27 July 2023
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9 Av 5783
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Issue 1325
Free Weekly Newspaper Of The Year
Demockracy
VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS When former prime ministers, chiefs of staff, spy bosses, fighter pilots, reservists, tech entrepreneurs and approximately half the population forcefully oppose what you’re doing, you’d imagine it would give pause for thought. When former heads of the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet and the police accuse you of “promoting legislation while completely ignoring its damage to Israeli democracy”, and of “negating basic values held dear by Israeli society, tearing the nation apart, disintegrating the IDF and inflicting a fatal blow to Israel’s security”, you’d imagine it would give pause for thought. When allies such as the UK and the United States
start talking about how they’re allies because of your shared values, not least in the importance of democratic norms and about how countries need “a robust system of checks and balances”, you’d imagine that, too, would give pause for thought. Alas, there was neither pause nor thought this week, when hot-headed Israeli lawmakers belonging to the parties in the governing coalition (the opposition boycotted it) couldn’t vote fast enough to strip Israel’s Supreme Court of the power to review the reasonableness of Israeli ministers’ decisions. Why? As Sir Mick Davis writes in Jewish News this week: “It is an attempt by extremists who have a hold
on this government to gerrymander the constitution to enable them to do extremist things.” Did anyone order a dose of perspective? No one is saying at outright ‘no’ to any judicial and constitutional reform. On the contrary, most of the millions of protesting Israelis would be likely to agree to small and sensible changes. But these are neither sensible nor small. They are seismic and they eviscerate the country’s independent judiciary, removing the one remaining check and balance to prevent unbridled government power. How? Because Israel is not a country with a written Continued on page 16