Israel Weekly News Roundup Feb 24 2023
5 Things you need to know
New Israeli Coalition Rushes Ahead With Revolutionary Legislation: The Israeli Knesset (parliament) approved several bills that if they continue to be approved through the whole legislative process, will hollow out Israeli democracy, and eliminate all checks and balances between the three major state branches: legislative (Knesset), executive (government) and judicial (courts).
A. A new law places control over the committee to nominate justices by the ruling coalition, so it will be totally controlled by the political majority, and all justices will be nominated by politicians. It is a different reality from the US, since Israel doesn’t have a constitution that safeguards civil and human rights.
B. The override bill to enable the Knesset to override any Supreme Court decision by a majority of one was passed in a pre-legislation vote in the Knesset.
C. The bill that disables the High Court of Justice from disqualifying bills, even if they are directly contradictory to human and civil rights, except for a unanimous vote by all fifteen justices, and only if the bill directly contradicts a specific clause in a previously legislated bill. It is important to mention here that rights like: freedom of speech, freedom of protest and even equality are not mentioned in any bills in current Israeli statute law.
D. A bill that disables the High Court of Justice from ruling in cases against the nomination of ministers. This is in response to the ruling of the Court, that disallowed Netanyahu from nominating one of his political allies, Shas leader Aryeh Deri, who was convicted of tax fraud in a plea deal.
Some international officials are trying to understand the developments, and some have already expressed their concerns.
Supporters of the judicial reforms claim that there is a clear imbalance in favor of the High Court of Justice that takes the liberty to interfere in political and governance matters.
Another Week of Mass Demonstrations Against the Judicial Overhaul: tens of thousands of people took to the streets for a seventh week in a row, on Saturday evening and all day Monday, as the coalition stepped up the rapid legislative efforts to weaken the judicial system.
On Saturday, demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and additional locations across the country. In Tel Aviv, protestors blocked main streets in mid-town. On Monday, as voting on the new laws was underway inside the Knesset, tens of thousands flocked to the capital and marched around the Knesset.
The protest movement, which continues to grow, is comprised of highly diverse groups: mental health professionals, high-tech entrepreneurs, army veterans, lawyers and jurists, students, parents, women’s groups and others. Protests are expected to continue this weekend and next week, as legislative efforts continue.
Escalation in Security Tensions Between Israel and the Palestinians: Israeli military forces executed a mission to prevent terror attacks aimed at Israelis, according to military sources. Eleven Palestinians were killed and more than 70 people were injured during the military operation in Nablus, a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank that is under the full control of the Palestinian Authority. All intelligence sources predict that this will result in an escalation with the Palestinians. The security situation has been tense in the last few weeks, senior security officials were on high alert already, and are afraid that this will escalate the violence. Meanwhile Islamic Jihad has already retaliated by shooting some rockets towards southern Israel. This was met by Israeli forces bombing the usual targets in Gaza as a response.
An Economic Crisis is Developing: Due to the political and judicial revolution and unrest, and according to analysis from senior economists, Israel’s economy is encountering a crisis. The main manifestation of the crisis is shown in the rate of exchange of the NIS (New Israeli Shekel) with the US dollar, the Euro and other foreign currencies. The other manifestation is the rise of interest rates, which immediately resulted a dramatic rise in mortgage rates linked to the prime rate. Many Israeli and foreign corporations are divesting from their Israeli investments and some people are transferring their capital out of the country. This results in additional unrest.
Femicide in Israel on the Rise; Two Women Murdered in One Week: a woman in her 20’s was murdered in her apartment in the Jewish southern town of Nes Ziona, and another woman, 41, was murdered in the southern city of Ashdod. The police arrested the brother of the first victim, a man in this 30’s, and a 23-year old man, suspected in the murder of the latter.
These murders bring the number of femicides since the beginning of the year to four. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in response to a call by Ashdod city council member, Sharon Mark, visited the crime scene and called for funding to hire additional police officers. “We must restore governance,” wrote minister Ben Gvir, on Twitter. This, while the current government is promoting legislation to increase the possession of firearms by civilians.
Yair Lapid, former PM and head of the opposition tweeted: “Two women were murdered in the past two days. Four in two weeks. It’s shocking, it’s grave. There can’t be silence.”
For Further Reading:
Judicial reforms/revolution: Here, here, here
Protests: Here, here, here, here, here