Israel - 2023 Protests
In January 2023, days after it was sworn in, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government unveiled a plan to reform the country’s judicial system. The judicial overhaul would give the executive control over appointing judges to the Supreme Court, and allow the government to override court rulings. The changes would limit the Supreme Court’s powers to rule against the legislature and the executive, giving the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) the power to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes out of the 120-seat Knesset. A second proposal would take away the Supreme Court’s authority to review the legality of Israel’s Basic Laws, which function as the country’s constitution.
The reforms would also change how Supreme Court justices are selected, giving politicians decisive powers in appointing judges. The independent panel for selecting judges currently requires politicians and judges who sit on it to agree on appointments. The present proposal would change that, giving the government far more sway.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties in the coalition want to pass a law exempting their community from conscription in the military, which they worry may be struck down by the court if its powers are not cut back. Critics slammed the move as an attempt to weaken Israel’s judiciary as an effort by Netanyahu to escape his corruption trials. Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges that he denies, faced weeks of escalating protests in Israel over his government’s judicial reform program, which would increase politicians’ power over the courts. The protesters considered it a coup by the religious far-right parties in Israel to change the country and make it a dictatorship and to kill Israeli democracy.
Netanyahu's plan to hand more control to politicians and diminish the role of the Supreme Court ignited protests and was questioned by Israel's top allies, including the US, which expressed concern. Critics said the reform project threatens Israel's democracy, but the government argued changes are needed to rebalance powers between lawmakers and the judiciary.
On January 14, thousands of Israelis protested against the proposal in several cities. The demonstrations became a weekly event that gradually intensified as the government pushed ahead with the proposed changes.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miaraaccused Netanyahu of "illegal" public intervention on the process of adopting the judicial reforms. “The legal situation is clear: you must refrain from any involvement in initiatives to change the judiciary, including the makeup of the committee for the appointment of judges, as such activity is a conflict of interest,” Gali Baharav-Miara said.
A planned statement by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who Israeli media said wanted to call for a stop to the plans in the name of maintaining order in military ranks, was shelved after he was summoned by the prime minister’s office. Gallant had previously voiced worries about a wave of Israelis who have pledged not to heed call-ups for military reserve duty if the reforms proceed, saying the phenomenon could weaken war readiness and national cohesion.
Hours after Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for calling for a halt to government plans to overhaul the judicial system, he faced a night of raging street protests that even came close to his home. The country’s main union, the Histadrut labour federation, started a labor strike that disrupted departures from the international airport. Israeli media reported that takeoffs from Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport had been suspended. "Bring back the country's sanity. If you don't announce in a news conference today that you changed your mind, we will go on strike," Arnon Bar-David, chairman of the Histadrut said. The plans and uproar over them have unsettled investors long resistant to turmoil.
The Israeli Medical Association announced a one-day strike at all public hospitals and community clinics. At noon, the Azrieli Group and BIG Group, two of Israel's largest mall chains, joined the strike and shut down dozens of their shopping centers across the country. The Israel Airports Authority canceled all departures at the Ben Gurion Airport, affecting 36,500 passengers. Factories, banks, shopping malls and local authorities participating in the strike also shut down services.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid says Israel has “never been closer to falling apart”. Lapid said at a rally outside parliament in Jerusalem “Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever... We don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country... We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries”.
President Isaac Herzog, who staged a rare intervention into politics, called on Netanyahu to halt the legislation “for the sake of the unity of the people of Israel.” Herzog said "The entire nation is rapt with deep worry. Our security, economy, society -- all are under threat. The whole people of Israel are looking at you." Herzog laid down a road map to what an agreement could look like taking into consideration the needs of both sides. The opposition was very happy to accept that as a basis for negations with the coalition. Netanyahu and his entire coalition basically rejected that out right.
Netanyahu on 27 March 2023 announced a pause to a set of divisive judicial reforms moving through parliament. The move came hours after the head of Israel’s top trade union called for a general strike following weeks of mass protests. "Out of a sense of national responsibility, out of a will to prevent a rupture among our people, I have decided to pause the second and third readings of the bill," he told the legislature. "I decided to freeze the decision on judicial amendments and give a chance for dialogue... We are at the climax of a serious crisis that endangers our unity," he said. Israel's parliament, known as the Knesset, will go on recess for the Passover holiday.
Netanyahu canceled the announcement of the suspension of judicial reform amid rumors that Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had threatened to resign. Ben-Gvir, leader of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party and a key partner in the coalition government, said he would quit the coalition if the reform plan was frozen, a move that would cause the coalition to lose its parliamentary majority and possibly lead to new elections.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had warned Netanyahu that the judicial overhaul must go ahead. But a proposal to enable parliament to override some Supreme Court rulings by a slim majority among lawmakers “won’t happen”, Netanyahu said without elaborating.
Political analyst Nour Odeh says Netanyahu is “throwing Palestinians to the wolves”, by allowing Ben-Gvir – who has been convicted for racist incitement against Arabs and support for “terrorism” – to form a militia in the occupied West Bank. “Palestinian blood is all it took to protect ‘Israeli democracy.’ How telling,” Odeh wrote. “This militia will be used to crack down on Israeli protesters inside the green line and to terrorize Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of the American Jewish organisation If Not Now, wrote. The far-right national security minister has a long history of incendiary comments about Palestinians. The minister, who leads the ultranationalist settler Religious Zionism party, had previously claimed that there was “no such thing” as a Palestinian people and called for the Palestinian village of Hawara to be “wiped out”. Ben-Gvir had allegedly threatened to resign if the judicial reform is halted.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said: “We’ve been very clear privately, of course, with Israeli leaders as well as publicly about our concerns … over developments here in the last 48 hours and again, strongly urge Israeli leaders to compromise.” Kirby noted that “All of that concern comes from … a place of respect and friendship and admiration for the Israeli people, for Israel as a country and for Israel’s democracy”.
Responding to Netanyahu’s statement that the delay comes from a will to reach a broad consensus, Haggai Matar, executive director of +972 magazine told Al Jazeera that “it looks like there’s a very low likelihood of there actually being a consensus.... This is probably a delay tactic used by Netanyahu. The opposition and the protest movement have both said, time and time again, two things that need to serve as a foundation for negotiations”.
“One is completely stopping, not just slightly delaying the legislation process and right now the legislation process is at a point where Netanyahu, if he wanted to, can revive it and within less than a day have it approved. That is what some people in the opposition say is like having a gun pointed to our temple and then saying ‘let’s negotiate’.
“The other thing is that President Isaac Herzog has laid down a road map to what an agreement could look like taking into consideration the needs of both sides. The opposition was very happy to accept that as a basis for negations with the coalition. Netanyahu and his entire coalition basically rejected that out right, so with both that kind of gun pointed at the temple and the refusal to accept the president’s road map, there seems very little to negotiate on.”
Israel "cannot continue down this road," Biden said after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a pause on the legislation to overhaul the country's justice system. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded that Israel is "not another star on the American flag. We are a democracy and I expect the U.S. president to understand that." Netanyahu posted a message on Twitter saying he appreciates the president’s “longstanding commitment to Israel,” but pointedly added that “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid took to Twitter, saying that "Israel has been the U.S.'s closest ally for dozens of years. The most extreme government in Israel's history has ruined that within three months."
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