(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



The Social Rifts That Led to Israel’s Judicial Crisis [1]

['Patrick Kingsley', 'More About Patrick Kingsley']

Date: 2023-03-10

That included restricting some Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and removing certain privileges awarded by Parliament to ultra-Orthodox Jews — moves that drew the ire of both communities.

Now, three decades later, a new ultraright governing coalition is trying to sharply reduce the Supreme Court’s powers. The effort is at the heart of a deep ideological and cultural divide in Israel between those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision. The dispute has brought about waves of protests, turmoil in the military, criticism from influential American Jews and the Israeli tech sector, and fears of civil unrest.

The court’s critics, who tend to be more religious and right-wing, envisage Israel as a majoritarian democracy that gives elected lawmakers primacy over the judiciary. They associate the court’s judges with Israel’s secular elite, personified in a former chief justice, Aharon Barak, who helped shape the court as it is today.

The court’s supporters want Israel to be a liberal democracy, with strong judicial checks and balances on Parliament, and see the court as a last defense against a rising far right.

It is the first group that took office late last year when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges, turned to the ultraright to build a governing coalition. And it is his administration that is now attempting the sweeping judicial overhaul as a way to eliminate roadblocks to its agenda.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/world/middleeast/israel-judicial-reform-netanyahu.html

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/