First Step in Israel's "Legal Revolution" - "Reasonableness" Bill Passes

There is much to write about today's events in Israel.  Unfortunately, none of it is good news.  The Israeli Knesset today passed the third and final reading of a bill - called the "reasonableness law."  This was the first major bill that is a part of a collection of proposed laws put together by the current Justice Minister Yariv Levin.  The laws are intended to weaken the power of the Israeli Supreme Court dramatically, reduce its independence and enable the Knesset to override decisions of the Supreme Court (even after the party in power has hand-picked the justices).  

The right in Israel calls this all "judicial reform" while everyone else, from centre-right to left calls it a "legal revolution" or even a "coup."  

I have read various articles attempting to explain away these various proposed changes.  Some commentators have used the United States as the barometer for analyzing the changes and claim that if it only moves the Israeli legal system towards the system in the U.S., it must be a good thing.  Given the recent news about influence peddling in the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the types of decisions the U.S. Court has been releasing, it seems hard to imagine that anyone who is sincerely interested in an independent and robust judiciary would be using the U.S. as a model.  Sorry to offend my U.S. readers.

Others have argued that changing Israeli judicial precedents through legislation is only a way of "restoring balance" to the system and balancing out the power of the judiciary against the power of the other branches of government.  But the Israeli Supreme  Court has actually interfered with the government on relatively few occasions.  For the most part, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the various right wing governments that he has led have enjoyed a great deal of freedom of action and have seen relatively little practical interference from the Israeli Supreme Court even though members of the current government that he leads argue that the country is "ruled" by the Supreme Court.  

But the concern in Israel - and the impetus behind the demonstrations is not one particular bill or law.  If the only law being proposed by the current government was this "reasonableness" law - (which is intended to change Israeli common law and bar judges from using "unreasonableness" or "extreme unreasonableness" as a grounds for judicial review of legislation of governmental action), then the Israeli public might not be so riled up.  

But the current government has 64 seats.  15 of those seats are from the Religious Zionist Party which is mostly made up of xenophobic, homophobic, fascists who would like turn Israel into an Iranian type regime, run according to their version of halacha - Jewish religious law.

Another 17 Knesset Members are from ultra-religious parties.  While these members are mainly interested in obtaining financial support for their religious institutions and their constituents, most of them would also like to see a State ruled by halacha.

Of the remaining 32 Likud members in the current governing coalition - there seem to be several more who are supportive of these extremists.  Yariv Levin, the current Minister of Justice, is one of these members.  His presentation in January 2023, that I have written about previously, was nothing less than a proposal to disembowel the Supreme Court of Israel and leave it with little power to serve as an independent judicial arbiter.

Just yesterday, the leader of one of the Religious Zionist parties, and the current Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir stated that this "reasonableness law" was only the first step - the appetizer - and that the whole main course was yet to be served. Last night - he said "the salad bar is open."  

Surely, of all people, Israelis know what can happen to a democracy when fascists start passing laws.  It can happen quickly and dramatically.  And a sizeable number of Israelis recognize this and are out in the streets demonstrating and protesting.  In fact, they have been demonstrating since January 2023 when Levin first announced his plans - in a press conference that reminded me of a scene from one of the Batman movies where the villain announces his plans to take over the world.

Some have characterized Prime Minister Netanyahu as the "adult in the room" and argued that he would not let Israel become undemocratic.  But Netanyahu has his own concerns.  He is in the midst of a criminal trial and looking to end these proceedings and avoid jail time.  So while some Likud members were pushing him to try and reach some kind of compromise - his right fascist flank was threatening to leave the government and cause it to fall if he were to agree to any kind of compromise.  As a result the third reading of the bill passed 64-56.  No Likud members dared dissent for fear of being the ones to bring down the government.  The opposition Knesset members boycotted the third vote and the bill passed 64-0.

Senior members of Netanyahu's government are talking about next steps.  They have many different plans.  Firing the Attorney General and other non-political office holders in Israel without any concern about judicial interference.  Dismantling the Israeli bar association.  Putting the convicted criminal Aryeh Deri back into office as the Minister of Finance.  Passing a law to allow the current government to appoint all of the judges instead of using a balanced committee.  Passing a judicial override bill to overturn any decisions of the Supreme Court by a simple majority.  And even these laws are only a few of the more than 82 laws that members of this government are proposing.  Oh I forgot the proposed "discrimination law" that allows a company or an individual to refuse to serve others (LBGTQ+? Arabs? Secular Jews? Women?) because of "religious reasons."  (Granted this type of law has been upheld twice in recent years by the current U.S. Supreme Court but I think that was related to my earlier point...)

As a result of all of this, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are protesting.  Two days ago, more than 50,000 Israelis began a two day march from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem - where they arrived in time to protest all day today in front of the Knesset along with hundreds of thousands of others.  But the bill passed anyways - and there are more bills to follow.  I anticipate that the protest movement will now ramp up the type and volume of protests.

One of the discussions has centred on military service.  Israel has a "people's army" where everyone is conscripted (even though there are many exemptions).  Afterwards, people serve in many different roles in a voluntary capacity.  Many of the volunteers, including Israeli fighter pilots and many others, have announced that they will refuse to appear for purely voluntary missions.  The number of military personnel sharing these sentiments has been growing.  The right wing response is that the army should be totally separate from politics - and that soldiers should report for duty no matter what.  In fact, some would like to pass a new law to deal with these issues and penalize those who refuse to appear for duty.  But the social contract that binds the soldiers to the state and to reporting for duty is based on their understanding that they are reporting to a democratic regime.   A large number of Israeli soldiers will refuse to report for duty if the perception is that they are serving an autocratic regime.   

How and where do we draw the line?  Israeli soldiers do not want to harm the state and want to defend it at all costs from external enemies.  But they do not want to carry out illegal orders or serve as accomplices for a regime that makes illegal or immoral decisions.  We may not be there yet - but in a government that includes 15 far right extremists, some of whom are cabinet members - soldiers are concerned that there may not be any judicial oversight to actions they are now asked to carry out.  That has already started to happen to the Israeli police forces - which are now being overseen by Ben-Gvir.

This government's short-sighted legal "revolution," enabled by Netanyahu out of fear for his own freedom, is causing economic problems as well.  Companies, including Israeli high-tech companies, are talking about leaving or reducing their investments in the country.  Individual Israelis are talking about leaving and finding work elsewhere.  The Israeli Shekel has sunk dramatically against other currencies (it fell by approximately 10% today).  There is a great deal of uncertainty and it is likely to get much worse.  Sadly, it appears that Netanyahu's legacy will be one of severe damage to Israel's unity and its fabric as a vibrant democracy - all in the interest of saving his own skin.  One commentator called it "Hanina o Heres" - "Pardon - or Destruction" meaning that Netanyahu would either get himself a pardon or he would take down the whole society with him.

All of this comes just two days before Tisha B'Av, one of the saddest days on the Jewish calendar on which we remember and commemorate the destruction of the first and second temples in Jerusalem.  The standard and traditional Jewish Rabbinical explanation - is that the Temples were destroyed (in 586 B.C.E. and then again in 70 C.E.) because of "baseless hatred" between different Jewish groups.  In an address this evening in Israel, one of the opposition leaders, Benny Gantz, warned that we must learn from the lessons of Tisha B'Av and find ways to work out our differences rather than take actions that could lead the country to an ever greater crisis.  Sadly, there is no sign, at this point, that Netanyahu's current government has any interest in approaching these matters reasonably.

I normally try to include some other comments in my blogs about different issues but I think I will leave that to my next blog.  Unfortunately, I have probably been watching and listening to far too much news and that is not giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling to end on a humorous note.

For those fasting this coming Thursday, I wish everyone a meaningful fast and I hope that Jewish people everywhere, though especially in Israel, will take the time to think about where we are today and what we need to do to stop things from deteriorating further.

Impending "Balagan" in Israel

It is Saturday night, the  8th of July - and things in Israel are heading towards a very intense week - and likely even more intense months to follow.  I haven't been writing too much lately even though there is definitely no shortage of material.  But I thought I would cover off a few topics with a bit of my usual spin.  I'll deal with the current legislation being advanced by the  Israeli government, the protests against it, Bibi's trial, Jenin and maybe some more upbeat topics...like sports, travel and whiskey...

The "Legal Revolution" or "Judicial Reforms"

As you might recall, the current Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, held a press conference in January 2023 to announce that he was going to be putting forward a series of bills in the Knesset to "overhaul" the judicial system.   I have discussed these bills previously. The short summary is that the combined effect of Levin's initiatives would be to reduce dramatically the power and independence of the Supreme Court in Israel, and the Israeli judiciary in general.  Power would be transferred, effectively, to the governing coalition which would be able to advance legislation, make appointments and take other actions without concern about judicial review or interference.  I am not going to rehash the full legal discussion here over each of the initiatives  - perhaps that is a discussion for another day - though you can find  numerous articles about the pros and cons of the different pieces  of legislation on various online  sites.  

Much of the Israeli public was shocked by Levin's  proposals.  The proposals were not a major part of the Likud platform in the election campaign and this was not an announcement to convene a committee or begin a public consultation process as to how  best to reform the judicial system. Rather it was a shot across the bow by Levin - announcing that he was simply  going to proceed to eviscerate the current Israeli  justice system.

Protests began across Israel, which ultimately led Prime Minister Netanyahu to put the Levin proposals on hold until after Pesach, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut, and other Israeli holidays and days  of observance.   Netanyahu agreed to  a proposal to hold consultations  under the  auspices of the President of Israel, Isaac  Herzog - to see if agreement could be reached on some changes to these proposals.  However, it seems apparent that Levin and his supporters had no real intention of diluting the proposals.  The "consultations" failed, as planned, and the governing coalition is now bringing the legislation back to the Knesset.

The first piece of legislation is the "reasonability law."  In Israel, judges have developed a  precedent for administrative review of legislation and/or governmental actions, where the actions taken can be challenged and overturned if they are deemed  "extremely unreasonable."  (Like the "patently unreasonable" standard for judicial review in Canada by a court in examining the decision of an administrative tribunal).  The Levin proposal is to legislate the cancellation of this line of authority and bar judges from using "reasonability" as a grounds for judicial review of governmental action or authority.  It is a major incursion into the sphere of judicial independence and it is intended to weaken the judiciary dramatically.

The other pieces of legislation are waiting in the wings.  This "reasonability law" is more or less the same bill that Levin proposed back in January - despite the "consultation" process.  

There is a great deal of opposition to this bill, which is seen by many as a major attack on the independence of the judiciary - and thus, a major attack on Israeli democracy, which, like any vibrant democracy, relies on an independent judiciary to remain democratic.  The bill is scheduled for a first reading in the Knesset on Monday July 10, 2023.  In response, the protest movement has called for massive demonstrations across the country including efforts to close highways, the airport, and other commercial activity if the bill passes its first reading.  (Like in Canada, the bill requires three readings to pass).  As of tonight, a range of companies and other organizations have started announcing that they will support the protests.  Hard to predict what is going to happen, but it looks like it is going to be very chaotic.

The Netanyahu coalition is also planning to proceed with a piece of legislation that is even more outrageous.  As you may have heard, the Israeli Bar Association recently held an election to elect its president.  A candidate supported by Bibi and his Likud party was roundly defeated by a candidate who opposes the judicial changes.  The Israeli Bar Association is the equivalent of the Law Society of Ontario (and other places) - an independent body, though a creature of enabling legislation - that governs lawyers and their conduct.  In response to the loss of the election, the governing coalition announced that it was putting forward legislation to disband the Israeli Bar Association, set up a different organization - and appoint the President.  Unfortunately, I am not making this up.   Part of the Likud justification is that the Bar Association is allowed to nominate two candidates to sit on the Judicial Appointments Committee - and Bibi and Levin would rather have pro-Bibi committee members (even though they could  not get them elected).  But disbanding the Bar Association?  Seriously?  Unfortunately, this is reminiscent of legislation that one might find in 1930s Germany.  If this bill passes a first reading in the Knesset, I would imagine that Israeli lawyers will pull out all the stops to fight this.  We might see courts shut down, lawyers on a general strike - and all kinds of  other protest measures.

Just these two pieces of proposed legislation are causing so much rancour that there is already a sense that all hell is about to  break loose.  But the  government also has a whole series of other bills that it wants to pass.  I am not going to go through all of them now - but the overall effect of the proposed legislation is odious.

The Demonstrations

Demonstrations against the current government's proposed legislation have been taking place since Levin's announcement.  The demonstrations peaked just prior to Bibi announcing a temporary freeze of the judicial overhaul.  Now that the legislation is being brought back, the demonstrations have been ramping up.

Early this year, things were almost uniformly non-violent.  The Israeli police responded in fairly mild fashion.  There were few arrests and very few incidents of violence, police brutality or major confrontations.  

Since then, the extreme right elements of the current coalition have been calling on the police to expand the use of force against protesters (even though the  protests have been non-violent).  The police chief refused to accede to these orders and resigned.  He was replaced by a police chief more sympathetic to the current government and the police have begun using water canons and greater force to disperse protests.  There have also been incidents of pro-government supporters showing up at protests and attacking protesters. There were three incidents of car rammings this week by pro-Bibi supporters attacking anti-government protestors.    Several protesters were hurt, some seriously.  So far, none of the attackers have been charged.

The former police chief warned that police escalation in the use of force would eventually bring about increasingly widespread protests - which might even become more violent.  I guess we will see what happens in the coming weeks.  If the government proceeds with its plans to enact the "reasonableness law" and disband the Israeli Bar Association, I think things here are likely to get very crazy and unpredictable.  I'm not actually convinced that even Bibi will actually proceed with all of these plans but he seems to want to get something passed to appease his far right coalition partners.

Jenin, Terrorism and Pogroms

Over the past few months, Israel has faced a dramatic rise in terrorist attacks on civilians, especially in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") but also in other areas.  Much of this violence was tied to terrorist groups based in Jenin, a city and refugee camp in the Territories.  As you may have read, Israel launched a fairly large scale military operation in Jenin last Sunday to fight back against this wave of terrorism.  It was a short operation that ended Tuesday night.  Large caches of weapons were confiscated.  Several members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed and some were arrested.  It is unclear whether this incursion will have accomplished any of its goals but Bibi's coalition  members were urging Bibi to take some  type  of action in the face of a widespread string of attacks.

Aside from Palestinian terrorism against civilians in Judea and Samaria - and in other areas in Israel, there have also been several attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.  Some of these attacks have involved looting of Palestinian villages, beatings of civilians and other violence. Many  Israelis have called these attacks "pogroms" and have urged the Israeli police to arrest and prosecute those responsible.  A small number of settlers have been arrested.  I'm not sure what charges, if any, have been formalized.

Some of Bibi's coalition members, including Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in particular, but also others, have been sympathetic to the settlers and dismissive of any attempts to punish the perpetrators.  This is also something that may escalate dramatically in the coming weeks and months - the level of violence in Judea and Samaria - going both ways.  Extremist Palestinian groups are calling for a "third intifada" and settler  groups are calling for increased use of force against Palestinians.  Let's just say I haven't heard any rosy  predictions.

Bibi's Trial

In  the midst of all of this, Netanyahu's criminal trial has been plodding along.  I have not been attending the trial and so I only have bits of information coming  from released parts of testimony and the  analysis  of several  commentators.

A couple of weeks ago, the judges hearing the case apparently  called on both sides to try and negotiate a deal  of some sort - and suggested that it would be "difficult" for the prosecution to succeed in proving  bribery in at least one  of the cases.

On the  other hand, the key state witness, Arnon Milchen, gave  testimony over the past couple of weeks about the  various  gifts that he  gave to Bibi and what he  got in return.  Milchen seems to have suggested that he is still good friends  with Bibi.   He testified remotely in London - where  Sara Netanyahu showed up to watch. Before the start of one day of Milchen's testimony,  she gave him a big hug and a kiss - trying to show the judges that Milchen only gave the  Netanyahus all the gifts because  they were such good friends.  

According to some analysts, Milchen  was easily manipulated by Bibi's lawyers during  cross examination and wound up giving dramatically different testimony  than the evidence  he gave  investigators during  the  initial  investigation.   This is a problem  for the prosecutors  who have been relying on Milchen as a  reluctant "state  prosecution witness."

If there is no deal, this trial might still continue on for two or  three more years, according to some analysts.  It sounds very entertaining but  hard to predict  what will happen.  I still stand by my  original prediction that there will probably be some kind  of deal before there is ever a final verdict - or Bibi's governing coalition  will succeed in legislating his legal problems out of existence.  That being said, Bibi's defence may have helped themselves quite a bit by taking  advantage of this reluctant state witness - or perhaps, by working with him outright.

Sports News

As you might have heard -  it has been a great year for  Israeli football (soccer to  those of us from the  other  side of  the  pond).  First, the Under 20  men's team wound  up taking 3rd place in the U20 World Cup. That was incredible -  especially Israel's huge upset win over Brazil in the quarter finals.  After that, Israel's U21 team made it to the semi-finals in the U21 Euros.  The team was beaten soundly by England - but was a very respectable showing.  As a result, Israel's  national  soccer team has made it into the Olympic games which will take place in Paris in 2024.  Now that is exciting for Israeli football fans.

Aside from the  odd football game - or soccer - whatever, I haven't really watched much in the way of  sports, since it is off-season for ice hockey and  NFL football.   I did watch  the Blue Jays this afternoon (night time in Israel) - as they were "no-hit" by the lowly Detroit Tigers.  The Jays are doing reasonably well  but I have not been watching very many games.  Difficult to do with the time change.  Perhaps I will have the chance to see a few games - or attend in person when I am back in Toronto next week.

I suppose the really big news in sports this year - which has nothing to do with my blog, is the play of generational superstar Shohei Ohtani.  I haven't seen him play this year - but, as you may have seen or heard - he is among the league leaders in batting average, home runs, hits, pitching average, strikeouts,...There are very few players in baseball who pitch and  also play regularly  on the offensive side of the field.  His accomplishments so far this year are super impressive and have led people to start comparing him to the great Babe Ruth.  I think it is early for that - but that gives you a sense of how dramatic his statistics have been.

Israeli Whiskey

I am not sure if I discussed Israeli whiskey previously, but even if I have, I will mention the M & H Distillery once more.  M & H stands for "Milk and Honey."  This single malt distillery in Tel-Aviv has been making some terrific whiskey - including whiskies that have won worldwide whiskey competitions.   I had a great time visiting their distillery recently - and I would strongly recommend a tour there on your next visit to Israel - if you enjoy some decent whiskey.  The accompanying cheese and  bread plate is also pretty tasty.  It's a kosher place - closed on Shabbat of course.  The actual whiskies are sold by the bottle and are not super cheap but the tour and tasting is priced reasonably and is lots of fun. And educational.

Other Travel

As you might know, there are several discount airlines that fly to different destinations in Europe from Israel.  Many of these flights cost less than the price of one night in a hotel here. We recently flew to Rome, Italy  on Wizzair.  I can't say that the flight itself was an enjoyable experience.  Wizzair is about as "bare-bones" as it gets - they don't even serve free water on the 3.5 hour flight - and a "basic" ticket only allows travellers on the plane with a small  knapsack.  If you want to add a trolley type carry on bag - you pay about as much as the cost of the ticket for the bag.

On the other hand, Rome is such a fantastic place to visit that the short flight itself becomes secondary.  I should mention that there are quite a large number of Kosher restaurants now in Rome - including pizza and other dairy places, meat restaurants and even a "Lybian Kosher Restaurant" - called "Little Tripoli."  Rome also has more than 10 active synagogues with daily minyans - and a Jewish museum.  

We certainly visited all of the major tourist sites in Rome as well - and had some fantastic coffee, gelato, food and wine - all over the city - but there is quite a bit more going on now in terms of Jewish culture than there was the last time I visited - though I have to say that was quite a few years ago.

That's about it for now - I hope you have found some of this interesting - and I wish everyone a great summer.  Back in Toronto shortly (if I can get out of the Israeli airport with all of the planned demonstrations) so I may not have another update for a while but I am sure that there is bound to be quite a bit of news coming out of Israel in the months ahead.