The left engaged in the same “resistance” to Netanyahu As the American left did to Trump in the US who also challenged the modus operandi of the American Deep State It is ludicrous to call preservation of a judicial oligarchy that appoints its successors a fight for democracy when the Deep State of Israel is the loser in the election When the left days “democracy” that means power and a refusal to sit down and discuss issues with your opponent which is characteristic of the left in both the US and Israel .I would rather have judges selected by a president and confirmed by the Senate than have a self perpetuating Jim Crow Court that thinks it knows what is best regardless of the dangers to Israelis national security and the religious secular status quo of which the HIgh Court has zero expertise and appreciation of
I think the events of the last weeks have shown just how wrong the views of Gadi Taub and others published at Tablet have been about Israel's currently proposed judicial reforms. (I should add that Tablet has commendably published a range of views on the topic.) A number of fairly neutral articles have explained the anomalous position and evolution of the Israeli Supreme Court, and our community here in the US has heard more from Israeli visitors along the same lines.
The essential point, that some sort of reform is reasonable and even needed, is hard to argue with. However, these reforms, by this government, at this time, are obviously another matter. This is by far the most right-wing government in Israel's history, pushing well beyond more cautious reforms proposed in the past, and it features a prime minister who is not a "strong man" or "dictator" -- but quite the opposite, a weak leader making absurd concessions to fringe forces in his cabinet to hold it all together. This is not the Netanyahu of even 10 years ago.
At the same time, one cannot avoid seeing many of the same divisions that are roiling democratic countries everywhere and the emergence of "illiberal democracy" (not that this is anything other than a contradiction in terms, an unstable monstrosity on its way to either dictatorship or chaos.) There's a globalized, neoliberal elite, and then there's everyone else, not that the latter group is by any means homogeneous. Something is rotten in the state of Western, developed-country democracy.
The US federal system as we know it now was born, not in 1776, but 1787, with the adoption of the current American constitution. Seventy-five years later, in 1862, the US was embroiled in a civil war. Like today in Israel, where Israelis are suddenly scrutinizing their founding documents -- like the court of Josiah anxiously scanning the rediscovered text of Deuteronomy -- Americans were searching in a similar way, to probe to and beyond a constitution that had deliberately sidestepped certain issues, above all slavery, but also the boundary of the powers of states and the federal government. What's happening is one of those rare moments in a country's history when it rediscovers and redefines itself.
Nah, Netanyahu screwed up big time. He went too far by dissing the 1/3... who are the bulwark of the IDF, Israeli job creators and taxpayers, and damaging the economy. Conservatives, "the right" in Israel are doing just fine without ramming down a judicial reform.
The left engaged in the same “resistance” to Netanyahu As the American left did to Trump in the US who also challenged the modus operandi of the American Deep State It is ludicrous to call preservation of a judicial oligarchy that appoints its successors a fight for democracy when the Deep State of Israel is the loser in the election When the left days “democracy” that means power and a refusal to sit down and discuss issues with your opponent which is characteristic of the left in both the US and Israel .I would rather have judges selected by a president and confirmed by the Senate than have a self perpetuating Jim Crow Court that thinks it knows what is best regardless of the dangers to Israelis national security and the religious secular status quo of which the HIgh Court has zero expertise and appreciation of
Appreciate getting a point of view different than what has been reported in the MSM.
I think the events of the last weeks have shown just how wrong the views of Gadi Taub and others published at Tablet have been about Israel's currently proposed judicial reforms. (I should add that Tablet has commendably published a range of views on the topic.) A number of fairly neutral articles have explained the anomalous position and evolution of the Israeli Supreme Court, and our community here in the US has heard more from Israeli visitors along the same lines.
The essential point, that some sort of reform is reasonable and even needed, is hard to argue with. However, these reforms, by this government, at this time, are obviously another matter. This is by far the most right-wing government in Israel's history, pushing well beyond more cautious reforms proposed in the past, and it features a prime minister who is not a "strong man" or "dictator" -- but quite the opposite, a weak leader making absurd concessions to fringe forces in his cabinet to hold it all together. This is not the Netanyahu of even 10 years ago.
At the same time, one cannot avoid seeing many of the same divisions that are roiling democratic countries everywhere and the emergence of "illiberal democracy" (not that this is anything other than a contradiction in terms, an unstable monstrosity on its way to either dictatorship or chaos.) There's a globalized, neoliberal elite, and then there's everyone else, not that the latter group is by any means homogeneous. Something is rotten in the state of Western, developed-country democracy.
The US federal system as we know it now was born, not in 1776, but 1787, with the adoption of the current American constitution. Seventy-five years later, in 1862, the US was embroiled in a civil war. Like today in Israel, where Israelis are suddenly scrutinizing their founding documents -- like the court of Josiah anxiously scanning the rediscovered text of Deuteronomy -- Americans were searching in a similar way, to probe to and beyond a constitution that had deliberately sidestepped certain issues, above all slavery, but also the boundary of the powers of states and the federal government. What's happening is one of those rare moments in a country's history when it rediscovers and redefines itself.
Hold onto this Blake Smith fellow, Tablet.
Nah, Netanyahu screwed up big time. He went too far by dissing the 1/3... who are the bulwark of the IDF, Israeli job creators and taxpayers, and damaging the economy. Conservatives, "the right" in Israel are doing just fine without ramming down a judicial reform.