Is Democracy Alive and Well in the Holy Land?
By Benjamin Meppen
On the weekend of March 26, 2023, hundreds of thousands of Israelis poured out onto the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding that PM Netanyahu and his coalition government halt their attempt at overhauling the judicial system. These protests have been going on for 11 weeks, crescendoing in some violent rioting this weekend as protesters nationwide hit their boiling point. With tensions extremely high all over Israel, union workers, doctors, airport employees, and teachers are all striking periodically in support of the protests. From this, a big question emerges: is democracy alive and well in Israel?
Defining democracy, especially when it comes to Israel, can be challenging, but on a rudimentary level, democracy is a form of government in which the power to make decisions and elect officials is delegated to the people. Key pillars include the ability to hold free, fair, and competitive elections, along with an unequivocal right to protest in a peaceful manner. In the United States, we are, of course, afforded these inalienable rights, but let’s look at how these rights manifest themselves in Israel. With Netanyahu being elected for his sixth term as Prime Minister of Israel, many are quick to call him a dictator or a monarch, as he has been recently indicted for corruption charges and yet somehow rose to the apex of power in Israel’s Knesset for another term. However, he was elected in a legitimate manner, and his newly formed coalition government is seen as the most far-right coalition ever created in Israel’s history.
Many in Israel and around the world argue that Netanyahu shouldn’t have been able to be in the running for PM since he is in not one, but three ongoing trials, all on corruption charges from back in 2019. These cases are not going away anytime soon either — when the man on trial is also the man who is actively trying to reform and fundamentally change the country’s judicial system, things can get very rocky very quickly. Despite his numerous shortcomings as a candidate and as a leader, he retook control over the PM role in December of 2022. After beginning his new term, Netanyahu announced that he would be implementing new “procedures for choosing Supreme Court judges that would include giving politicians more sway in the process while also limiting court rulings against Knesset laws,”
This proclamation of authority over both the courts and over the people had Israelis livid, leading to marches in the streets, flags in one hand and bullhorns in the other, starting on January 7th. Netanyahu has single-handedly ignited a flame within the Israeli people, energizing the left, center-left, centrist, and center-right voters against his new judicial reform policies. Israelis have come out against Netanyahu, as they protest “a plan that some see as a consolidation of power, with parliament increasing its oversight of the court system.”
Through all the protests, news coverage, and flag-waving, these demonstrations have put the world on high alert that Israel’s democratic systems, particularly concerning the right to assemble, are operating at full capacity. Never before has there been such a blatant power grab from an Israeli leader, and the people have more than exercised their individual rights to protest their government openly. On top of that, they are protesting a democratically elected leader who was elected by way of free and fair elections. Although the water may be murky right now in Israel, these protests are exemplary of what Israel’s supporters have seen for years — that Israel holds true to Democratic values. For all those who call Israel a tyrannical ethnostate, come watch and see hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting against their own government, each one of them waving the Israeli flag proudly in the air, proclaiming that no one man can control their free and democratic homeland.
The proof is now in the hummus, as they say in Israel. Protesting and exercising free speech against the government are two fundamental mainstays of a living and functioning democracy, and they have prevailed in Israel. In a region of the world where there are no other free and fair democracies for many miles surrounding Israel’s borders, it is comforting and reassuring to see Israel’s democratic values, if not all of their institutions, at work as its people take to the streets to protest what they view as a dictatorial power grab by way of overhauling their judicial system.
It should be noted that the efforts of the protestors have already had concrete effects. On March 28th, Prime Minister Netanyahu officially agreed to halt going forward with the judicial reform until the next time the Knesset has a chance to gather. In an address to the Israeli people he maintained his position stating that they still need to reform the judicial system and judge selection process but he will halt his plans at the moment.
Now the world’s eyes will continue to be fixed on the halls of the Knesset to see if Netanyahu will permanently withdraw his attempts at altering the courts for his own personal favor or continue to press on against the clear wishes of his people. Netanyahu’s personal agenda seems to be at absolute odds with the will of his people, and if I were him, I wouldn’t mess with hundreds of thousands of mad Israelis; it sounds like a big balagan to me.
