Internal Israeli Protests Over Judicial Reform Effort Seen Weakening Country’s Defense

As torn-up Israel grapples with the Knesset’s dramatic approval Monday of legislation narrowing the judiciary’s oversight regarding government decisions, concerns are growing about the country’s ability to defend itself against multiple foreign enemies. Following the Monday vote, the Israel Defense Forces commander, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, reportedly told Prime Minister Netanyahu that the military’s ability to protect Israel has been weakened. He pointed to veterans of such elite units as the air force, intelligence, and Sayeret Matkal, where Mr. Netayahu once served, who declared they’d stop volunteering for reserves service in protest of the judiciary overhaul.Prior to the vote, the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, was seen pleading with his Likud colleague, Yariv Levin, the justice minister, to make further compromises. “Give something,” he said, to no avail. Despite fears regarding military unity, Mr. Gallant ended up voting along with the rest of the coalition. The bill striking down the supreme court’s ability to cancel government decisions on the basis of “reasonableness” was passed by 64 of the Knesset’s 120 members. Legislators from the opposition left the floor in protest, so no votes against the legislation were recorded. Before the Monday vote, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s top allies, Yossi Cohen, a former Mossad chief, called on him to halt the legislation. Another ally, President Trump’s ambassador to Jerusalem, David Friedman, tweeted that enacting a divisive law before Wednesday’s Tisha B’Av — a date on which Jews mourn ancient Temples that according to tradition were destroyed because of internal disputes — is “bad timing.”“The IDF must remain above all political disputes,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an address televised during prime time following the vote. “To our enemies: I’m aware that you don’t know what democracy is, but don’t be fooled by our internal arguments. As always, we will stand together to defend against all threats against our country.”Violent street clashes between protesters and police intensified Monday night. Economists warned the country’s international credit rating could be lowered, as the Tel Aviv stock market lost steam and the Shekel’s value dipped. The national workers union, Histadrut, declared a national strike. Doctors said they would only conduct emergency procedures.Minutes after the Knesset’s vote, at least four legal petitions were filed with the supreme court, calling it to strike down the new law. Yet, legal scholars on both sides were hesitant to predict what the court would do. “The judicial system has been cruelly neutered, so I don’t know what it can do now with the little powers the supreme court still has,” an Israeli lawyer who wrote one of the anti-legislation petitions and a top leader of the anti-government protest movement, Gilead Sher, tells the Sun. Turning to the high court “is the opposition’s plan, but I really don’t know” what the justices will do, the head of the international law department of the Kohelet’s policy forum, a libertarian think tank in Israel and a strong supporter of the judicial overhaul, Eugene Kontorovich, said.Yet, the leader of the Knesset opposition, Yair Lapid, a former prime minister, called on protesters to await the supreme court’s decision before severing ties with the military. “I’m calling on the reservists — wait for the court’s decision. Until then, don’t stop serving,” he said.Another opposition leader, Benny Gantz, the former defense minister and IDF chief, said, “I’m calling on my brothers who serve and volunteer in the army, please continue to defend us.” The law enacted Monday “will soon be struck out,” he added Yet, “reservists didn’t consult Lapid beforehand, and they won’t listen to him now,” Mr. Sher said. “There is an unwritten contract by which the state defends the citizens’ safety and the citizens in turn serve the state. That contract is being violated by a bunch of convicted criminals and those who never served in the army.”He referred to members of the ruling coalition who are resisting forcing Orthodox youngsters to serve in the army and to right-wingers like the interior security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been convicted of incitement to racism. Following the legislation’s passage, Mr. Netanyahu called on the opposition to continue negotiating and to reach wide agreements over judicial reform before November. Yet there were no signs that the opposition was willing to return to negotiations with the premier. “The government made a conscious decision to ask for the mildest and least significant part of their reform ideas,” Mr. Kontorovich said. “Going forward it’s important that everyone slows down.”Watching all of this, the Islamic Republic of Iran was gleeful. “It is clear that the crisis in the heart of the Zionist regime is deeper than the crisis in the heart of its prime minister,” the foreign minister, Nasser Kanaani, said over the weekend, following Mr. Netanyahu’s pacemaker operation.“This is the worst day in the history of the entity,” Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said Monday, adding that the new legislation puts Israel “on the path of collapse, fragmentation, and disappearance, God willing.” Pro-Hezbollah press outlets are stressing “how the protest infiltrates the IDF and tears Israel apart,” the president of Alma, a think tank based in northern Israel, Sarit Zehavi, tells the Sun. Mr. Nasrallah has been making provocations even before the legislation efforts started, she adds. Since then he sensed that the IDF’s reaction was far from forceful. As Tisha B’Av nears, Israelis remember the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 c.e. Many now pray that despite current divisions, history will remain in the past.

Internal Israeli Protests Over Judicial Reform Effort Seen Weakening Country’s Defense

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