At the same time, given that Ramadan begins on Wednesday, an additional escalation of violence with the Palestinians could be imminent. Israel is threatened with simultaneous radicalization on both levels.
For the eleventh time in a row, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to demonstrate against the government’s judicial restructuring. In any case, this would mean the end of the democratic conditions we have been used to up to now and would enormously restrict the control of the executive by the judiciary. Many Israelis are convinced that it would mean the end of democracy altogether.
The fact that a government could then bypass Supreme Court judgments and pass constitutional laws with a simple majority, objections to the courts against the exercise of office by ministers would no longer be permissible and the government would appoint the majority of judges in all courts up to the Supreme Court, leaves many with their individual freedom rights afraid. In view of the politically right-wing, nationalist and partly right-wing extremist as well as religiously strictly conservative members of the government, restrictions on the freedoms of women and the LGBTQ community are to be expected. Some of the relevant legislative proposals are already in the Knesset.
“We are – not yet – Iran”
Groups of women, for example, have been appearing at the protests for weeks as maids from the dystopian cult series “The Handmaid’s Tale”, who are subjugated to men. Signs with “We are – not yet – Iran” point to concerns about a dramatic deterioration in civil liberties. In addition to the perceived condition of the demonstrators, it is also a sign for the government that an uprising similar to that in the country of the deadly political enemy could threaten them.
Dystopian Protest in Israel
For weeks there have been protests in Israel against the planned judicial reform. An integral part of many demonstrations are women in long red coats and white bonnets, who appear with bowed heads and folded hands. They are reminiscent of characters from The Handmaid’s Tale series.
Accommodating as a tactical move
On Monday, the government presented a kind of compromise proposal: the majority of the laws on the restructuring of the judiciary should now only be finally passed after the end of the one-month parliamentary break that begins in two weeks, i.e. in the third reading. One of the central projects, the amendment to the appointment of judges (including the Supreme Court), which would give the government a majority in the commission, should be finally passed before April 2nd.
Bogeyman “Left Elite”
Many right-wingers have seen themselves patronized by a “left-wing elite” for decades and see the restructuring of the judiciary as a long-overdue correction and disempowerment of this “elite”. At least the once conservative, now right-wing Likud party has not been in government for only 13 years in the last 46 years – in 1977 it provided the head of government for the first time with Menachem Begin.
That Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement came just hours after a phone call with US President Joe Biden, in which he was unusually direct in urging Netanyahu to compromise with the opposition, gave the impression that Netanyahu had softened his tough stance somewhat.
In fact, this is not recognizable: the appointment of judges is a key lever, and the other controversial laws will be prepared unchanged for the final vote in the next few days. The opposition abruptly rejected the “offer”. The new version is “Hungary and Poland on steroids,” according to Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli. The entire legislative process must be stopped and then negotiated in peace.
Attempts to mediate by President Yitzchak “Buschi” Herzog had recently failed due to resistance from the government. This requires the opposition to be constantly willing to talk – of course on their own terms and without the willingness to suspend legislation during any negotiations.
Escalation of violence feared during Ramadan
Violent and deadly clashes between Palestinians and Israelis, especially in the West Bank, have increased, not just since the current Israeli government took office, but have intensified since then: Terrorist attacks by Palestinians – mostly on Jewish settlers – are followed by army operations against terrorist suspects in Palestinian cities and repeated attacks by Jewish mobs on Palestinians – or vice versa.
And Wednesday evening begins the Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan. Despite Israeli de-escalation measures, there have been repeated bloody unrests in recent years. Right-wing extremist Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is now responsible for internal security and thus for the police. He has been heating up the climate for weeks with provocative announcements.
For example, Ben Gvir had announced that Palestinian houses that Israel believes were illegally built in occupied East Jerusalem will also be demolished during Ramadan. Netanyahu finally had to put his foot down.
On Monday, Israel also announced, as in previous years, a series of relaxation measures for Palestinians during Ramadan, including family visits from the West Bank to relatives in Israel.
“Palestinian people do not exist”
The radical settler politician and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich added fuel to the fire with his statement made in Paris that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people” and that the world must finally be told that. The fact that he was doing this next to a map showing Greater Israel (i.e. Israel including the West Bank and Jordan) also caused a sharp reaction from Jordan on Monday. Amman asked Netanyahu for clarification.
Especially in the West Bank, the frustration among the Palestinian population because of the Israeli occupation and the ongoing dispute with Jewish settlers is huge. Frustration and anger at the autonomy authorities and the fact that they are unable to protect their own population from attacks by Jewish settlers are almost as great.
In view of all this, there are doubts as to whether the de-escalation negotiated over the weekend with the mediation of the USA, Egypt and Jordan has any chance of being implemented at all.
No two-state solution
A two-state solution, which is still being targeted internationally as the solution to the Middle East conflict, despite all current reality, has long been called into question in Palestinian and Israeli discourse, if not even shelved. Ironically, this is one of the few points where there is much agreement in the discourse on both sides – although not, of course, about what follows from it.
The gap is widening
Even in Israel itself, this is one of the few points on which many leftists and liberals agree with conservatives and rightists – whether out of conviction or realpolitik. But above all when it comes to socio-political issues and questions of political organization, there are unbridgeable rifts that are getting deeper with each passing day. The rifts between the secular and the religious, between the Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahi, liberals and conservatives, peace activists and settlers, between Jews and Arabs have existed for decades.
But the gap has never been so great. The secular, liberal part of the population, which generates a large part of the gross domestic product and also shoulders the burden of military service, and the radical settlers and ultra-Orthodox face each other with increasing incomprehension and even contempt.
“Medinat Tel Aviv”
As an expression of frustration and radicalization, some commentators, such as the well-known journalist Ben Caspit, now speak of a different two-state solution, should the fight for the restructuring of the judiciary not be settled by a compromise after all: the division of the Jewish state into a ” Medinat Tel Aviv” (Tel Aviv State) and a “Medinat Jerushalajim” (Jerusalem State).
