Chasm in Israel Widens

On the eve of Tisha B’Av, commemorating the destruction of the first and second temples – widely attributed to discord between the Jewish people – the Israeli parliament voted July 24 to approve the first of a number of laws that will weaken the country’s Supreme Court, while strengthening the authority of the governing coalition.

The historical protests against the Israeli parliamentary approval reached a crescendo after 29 consecutive weeks of demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of critics who believe that the proposed judicial overhaul will weaken or destroy the country’s democracy. Polls indicate a majority of Israelis were against the judicial changes, although there were sporadic rallies of those in support of the legislation.

Immediately there were plans to appeal the government’s vote to the Supreme Court, which could set up a constitutional crisis if that court rules against the new legislation. Whatever happens in the coming months, the government’s vote signals that the country and its citizens will never be the same. Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz is quoted as saying the damage is already “irreparable.”

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And, as if there weren’t enough drama in the country, it was reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a pacemaker implanted over the weekend.

Since January, when Netanyahu’s government announced plans to enact several pieces of legislation that would give more power to his coalition at the expense of the judiciary, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have consistently, at least weekly for 29 weeks, protested in the streets all over the country. Critics – including from the military, intelligence, high tech, judicial, business, and medical industries – contend that passage of these proposals would weaken or destroy the country’s democracy.

In March, after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned the government that the threats of military reservists to refuse to serve were compromising Israel’s security, Netanyahu backed off from his legislative juggernaut and negotiations between his government and those opposed to the judicial overhaul sought a compromise.

A group of mostly Israelis protested against the judicial overhaul in Roswell in mid-July. Another protest was held in Alpharetta as protests in Israel peaked before the Knesset vote.

However, those negotiations ended weeks ago, and Netanyahu’s government continued to push forward on its plans that critics say would weaken, above all, Israel’s Supreme Court.

In the final days of July, Israel’s parliament, or Knesset, voted to restrict the Supreme Court’s grounds to review government decisions and appointments. It is known as the “reasonableness” standard, which the Court, according to the Israel Policy Forum, applies to block government administrative decisions that are disproportionately based on political or personal interests over public interests. It is not used to strike down legislation.

According to Suzie Navot, vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute – founded by Atlantan Bernie Marcus — the political motivation behind it is to minimize oversight of government decisions.

Navot was asked to meet with a large number of military reservists earlier in July to provide her professional explanation about the overhaul in general, and the “reasonableness standard” in particular. They did not ask specifically for her legal advice.

Days later, however, at an emergency meeting of the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv, Navot was quoted by Israeli media as stating, “Overturning the reasonableness standard is just the first act of whitewashing in the government’s plan.” She contended that this change “would make it easy for the government to take control of all of the gatekeeping positions. So long as the judicial overhaul is on the table, the fate of the elimination of the reasonableness standard is the fate of the entire government coup, and that’s how we have to treat this bill.”

Ari Kohn, who has lived in the Atlanta area since 1981, noted that he is a retired Israeli Air Force pilot who signed one of the letters against the judicial overhaul.

Her charge, echoed by former leaders of Israeli security, intelligence, military and foreign services, inevitability underscored the fears of the protest movement that for months have shut down highways, clogged the areas inside and outside Ben Gurion Airport and congregated outside homes of Israeli government officials.

Universities declared a strike. The protests reached a peak just before the Knesset voted when first hundreds, then as many as 80,000 — both religious and secular — Israelis marched roughly 40 miles from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to be present at the Knesset for the final votes to approve the overturning of the reasonableness standard.

The Knesset’s summer session will end July 30, with the fall session not starting until October after the High Holy Days.

While polls consistently indicate that a majority of Israelis oppose the government’s judicial overhaul, it is the near daily reports of more military reservists refusing to report for duty that shook the country. The evening before the Knesset was scheduled to launch its debate and vote, it was reported that as many as 10,000 reservists declared they are suspending their service.

Days earlier, more than 1,100 Israeli Air Force reserve officers – including 235 fighter pilots, 98 transport pilots, 89 helicopter pilots, 91 pilots serving in the flight school and 165 elite Air Force commandos – issued their letter threatening to suspend their reserve duty if the government moved forward to overhaul the country’s judiciary.

Reporting on the letter signed by Air Force reservists, Israeli media suggested that if the threat is fulfilled, the Air Force would no longer be prepared in case of war.

Members of Israel’s security forces use a water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking an entrance to the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 24, 2023. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

The chasm created by the judicial overhaul, which supporters claim is necessary, is widely seen as the gravest domestic crisis in Israel’s history. Some Israelis say they fear approval of the legislation could lead to a civil war.

Nadav Argaman, former head of the Shin Bet – Israel’s domestic intelligence organization – was quoted as saying that if the legislation is passed, “we’ll become a different country, so we’re not bound to the contracts we’ve been signed to,” referring to the thousands of reservists who have pledged to end their service.

Despite the fact that these reservists serve on a voluntary basis, they have still been condemned by members of Netanyahu’s government, a number of whom never served in the IDF themselves.

Israelis living outside the country – perhaps for the first time – have publicly rebelled in huge numbers against their government’s moves to overhaul the country’s judiciary system. Weekly protests around the world, many under the umbrella of a new grassroots group known as UnXeptable, have shared their photos and videos to show support for protesters in Israel.

A number of Israelis living in Atlanta have joined the protests, sometimes in front of the Midtown office of the Consulate General of Israel Atlanta, other times at other Midtown locations and, recently, in Roswell and Alpharetta, all organized by volunteers. Bearing signs such as “Must Resist” and “Save Our Democracy Now,” dozens of Israelis living in Atlanta shouted “Democratia,” the Hebrew word for democracy.

The Atlanta protesters were united in their message; they just had to decide in which language to chant their refrains – English or Hebrew. Since that rally was primarily designed to be visually recorded and shared in Israel and around the world to mark the Atlanta group’s support for Israel’s democracy, Hebrew won out.

A number of Israelis living in Atlanta have joined the protests, sometimes in front of the Midtown office of the Consulate General of Israel Atlanta, other times at other Midtown locations and, recently, in Roswell and Alpharetta, all organized by volunteers. Bearing signs such as ‘Must Resist’ and ‘Save Our Democracy Now,’ dozens of Israelis living in Atlanta shouted ‘Democratia,’ the Hebrew word for democracy.

Many of the Israelis have lived in the Atlanta area for years, but their strong connection to their homeland has perhaps strengthened as their fears for its future have skyrocketed. Ari Kohn, who has lived in the Atlanta area since 1981, was quick to share that he is a retired Israeli Air Force pilot who signed one of the letters against the judicial overhaul.

Jerusalem-born Gil Weinberg, who has lived in Atlanta since 2003, spoke against the anticipated approval to overhaul the reasonableness standard. In mid-July at the Roswell rally, Weinberg said, “It is underestimated how dangerous it will be if it passes.”

Weinberg added that the fact Israelis of all ages participated in the mid-week, mid-day protest – called just the day before – shows that they are willing to use “any tool we can to stop this.”

In his address to Congress the week before the final votes were scheduled in the Knesset, Israeli President Isaac Herzog referred to the ongoing, dramatic protests in Israel as the “clearest tribute to the fortitude of Israel’s democracy.”

He was among those who attempted – even at the last minute — to bring together proponents and opponents of the judicial overhaul to reach a compromise, or at least not rush through the legislation without a broad national consensus.