Thx for setting the clock straight. Like Orban, Trump or Nigel Farage, Netanyahou is a right wing populist. Right wing populist represent a legitimate democratic opinion, even though the laptop class hate them because they propose to adopt different policies than globalism and open borders.
Such is the stranglehold of the cultural left on our media and judiciary that they can shift the mainstream narrative to calling any opposition party “undemocratic”.
Thx for setting the clock straight. Like Orban, Trump or Nigel Farage, Netanyahou is a right wing populist. Right wing populist represent a legitimate democratic opinion, even though the laptop class hate them because they propose to adopt different policies than globalism and open borders.
Such is the stranglehold of the cultural left on our media and judiciary that they can shift the mainstream narrative to calling any opposition party “undemocratic”.
Nicky Samengo-Turner
1 year ago
Why do the Gulf states not support the Palestinians financially, or indeed give them a new ” homeland”?
Why do the Gulf states not support the Palestinians financially, or indeed give them a new ” homeland”?
Isabel Ward
1 year ago
This is bizarre coming from someone on theJP whose editor continuously pushes his editorial and articles with the agenda that democracy is under threat. Indeed many of its articles imply there could be civil war.
Bizarre maybe. Or perhaps refreshing. Why shoot the dissenting messenger?
Isabel Ward
1 year ago
This is bizarre coming from someone on theJP whose editor continuously pushes his editorial and articles with the agenda that democracy is under threat. Indeed many of its articles imply there could be civil war.
Josef O
1 year ago
The issues at stake in the current debate in Israel are very complicated and require serious knowledge and pragmatism. After 2000 years to find a formula which defines the Jewish religion with the needs of a modern state is extremely difficult. To do so while many unsolved matters the Israelis still have with the surrounding countries (some of them still enemies) is a daunting job. Let us follow patiently the developments hoping a compromise can be found.
Josef O
1 year ago
The issues at stake in the current debate in Israel are very complicated and require serious knowledge and pragmatism. After 2000 years to find a formula which defines the Jewish religion with the needs of a modern state is extremely difficult. To do so while many unsolved matters the Israelis still have with the surrounding countries (some of them still enemies) is a daunting job. Let us follow patiently the developments hoping a compromise can be found.
Joel Morgenstern
1 year ago
An exceptionally poorly reasoned and fundamentally flawed article about the governmental revolution that is now in the making in Israel. “Reports of the demise of Israeli democracy are, however, greatly exaggerated. The proposed changes relate to the balance of power between the judiciary, the legislative and the executive branches of government . . . .” Correct, but the controversial legislation that is being fast tracked now terminates any balance at all. The legislation gives a simple majority in the parliament complete control over the selection of judges appointed to the Supreme Court and furthermore gives the same simple majority the power to override ANY decision of the Supreme Court should it not like the decisions of its hand picked judges! Please remember that in Israel there is no truly separate, independent executive branch. The prime minister never stands for a popular vote and serves entirely at the pleasure of the parliament. A simple majority throws the prime minister out. If this plan passes there are no checks and no balances. None. A bare majority of the parliament controls all branches of government. This is not democracy, although I am sure that Putin, Erdogan and Orban would disagree. The resistance to this putsch is not in any manner simply partisan politics at work. I think Lahav Harkov needs to retake civics 101.
Last edited 1 year ago by Joel Morgenstern
Joel Morgenstern
1 year ago
An exceptionally poorly reasoned and fundamentally flawed article about the governmental revolution that is now in the making in Israel. “Reports of the demise of Israeli democracy are, however, greatly exaggerated. The proposed changes relate to the balance of power between the judiciary, the legislative and the executive branches of government . . . .” Correct, but the controversial legislation that is being fast tracked now terminates any balance at all. The legislation gives a simple majority in the parliament complete control over the selection of judges appointed to the Supreme Court and furthermore gives the same simple majority the power to override ANY decision of the Supreme Court should it not like the decisions of its hand picked judges! Please remember that in Israel there is no truly separate, independent executive branch. The prime minister never stands for a popular vote and serves entirely at the pleasure of the parliament. A simple majority throws the prime minister out. If this plan passes there are no checks and no balances. None. A bare majority of the parliament controls all branches of government. This is not democracy, although I am sure that Putin, Erdogan and Orban would disagree. The resistance to this putsch is not in any manner simply partisan politics at work. I think Lahav Harkov needs to retake civics 101.
Last edited 1 year ago by Joel Morgenstern
Frank McCusker
1 year ago
Duplicitous article.
One proposal would allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings with a bare majority.
You consider that to be compatible with democracy?
It’s only a few cultural clicks away from government by fiat.
It’s more democratic than Supreme Court rulings which are based on nothing other than the mostly (ethnically and ideologically) homogeneous, unelected judges finding some government action “unreasonable” based on no objective standard.
It’s a proposal. Those politicians who have a better suggestion (not hard to come up with one) should bring it up in the committee or in the Knesset plenum and convince their peers. That’s democracy, not taking over the streets or refusing to protect the country or pulling out your money which was made thanks to everything that Israel provided the “founders” .
“Supreme Court justices were mostly self-selecting in the years after Barak, so they almost exclusively chose new members of the court who agreed with them”
Democracy isn’t unelected, “liberal ” judges overturning the will of people expressed by an elected parliament, even if it’s by a “bare majority”
It’s more democratic than Supreme Court rulings which are based on nothing other than the mostly (ethnically and ideologically) homogeneous, unelected judges finding some government action “unreasonable” based on no objective standard.
It’s a proposal. Those politicians who have a better suggestion (not hard to come up with one) should bring it up in the committee or in the Knesset plenum and convince their peers. That’s democracy, not taking over the streets or refusing to protect the country or pulling out your money which was made thanks to everything that Israel provided the “founders” .
“Supreme Court justices were mostly self-selecting in the years after Barak, so they almost exclusively chose new members of the court who agreed with them”
Democracy isn’t unelected, “liberal ” judges overturning the will of people expressed by an elected parliament, even if it’s by a “bare majority”
Frank McCusker
1 year ago
Duplicitous article.
One proposal would allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings with a bare majority.
You consider that to be compatible with democracy?
It’s only a few cultural clicks away from government by fiat.
Mashie Niblick
1 year ago
If the Basic Law is not a constitution, what is it?
Of course, it’s a constitution.
There is no basis in Israeli law for constitutional status for so-called “Basic Laws”. How can a law passed by a 32-21 vote, out of 120 MKs, be considered of constitutional stature? They weren’t even paying attention.
We first need a law that establishes the status of a Basic Law as being superior to other laws, and a special procedure to approve one including supermajority of the plenum and perhaps even a national referendum. This would relegate all current Basic Laws to regular law status and we would need to relegislate them all.
Another great article by Lahav, thank you. Perhaps a better title for it would note that our democracy is not currently in peril but our country most certainly is, the result of radicalization and polarization that have been building for years. Democracy becomes more and more fragile as radicalization increases. The real danger to democracy in Israel is not the legal reforms themselves but all those who refuse to engage democratically with the other side – left and right – and attempt to hold hostage the essential national intuitions like the IDF, the economy and the Knesset to get their way.
There is no basis in Israeli law for constitutional status for so-called “Basic Laws”. How can a law passed by a 32-21 vote, out of 120 MKs, be considered of constitutional stature? They weren’t even paying attention.
We first need a law that establishes the status of a Basic Law as being superior to other laws, and a special procedure to approve one including supermajority of the plenum and perhaps even a national referendum. This would relegate all current Basic Laws to regular law status and we would need to relegislate them all.
Another great article by Lahav, thank you. Perhaps a better title for it would note that our democracy is not currently in peril but our country most certainly is, the result of radicalization and polarization that have been building for years. Democracy becomes more and more fragile as radicalization increases. The real danger to democracy in Israel is not the legal reforms themselves but all those who refuse to engage democratically with the other side – left and right – and attempt to hold hostage the essential national intuitions like the IDF, the economy and the Knesset to get their way.
Mashie Niblick
1 year ago
If the Basic Law is not a constitution, what is it?
Of course, it’s a constitution.
John Freeman
1 year ago
Meretz was wiped out at the last election. The Labour party, once regarded as the natural government of Israel, hangs by a thread with only four MKs left. That is all that is left of the Left. Everything else is either right of centre, right wing, far-right wing or fascist. In many ways the Court was the only liberal institution left. Like it or not, it was an important moderating influence.
It will not be a popular opinion here but there needs to be a balance in any democracy. The other uncomfortable fact is that for decades the glue that kept Israel together was the external Arab enemy. Apart from Syria, which has no interest in another war, the Arab states now range from diffident to positively friendly in their attitudes towards Israel. It was probably inevitable then that internal divisions would spring to the fore.
The Israeli Arab towns resemble the old Italian, Irish and Jewish ghettoes in the US before the WASPs allowed them to enter the professional class – full of organised criminal elements and riven with guns. The police are afraid to enter and so the Arab mafia rules unchecked. Its ironic that Arab criminal gangs succeeded in gaining control of territory where Palestinian national movements failed. The risks of having a disaffected minority armed to the teeth and shut out of the wider economy are obvious.
The religious issue looks insoluble. It took centuries and protracted wars for the Christian churches to accept the supremacy of the State. It turns out that Jewish religious clerics never absorbed this concensus, but were simply kept in check by dint of the fact that they were a minority religion. Its difficult to see a way forward in that respect, particularly given demographic trends amongst the religious. Israel’s population is already aging. The fact that much of its population draws a stipend to sit at home and read the bible compounds the problem.
John Freeman
1 year ago
Meretz was wiped out at the last election. The Labour party, once regarded as the natural government of Israel, hangs by a thread with only four MKs left. That is all that is left of the Left. Everything else is either right of centre, right wing, far-right wing or fascist. In many ways the Court was the only liberal institution left. Like it or not, it was an important moderating influence.
It will not be a popular opinion here but there needs to be a balance in any democracy. The other uncomfortable fact is that for decades the glue that kept Israel together was the external Arab enemy. Apart from Syria, which has no interest in another war, the Arab states now range from diffident to positively friendly in their attitudes towards Israel. It was probably inevitable then that internal divisions would spring to the fore.
The Israeli Arab towns resemble the old Italian, Irish and Jewish ghettoes in the US before the WASPs allowed them to enter the professional class – full of organised criminal elements and riven with guns. The police are afraid to enter and so the Arab mafia rules unchecked. Its ironic that Arab criminal gangs succeeded in gaining control of territory where Palestinian national movements failed. The risks of having a disaffected minority armed to the teeth and shut out of the wider economy are obvious.
The religious issue looks insoluble. It took centuries and protracted wars for the Christian churches to accept the supremacy of the State. It turns out that Jewish religious clerics never absorbed this concensus, but were simply kept in check by dint of the fact that they were a minority religion. Its difficult to see a way forward in that respect, particularly given demographic trends amongst the religious. Israel’s population is already aging. The fact that much of its population draws a stipend to sit at home and read the bible compounds the problem.
Thx for setting the clock straight. Like Orban, Trump or Nigel Farage, Netanyahou is a right wing populist. Right wing populist represent a legitimate democratic opinion, even though the laptop class hate them because they propose to adopt different policies than globalism and open borders.
Such is the stranglehold of the cultural left on our media and judiciary that they can shift the mainstream narrative to calling any opposition party “undemocratic”.
What Emmanuel said 🙂
What Emmanuel said 🙂
Thx for setting the clock straight. Like Orban, Trump or Nigel Farage, Netanyahou is a right wing populist. Right wing populist represent a legitimate democratic opinion, even though the laptop class hate them because they propose to adopt different policies than globalism and open borders.
Such is the stranglehold of the cultural left on our media and judiciary that they can shift the mainstream narrative to calling any opposition party “undemocratic”.
Why do the Gulf states not support the Palestinians financially, or indeed give them a new ” homeland”?
Why doesn’t Putin join the Red Cross?
Why doesn’t Putin join the Red Cross?
Why do the Gulf states not support the Palestinians financially, or indeed give them a new ” homeland”?
This is bizarre coming from someone on theJP whose editor continuously pushes his editorial and articles with the agenda that democracy is under threat. Indeed many of its articles imply there could be civil war.
Bizarre maybe. Or perhaps refreshing. Why shoot the dissenting messenger?
Bizarre maybe. Or perhaps refreshing. Why shoot the dissenting messenger?
This is bizarre coming from someone on theJP whose editor continuously pushes his editorial and articles with the agenda that democracy is under threat. Indeed many of its articles imply there could be civil war.
The issues at stake in the current debate in Israel are very complicated and require serious knowledge and pragmatism. After 2000 years to find a formula which defines the Jewish religion with the needs of a modern state is extremely difficult. To do so while many unsolved matters the Israelis still have with the surrounding countries (some of them still enemies) is a daunting job. Let us follow patiently the developments hoping a compromise can be found.
The issues at stake in the current debate in Israel are very complicated and require serious knowledge and pragmatism. After 2000 years to find a formula which defines the Jewish religion with the needs of a modern state is extremely difficult. To do so while many unsolved matters the Israelis still have with the surrounding countries (some of them still enemies) is a daunting job. Let us follow patiently the developments hoping a compromise can be found.
An exceptionally poorly reasoned and fundamentally flawed article about the governmental revolution that is now in the making in Israel. “Reports of the demise of Israeli democracy are, however, greatly exaggerated. The proposed changes relate to the balance of power between the judiciary, the legislative and the executive branches of government . . . .” Correct, but the controversial legislation that is being fast tracked now terminates any balance at all. The legislation gives a simple majority in the parliament complete control over the selection of judges appointed to the Supreme Court and furthermore gives the same simple majority the power to override ANY decision of the Supreme Court should it not like the decisions of its hand picked judges! Please remember that in Israel there is no truly separate, independent executive branch. The prime minister never stands for a popular vote and serves entirely at the pleasure of the parliament. A simple majority throws the prime minister out. If this plan passes there are no checks and no balances. None. A bare majority of the parliament controls all branches of government. This is not democracy, although I am sure that Putin, Erdogan and Orban would disagree. The resistance to this putsch is not in any manner simply partisan politics at work. I think Lahav Harkov needs to retake civics 101.
An exceptionally poorly reasoned and fundamentally flawed article about the governmental revolution that is now in the making in Israel. “Reports of the demise of Israeli democracy are, however, greatly exaggerated. The proposed changes relate to the balance of power between the judiciary, the legislative and the executive branches of government . . . .” Correct, but the controversial legislation that is being fast tracked now terminates any balance at all. The legislation gives a simple majority in the parliament complete control over the selection of judges appointed to the Supreme Court and furthermore gives the same simple majority the power to override ANY decision of the Supreme Court should it not like the decisions of its hand picked judges! Please remember that in Israel there is no truly separate, independent executive branch. The prime minister never stands for a popular vote and serves entirely at the pleasure of the parliament. A simple majority throws the prime minister out. If this plan passes there are no checks and no balances. None. A bare majority of the parliament controls all branches of government. This is not democracy, although I am sure that Putin, Erdogan and Orban would disagree. The resistance to this putsch is not in any manner simply partisan politics at work. I think Lahav Harkov needs to retake civics 101.
Duplicitous article.
One proposal would allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings with a bare majority.
You consider that to be compatible with democracy?
It’s only a few cultural clicks away from government by fiat.
It’s more democratic than Supreme Court rulings which are based on nothing other than the mostly (ethnically and ideologically) homogeneous, unelected judges finding some government action “unreasonable” based on no objective standard.
It’s a proposal. Those politicians who have a better suggestion (not hard to come up with one) should bring it up in the committee or in the Knesset plenum and convince their peers. That’s democracy, not taking over the streets or refusing to protect the country or pulling out your money which was made thanks to everything that Israel provided the “founders” .
“Supreme Court justices were mostly self-selecting in the years after Barak, so they almost exclusively chose new members of the court who agreed with them”
Democracy isn’t unelected, “liberal ” judges overturning the will of people expressed by an elected parliament, even if it’s by a “bare majority”
It’s more democratic than Supreme Court rulings which are based on nothing other than the mostly (ethnically and ideologically) homogeneous, unelected judges finding some government action “unreasonable” based on no objective standard.
It’s a proposal. Those politicians who have a better suggestion (not hard to come up with one) should bring it up in the committee or in the Knesset plenum and convince their peers. That’s democracy, not taking over the streets or refusing to protect the country or pulling out your money which was made thanks to everything that Israel provided the “founders” .
“Supreme Court justices were mostly self-selecting in the years after Barak, so they almost exclusively chose new members of the court who agreed with them”
Democracy isn’t unelected, “liberal ” judges overturning the will of people expressed by an elected parliament, even if it’s by a “bare majority”
Duplicitous article.
One proposal would allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings with a bare majority.
You consider that to be compatible with democracy?
It’s only a few cultural clicks away from government by fiat.
If the Basic Law is not a constitution, what is it?
Of course, it’s a constitution.
There is no basis in Israeli law for constitutional status for so-called “Basic Laws”. How can a law passed by a 32-21 vote, out of 120 MKs, be considered of constitutional stature? They weren’t even paying attention.
We first need a law that establishes the status of a Basic Law as being superior to other laws, and a special procedure to approve one including supermajority of the plenum and perhaps even a national referendum. This would relegate all current Basic Laws to regular law status and we would need to relegislate them all.
Another great article by Lahav, thank you. Perhaps a better title for it would note that our democracy is not currently in peril but our country most certainly is, the result of radicalization and polarization that have been building for years. Democracy becomes more and more fragile as radicalization increases. The real danger to democracy in Israel is not the legal reforms themselves but all those who refuse to engage democratically with the other side – left and right – and attempt to hold hostage the essential national intuitions like the IDF, the economy and the Knesset to get their way.
There is no basis in Israeli law for constitutional status for so-called “Basic Laws”. How can a law passed by a 32-21 vote, out of 120 MKs, be considered of constitutional stature? They weren’t even paying attention.
We first need a law that establishes the status of a Basic Law as being superior to other laws, and a special procedure to approve one including supermajority of the plenum and perhaps even a national referendum. This would relegate all current Basic Laws to regular law status and we would need to relegislate them all.
Another great article by Lahav, thank you. Perhaps a better title for it would note that our democracy is not currently in peril but our country most certainly is, the result of radicalization and polarization that have been building for years. Democracy becomes more and more fragile as radicalization increases. The real danger to democracy in Israel is not the legal reforms themselves but all those who refuse to engage democratically with the other side – left and right – and attempt to hold hostage the essential national intuitions like the IDF, the economy and the Knesset to get their way.
If the Basic Law is not a constitution, what is it?
Of course, it’s a constitution.
Meretz was wiped out at the last election. The Labour party, once regarded as the natural government of Israel, hangs by a thread with only four MKs left. That is all that is left of the Left. Everything else is either right of centre, right wing, far-right wing or fascist. In many ways the Court was the only liberal institution left. Like it or not, it was an important moderating influence.
It will not be a popular opinion here but there needs to be a balance in any democracy. The other uncomfortable fact is that for decades the glue that kept Israel together was the external Arab enemy. Apart from Syria, which has no interest in another war, the Arab states now range from diffident to positively friendly in their attitudes towards Israel. It was probably inevitable then that internal divisions would spring to the fore.
The Israeli Arab towns resemble the old Italian, Irish and Jewish ghettoes in the US before the WASPs allowed them to enter the professional class – full of organised criminal elements and riven with guns. The police are afraid to enter and so the Arab mafia rules unchecked. Its ironic that Arab criminal gangs succeeded in gaining control of territory where Palestinian national movements failed. The risks of having a disaffected minority armed to the teeth and shut out of the wider economy are obvious.
The religious issue looks insoluble. It took centuries and protracted wars for the Christian churches to accept the supremacy of the State. It turns out that Jewish religious clerics never absorbed this concensus, but were simply kept in check by dint of the fact that they were a minority religion. Its difficult to see a way forward in that respect, particularly given demographic trends amongst the religious. Israel’s population is already aging. The fact that much of its population draws a stipend to sit at home and read the bible compounds the problem.
Meretz was wiped out at the last election. The Labour party, once regarded as the natural government of Israel, hangs by a thread with only four MKs left. That is all that is left of the Left. Everything else is either right of centre, right wing, far-right wing or fascist. In many ways the Court was the only liberal institution left. Like it or not, it was an important moderating influence.
It will not be a popular opinion here but there needs to be a balance in any democracy. The other uncomfortable fact is that for decades the glue that kept Israel together was the external Arab enemy. Apart from Syria, which has no interest in another war, the Arab states now range from diffident to positively friendly in their attitudes towards Israel. It was probably inevitable then that internal divisions would spring to the fore.
The Israeli Arab towns resemble the old Italian, Irish and Jewish ghettoes in the US before the WASPs allowed them to enter the professional class – full of organised criminal elements and riven with guns. The police are afraid to enter and so the Arab mafia rules unchecked. Its ironic that Arab criminal gangs succeeded in gaining control of territory where Palestinian national movements failed. The risks of having a disaffected minority armed to the teeth and shut out of the wider economy are obvious.
The religious issue looks insoluble. It took centuries and protracted wars for the Christian churches to accept the supremacy of the State. It turns out that Jewish religious clerics never absorbed this concensus, but were simply kept in check by dint of the fact that they were a minority religion. Its difficult to see a way forward in that respect, particularly given demographic trends amongst the religious. Israel’s population is already aging. The fact that much of its population draws a stipend to sit at home and read the bible compounds the problem.