Chaos as Israel departs the Ranks of Democracies, Adopting the Hungarian Model of Elective Dictatorship

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that on Monday, the Israeli parliament or Knesset passed the article removing the power of administrative review from Israeli courts on grounds of “reasonability.” The measure passed 64-0 in the 120-seat body, with the far right wing coalition of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unanimously in favor and the opposition having left the chamber in protest.

The country was thrown into chaos.

The move is similar to but more brazen than steps taken in illiberal states like Viktor Orban’s Hungary to place the courts under the authority of the ruling Fidezc Party. In other words, Israel has entered the category of what Fareed Zakariya has called the “illiberal democracies.” I prefer the term “elective dictatorship.” In such states, elections are held, but that is the only occasion upon which citizens have political agency, and they are expected to sit down and shut up after a government is formed, on pain of being charged with political libel. Of course, even when it was more democratic for Jewish citizens, Israel presided over a hybrid colonial system that deprived 5 million of its subjects of citizenship or the franchise, i.e. the Palestinians under Israeli military rule in the Occupied Territories.

Before the vote, some protesters attempted to invade the parliament building or to prevent the parliamentarians from entering and voting. At least 54 protesters were arrested.

The far right wing coalition took the step despite massive nation-wide street protests every week for the past few months.

There have also been an unprecedented number of threats by military reservists to resign or to refuse to show up for periodic training. Last weekend 10,000 reservists threatened to go AWOL, and before that 1,400 officers in the reserves, including 400 fighter jet pilots, made a similar threat. These steps have been backed by large numbers of retired security chiefs.

The Israeli Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, warned Netanyahu after the vote that he and his cabinet must cease slamming the Israeli soldiers and reservists, since it was causing a serious morale problem. Many Israelis in the military, whether regular troops or reservists, have complained that they only signed up to defend a democracy, not an elective dictatorship. These statements and threats of resignations have caused harsh condemnation. Transport Minister Miri Regev called for reservists who refused to show up for training to be jailed. Halevi had been trying to get a meeting with Netanyahu since last Thursday but had been repeatedly rebuffed.

Large numbers of Israeli businesses have also been fleeing abroad with their capital and expertise, a sign that they believe that without court oversight the government will be incorrigibly corrupt in ways that will hurt free market competition. The Israeli stock market crashed and the value of the shekel against the dollar plummeted after the vote.

In January, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered Shas Party leader Aryeh Makhlouf Deri barred from a cabinet position in the government because of a long history of embezzling, fraud and money laundering. Although he initially defied the court, Deri ultimately stepped down and nevertheless kept his ultra-Orthodox party in the coalition. The law passed on Monday would remove from the court the ability to interfere in such appointments, so that there is now no check on corruption in high places. Israel’s legislature only has one house, so there is no senate. The executive in a prime ministerial system is elected by a majority of parliament and so is also not able to offer any check or balance regarding parliamentary overreach.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrated in the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other major cities on Monday evening in the wake of the legislation, often blocking major thoroughfares. The police in Tel Aviv complained that hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of damage to the city’s infrastructure had been done by the demonstrators. In Tel Aviv, police used tactics of especial brutality as violence escalated. In addition to physically assaulting demonstrators, even throwing them over road barriers, and tossing burning wood planks at them, the police used water cannons and skunk water in an attempt to disperse the crowds, much the same techniques the Israeli Occupation security forces use against Palestinians in the West Bank.

💥Police throw burning wood planks at protesters in Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/KIPBrlhrim

— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي💙 (@NTarnopolsky) July 24, 2023

So today the gov started it take over of the High Court and in the same night they decided to show us what a dictatorship looks like. Absolute chaos in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/7gdrs8bWvn

— Louis Fishman لوي فيشمان לואי פישמן (@Istanbultelaviv) July 25, 2023

Right wing organizations bused thousands of counter-demonstrators into Jerusalem, mainly from squatter settlements on Palestinian land in the Palestinian West Bank. At Kfar Saba, a right winger rammed his car into the protesters, causing non-lethal injuries.

The Supreme Court had curbed some squatters’ initiatives, as when private individuals went off to squat on Palestinian farms with no government sanction, which even Israeli authorities consider “illegal settlements.” The current government, which includes several squatters as cabinet members, is determined to conduct a massive theft of Palestinian property and ultimately to annex the West Bank to Israel, while keeping its 3 million Palestinian inhabitants stateless and without rights. Henceforth, apparently, there will be no such thing as an illegal settlement in Israeli law.

In international law, all squatting by Israelis on occupied Palestinian territory is illegal.

Minister of Finance and racist extremist Bezalel Smotrich taunted the protesters that he understood their pain, since he had been similarly upset at the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993 and the decision of the government of Ariel Sharon to withdraw settlers from Palestinian Gaza in 2005.

Some observers are wondering whether the Supreme Court may strike down the legislation, provoking a major constitutional crisis. At that point, it seems to me, it becomes consequential with whom Lt. Gen. Halevi sides.