Monday was a dark day in this nation’s history.
The Knesset’s passage of the bill severely limiting the reasonableness standard was an expression of hubris and hard-heartedness, of deafness to the cries of half the nation.
As voting took place in the Knesset plenum, protesters clashed with police in the streets surrounding the legislature. Coalition and opposition members shouted epithets at one another, while over at the government table, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant could be seen in heated conversation with Justice Minister Yariv Levin as Prime Minister Netanyahu sat impassively between them.
“Give something,” Gallant pleaded with Levin, “something.”
Gallant and Levin, both Likud members, have long represented two opposing camps on the government’s judicial reform.
Gallant has been pushing for a negotiated compromise on the legislation and briefly lost his job in late March after he publicly called for a halt in the legislative process to give talks with the opposition a chance. Levin, on the other hand, initiated the overhaul and has been holding a hard line, refusing to give any ground and vowing to push through the legislation, come hell or high water.
Despite his passion, Gallant fell in line
In the end, it was the Levin camp that won this round handily – and Gallant, like all other coalition lawmakers, went along, voting in favor of the bill.
As a Knesset staffer read out the names of the opposition lawmakers who had left the hall in protest, Levin smiled for selfies with joyous coalition legislators before making his way to the lectern to deliver a short victory speech.
And a victory it was. But for whom?
Not for the country, certainly. There have been few moments in the history of this nation in which Israel has seemed more divided. As dueling protests brought large parts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to a standstill in recent days, as thousands of IDF reservists threatened to stop serving, as the country’s largest corporations shut their doors, and as politicians and pundits traded poisonous barbs, Israel has felt to many as though it was coming apart at the seams.
It wasn’t much of a victory for the government, either. Those stewarding the bill through the legislative process knew they had the votes and that coalition discipline would ensure its passage, regardless of whether the opposition voted. The vote merely cemented the impression that the government only represents half of Israel and that it is totally at odds with the other half, as well as with many of Israel’s closest friends around the world.
It wasn’t even a victory for the prime minister, for whom the judicial reform has become an unnecessary headache and an unpleasant distraction from his actual priorities – mobilizing the world against the threat of a nuclear Iran and promoting normalization with Saudi Arabia. Whether willingly or unwillingly, he has allowed his government’s agenda to be hijacked by those hell-bent on weakening the judiciary, fueling internal dissent, endangering Israel’s economy, and alienating Israel from its most important allies.
No, Monday’s vote was a victory only for those who care about little more than sticking it to the judiciary, to the “elites” they blame for all their misfortunes, and to the “traitors and anarchists” they so deeply despise – and all else be damned. How else are we to interpret National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s cruel tweet, crowing that the reasonableness bill is only the “salad bar” ahead of the main course that is the bulk of the judicial overhaul?
The irony, of course, is that Ben-Gvir is right: Of all the parts of the judicial reform, this was not one of the more consequential items. There are other pieces – like the reconstitution of the committee that appoints Israel’s judges, or the override clause that would enable the Knesset to ignore the Supreme Court by the slimmest of majorities – that will have a much farther-ranging impact on Israeli public life.
But a government that callously ignores the pain of half its citizens, dismisses the warnings of its most dedicated soldiers, and disregards the counsel of those entrusted with the country’s economic well-being is one that exhibits a breathtaking failure of leadership.
Monday was a dark day for Israel because it perfectly illustrated what a government high on its own power, and contemptuous of those who don’t support it, is liable to do to the rest of the country if checks and balances disappear – precisely as opponents of the judicial reform fear.