In Israel, justice reform continues to cause a stir. This Monday, it should be endorsed by the majority in the Knesset, despite the massive protest of the Israelis. The researcher Denis Charbit, professor of political science at the Open University of Israel and author of the book “Israel and its paradoxes” recalls what this controversial law consists of and why the mobilization of this weekend comes to give a second wind to the protest movement.
RFI: Could you re-explain, precisely, what this bill consists of and why it is so decried and criticized?
Denis Charbit: On November 1, 2022, there are elections in Israel which, for the first time, give an absolute majority to right-wing parties and religious parties that agree on what they consider to be the ” necessary reform ” of Justice. In fact, behind this expression, we must hear a reform – some even say a counter-revolution – of the balance of powers between the executive and the legislative on the one hand and the judiciary on the other.
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That is to say that until now, the Supreme Court is authorized, when seized by associations or by individuals, to annul laws of Parliament and to annul decisions of the government if they do not meet the criteria of legality and legitimacy as fixed by law.
Less than six days later [la formation du gouvernement], the Minister of Justice announces a package of reforms. And [celles-ci] are intended to reduce, not to say nullify, in any case very clearly neutralize the authority of the Supreme Court, in terms of nullifying laws or decisions of the government, ministries, or even municipalities – the field is quite broad, it covers everything that comes under public authority. This reform will eliminate the recourse that the Supreme Court had to annul a decision of these authorities, on the pretext that they are unreasonable. That is to say, decisions that go beyond “understanding”.
Very quickly, the street mobilized…
Initially, there were demonstrations which lasted from January, including a few days after the public announcement of this package of reforms, until March and which led, at that time, the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to stop the legislation. It had gone to parliamentary committee, it had gone to first reading, all that was missing was second and third reading. This was suspended to give way to negotiations between the opposition and government representatives with a view to finding an agreement, a broad agreement, a broad consensus. These negotiations were interrupted in mid-June. And since mid-June, the Prime Minister and his coalition had announced that they were giving themselves until the parliamentary holidays, so until July 31, to vote at least one law to the end. And today [dimanche]and tomorrow begins the debate in Parliament to decide whether to vote on the text at second and third reading.
Binyamin Netanyahu and his allies have the votes to pass this law. So the most likely at this stage is that Monday evening, this law will be adopted…
Exactly. We do not expect dissidence within the coalition. There are at least three or four MPs who have a lot of questions. Because when you have hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are on the streets, and especially elites and military and economic elites in particular, some coalition MPs say ” maybe we should stop “. This is what the Minister of Defence, moreover, is asking for, who is very worried about the threat that reservists are hovering saying : “ if this law is voted on Monday, we, from Tuesday, we will refuse all requests for mobilization necessary for our training within the Israeli army. »
We have never seen this in the history of Israel, around what many of us consider “regime change”. Everyone says that if this law passes tomorrow, Israel would become a kind of “unofficial dictatorship”. From the moment there is no more judicial control, it looks like an authoritarian regime.
The opponents made a show of force this weekend, with this march between Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other points in the country. What will the future of this protest movement look like?
In fact, the fateful date is not this Monday. Assuming that tomorrow, we vote this law, there is still a Supreme Court which exists according to principles which have not yet been modified. This Supreme Court will inevitably rule on this law. And the real crisis will not be tomorrow. The real crisis – institutional – is if in eight days, fifteen days, three weeks, when the Supreme Court will have to rule on this law, it says “ this law, passed by the Knesset, we annul it “. So there, we are heading towards a confrontation with the government. A government that will have to decide: either we bow to the judgment of the Court – as has generally been the case since it has existed – or we decide that we are going all the way. If the Supreme Court says it’s legal, then it’s unclear what will become of this protest movement.
Until then, is there a risk of the protest movement running out of steam, or can the scale of the mobilization this weekend also give it a form of second wind?
It is true that when Netanyahu, in March, decided to suspend the legislative process, the demonstrations continued. But they brought together a lot less people. There, for about eight or fifteen days, since we are approaching the fateful date of this legislation, the movement has grown considerably. Always in Tel Aviv, a little in other cities of the country. But it’s true that it gave him this second wind, because it joins, in a way, an Israeli practice which is very well known, which is a cultural practice of walking. Israelis love to walk, hike and that’s what they did. They took this cultural practice that has existed since Israel exists, but they transformed it, if I may say so, into a political practice.
And there, there was, I would say, a general emotion, whether we participated in it or saw it on television screens. What we also noticed a lot is that they called on the villages, the towns, all along the march, to tell them ” bring a drink, bring food to these walkers “. And there have been tons of donations that have been made, precisely, to support this movement.
Could there be, for example, a hardening of this contestation?
There may be some hardening. Until now, the reservists – I insist on this, they are not the soldiers of the contingent, we are indeed talking about reservists, civilians who are called to serve for three weeks or one month per year – these reservists, currently, have not yet refused to serve. But they warn, saying that if the law actually passes, they will start failing to show up at the military bases where they are assigned. So there, we will have a hardening since we will go from a verbal threat to an application of this threat.
The second possible hardening is that of the world of work. The central trade union, so far, has not spoken, it has not decreed a general strike. But it is true that there are talks with the employers’ organisations. This is unheard of: employers’ organizations coming to see the trade union center to tell it to organize a general strike, because it is believed that this is the only thing that can make Netanyahu and his coalition retreat. So yes, there may be a hardening, but again, I think what we will wait for is the opinion of the Supreme Court.
Is there also a risk of radicalization and violence?
We wonder about that. You know, the Israeli demonstrations are overall very good-natured demonstrations, I say this in relation to the French situation. There is no breakage. It’s not in the culture of protest, but for a very simple reason: it’s that in general, when there have been movements in Israel’s history of even a smaller magnitude, the government has backed down.
In 1974, Golda Meir resigned because reservists demanded her resignation. There, Netanyahu remains adamant. And it is true that in the history of Israel, these kinds of protests have never reached this extreme point. There was a first setback in March. I admit to having been a little optimistic when I said to myself, that’s it, they understood. The United States does not want it, the European Union does not want it. Economic elites say it is dangerous. Nearly a million protests say no. They backed up, but we realize that they backed up to jump better.
And when there is no precedent, historians are modest. I do not think that we will go towards a radicalization of the demonstrations, but it [faudra regarder] on the side of the army. We now hear hundreds of police officers saying ” we don’t participate, we don’t volunteer anymore “. Will the protest pass through the ranks of the army itself, into the ranks of the police itself – not just among the reservists? There, it is true that it would be unheard of in Israel.
• Denis Charbit, Israel and its paradoxes, Editions du Cavalier Bleu.