultra-orthodox parties that demand the reform, seeing it as a historic opportunity to legislate cardinal issues such as the military exemption of their students in rabbinic academies without fear of Supreme Court intervention.
Following the vote at midnight (63 in favor and 47 against as some opposition MPs did not show up in protest), former Prime Minister and leader of the main opposition party, Yair Lapid, sent a message to members from the coalition: “History will judge you for tonight. For the damage to democracy, for the damage to the economy, for the damage to security, for the fact that they are destroying the people of Israel, you just don’t care.” “.
Netanyahu, for his part, spoke of an “important night” and called for “negotiation without preconditions.” Levin was “determined to approve the reform” warning that nobody “will dissuade” him from doing so. “I listen to the false statements about the end of democracy, and I tell them that what we are doing is restoring democracy,” Levin added at the end of a dramatic day that is also the beginning of a new phase in which Herzog will put pressure on the parties, with emphasis on the Government, so that they agree on the norm in the third instance. Without forgetting that the coalition has other bills in the chamber within the framework of a controversial reform highly desired by some and highly feared by others.
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