Almost every Saturday night for the past 21 weeks, I’ve gone to the President’s House in Jerusalem to protest against the government’s proposed judicial overhaul. I think the overhaul poses a serious threat to Israeli democracy and must be stopped. After 21 weeks, it is a good time to look back and see how successful these protests have been.
Just after the two-year budget was passed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately put the judicial overhaul, which had been paused for the budget negotiations, back on the table. He said that the overhaul will pass, although he added that he “hopes with agreement from the opposition.” Lately, we have seen an increasing number of coalition members claiming the reform will return including David Amsalem, Ayoub Kara and the ever-controversial Itamar Ben Gvir. That’s why this is a crucial time for the protest.
In some ways, the protests have been more successful than we could have predicted. First of all, the protests have managed to freeze a large part of the judicial reform. Second, the protests forced Netanyahu to consider the opposition’s opinions on the reform. Lastly, the protests have been able to directly or indirectly (by making people aware of the reform) dramatically decrease the coalition’s popularity. I think the last one is also the most important because it shows the coalition that their powers are limited.
Have the Israeli judicial reform protests succeeded? Partially
However, this must not be confused with total success. I like the analogy of protests to war with many small battles. While some battles have been won, other changes, like the municipal tax law, have been lost. The law takes 80% of municipal tax and gives it to the central government. It is considered to be part of the judicial overhaul because in dictatorships such money has been used to further consolidate power and reward loyal followers.
IN MY opinion, the most important challenge is yet to come – the laws that Netanyahu froze and that he says are now back on the table. If this set of laws are passed, they would allow the legislative branch to override laws vetoed by the Supreme Court and allow the government to decide the composition of the judiciary, essentially turning the judiciary into a puppet of the legislative branch. While these laws are still frozen it is important to note they are still on the table. Another proposed law that would make the judiciary present laws based only on basic laws and only with all 15 judges present is still on the agenda and could be brought to vote at any moment.
Lately, there have also been rumors that the opposition is planning to compromise on a number of the laws in exchange for a promise that the government won’t advance further legislation for a set period of time. I think this would be a massive blow to the protest.
The basics of democracy aren’t something you can compromise on. In addition, it would be helping the coalition to use a common dictatorship method called the “salami method.” This method means passing laws that individually can be democratic but together consolidate power so people don’t notice the overall effect, as has already happened in countries like Poland and Hungary.
I think it is crucial to continue protesting even with most of the judicial overhaul frozen. First of all, the more people come and protest the less chance there is of the laws returning. Second, continuing to protest is a way to support the supreme court and give the opposition the power and support they need. I also believe we must continue protesting until new mechanisms to prevent a future Knesset from trying something like this are established.
The next few weeks will be a crucial time to see how successful the protests have been. The goal must be the creation of new laws that will not only stop this judicial overhaul but make any future judicial overhaul impossible.
The writer is a first-year physics student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.