Analysis, by Noa Landau – Haaretz, Israel
Those who believe that the elimination of the reasonableness standard is a final defeat for the pro-democracy camp must remember the Netanyahu government has far more ambitious plans. Israel’s protest movement cannot be abandoned now
Sometimes we must look back for a moment and remember where the journey began in order to accurately gauge its results. In the case of the protest against the government coup, those who now believe that the elimination of the reasonableness standard is a stinging, final defeat for the protest movement, or that the public struggle is pointless because it appears to be ineffective, would do well to recall the starting point of this nightmare government.
In early January, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced in a speech to the nation his intent to carry out a dramatic, far-reaching judicial overhaul: introducing a mechanism that would completely subordinate the judicial branch to the executive branch; changing the composition of the Judicial Appointments Committee, to give the cabinet absolute control over appointments to the bench; and turning the ministry legal advisers into positions of trust, and thus puppets of the minister overseeing them. The repeal of the reasonableness standard was already on the agenda, too.
In the six months that have elapsed since this chilling speech, the most impressive civil resistance movement – in terms of both its scope and its power – in the country’s history has arisen. The fact that Levin has not yet managed to introduce the first three planks of his draconian plan to turn Israel into an anti-liberal dictatorship is a direct result of this movement; at the very least, it has forced a delay and reduced the plan’s enormous harm.
How far can Israel’s protest movement go to defend democracy?
Without the broad, persistent civil protest throughout the country, without the demonstrators, without the large businesses that have joined them, without the military reservists who said they would end their voluntary service, nothing would have stopped the rest of the coup. Our situation in that case would not have been better.
Without any checks, all state systems would have long since been completely recruited in service of a prime minister who is on trial for corruption and in order to realize all the ultranationalist and theocratic desires of his ultranationalist and religious coalition. So there is no doubt that this important protest will continue to have an effect, and we cannot give up on it.
This is not to understate the gravity of the repeal of the reasonableness standard, of course. This is a severe blow to the rule of law, a dark day for Israeli democracy, and a red flag for its future. But the battle over the law is not over; the petitions are already going to the High Court of Justice in droves.
More importantly, the greatest struggle is still ahead, as the government is at a crossroads. One option is to settle for Monday’s partial victory, sell it to the base as a fair achievement obtained without surrendering to the “threats” of the protest, return to negotiations at the President’s Residence and let the rest of the coup die, mired in talks that go nowhere.
The alternative, of course, is total capitulation to the hawkish, messianic camp led by Yariv Levin, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have already announced that their appetite has only been whetted. Their next target is the Judicial Appointments Committee.
All signs point to the revocation of the reasonableness standard being only the beginning, and that the appetite of the victory-drunk coalition will only increase in the Knesset’s fall session. The civil protest is therefore more important than ever. Without it, all is lost; with it, at least there is hope.