The first law of judicial reform takes its toll in Israel
The feeling of the detractors of the judicial reform plan in Israel after the approval of its first law that annuls an important appeal of the Supreme Court (TS) to review government decisions was reflected in the first two black pages of the newspapers in Israel with the following words: “Black day for Israeli democracy. Israel's locomotive will never give way.”. This is not an editorial coincidence of the press, but advertising paid for by a large group of High Tech that is very active in the protests to stop what it calls “attack against judicial independence and democracy.”
“A great day for democracy”, they exclaimed, for their part, in the coalition the day after the first step “to correct the legal system and restore the powers that were taken away from the Government and the Knesset”.
Neither one nor the other believes that the annulment of the reasonableness clause is the end of democracy. The TS can not only knock down the amendment, challenged by seven appeals presented, but also has more criteria such as proportionality, lack of authority, conflict of interest or equality to intervene in decisions and appointments of the Government. But the fear of many is the context. In other words, let it be the beginning of the process to weaken the judiciary. The preamble to the great objective of the Minister of Justice, Yair Levin and part of the coalition: to obtain a majority in the judge selection commission.
The approval of the law already has consequences even before it enters into force after the signature of President Isaac Herzog.
From an economic point of view, the effects are immediate and negative.. The day after the approval of the law, the stock market registered a decrease of 6%, the value of the shekel lost 2.7% against the dollar while Morgan Stanley, Citibank and the Moodys agency disseminated negative reports on the consequences of political and social events on the economy.. The reduction of investments in the Israeli technological ecosystem in the first six months of the year compared to last year is 68%.
On the other hand, the military leadership expresses great concern after the announcement of thousands of reservists not to report to their voluntary service in protest because the norm is not agreed upon. The damage is already a fact in the internal cohesion and deterrence capacity in the region while it is expected that it will not affect military capacity in the short term.
Distancing from the White House
On a diplomatic level, it is the last thing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to reconcile with the Biden Administration, which already viewed his ultra-conservative coalition with great suspicion.. The US usually broadcasts reactions about its great ally in the Middle East on security and regional issues such as Iran or the conflict with the Palestinians and not on internal affairs.. In recent months, however, President Joe Biden has publicized his concern by actively (phone conversation with Netanyahu) and passively (through journalist Thomas Friedman) asking for the reform to be agreed upon.. In a reflection of American anger, Netanyahu has yet to receive an invitation to the White House despite having been in power for seven months now.. What happened this week in the Knesset does not exactly bring him closer to Washington.
In the political arena and while his trial for corruption continues, Netanyahu achieved several months of calm in his coalition after giving in to Levin, who had refused any concession to agree on the law.. The premier set the end of November as the deadline to be able to agree on the rest of the reform, as promised to Biden. Netanyahu would be interested in freezing everything and refocusing on his favorite agenda (against nuclear Iran and in favor of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia) but Levin (“the real prime minister”, according to the opposition and several analysts) and some coalition partners will demand that he continue with or without the opposition's signature, despite the fact that this will increase the schism and cause more protests and that polls indicate that the majority of Israelis oppose the reform without consensus.
The political tragedy of Netanyahu -and therefore of the country- is that for the first time in his long career he does not have an alternative in the center left to agree on a government or threaten to agree. For this reason, marginal parties with radical positions occupy important positions in power, which on the other hand contributes significantly to the discontent, intensity and perseverance of the massive protests that began 30 weeks ago.