In Unherd: Israel’s democracy is not in peril
Given the headlines this week, you’d be forgiven for thinking Israel was on the brink of civil war. In Tel Aviv, on Wednesday, thousands of anti-government protesters were met with water cannons and stun grenades in a clash with police. This “day of disruption” followed eight weeks of protests against prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plans to reform the Supreme Court. In the eyes of the Western media, courageous liberals are fighting to stop Israel’s democracy from sliding into an autocracy.
Reports of the demise of Israeli democracy are, however, greatly exaggerated. The proposed changes relate to the balance of power between the judiciary, the legislative and the executive branches of government — a matter of usually staid debate among Israeli academics and wonks for nearly three decades. Today’s incendiary rhetoric on the issue says more about the vicious and polarised state of Israeli politics than the controversiality of the Supreme Court reforms.