amna: The recently elected
far-right government in Israel
took a clear step today toward
passing highly controversial
judicial reform.
And its actions have created a
massive reaction among Israelis
who stand against it, saying
they could fundamentally alter
Israel's democracy.
William brangham reports.
William: The streets of
Jerusalem were flooded today
with the largest demonstrations
Israel has seen in years.
Protestors thronged outside the
knesset, the Israeli parliament,
following weeks of mounting
frustrations and other
demonstrations.
The target?
Prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, and a proposed
overhaul of Israel's judicial
system.
Netanyahu and his supporters
argue the supreme court is too
powerful and needs to be reined
in.
But critics contend these laws
badly weaken the court, tighten
the prime minister's grip on
power, and could spell the
downfall of Israeli democracy.
>> These are crucial days for
Israel's future and Israel's
identity, whether it's going to
be a democracy or a fascist
regime.
William: Inside the knesset,
chaos erected as Netanyahu's
allies pushed the reform through
a committee.
Opposition lawmakers chanted
"Shame" at their far-right
counter parts.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid
called for further
demonstrations.
>> We will not hide in the
houses as they try to turn the
state of Israel into a dark
dictatorship and shut us up,
they will not shut us up.
William: In comments today,
Netanyahu condemned the
outbursts.
>> I call on the leaders of the
opposition, stop it.
Stop deliberately dragging the
country into anarchy.
Most citizens of Israel don't
want anarchy.
They want a substantive dialogue
and in the end, they want unity.
William: Complicating the issue
is that Netanyahu is currently
facing corruption charges,
charges he denies, but legally,
he stands to gain from the
law's passage.
His office would have more
control over judicial
appointments, and less checks on
its executive powers.
Despite the mass protests,
Israelis are closely divided
over these reforms.
41% are against and roughly 44%
support.
Last night, Isaac Herzog,
Israel's president, which is
largely a ceremonial role,
appealed for dialogue and
compromise, but warned of
potentially disastrous outcomes.
>> We are long past being in a
political argument.
Rather, we are on the brink of
constitutional and social
collapse.
William: The legislation now
heads to the full parliament for
a series of votes that are
likely to stretch on for weeks.
Geoff: For more on this, we are
joined by David makovsky, he is
the director of the project on
Arabs real relations at the
Washington institute for near
east policy and he served as a
senior advisor on arab-israel
relations at the Washington
he served as a senior advisor on
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
during the Obama administration.
Great to have you on the
newshour.
These are the biggest protests
Israel has seen in years.
Critics are arguing if these
reforms go through this so
dramatically upends the balance
of power in the country, that it
will become almost
unrecognizable.
Is that a fair characterization?
David: I think it is more
accurate than not.
Because basically, it would
concentrate the power in the
hands of the executives.
Israel always had this
Independence of the judiciary
that was its pride and joy.
It was part of its social
cohesion, its resilience, all of
these years that it had a check
on executive power.
If you are able to politicize
the judges, if you are able to
have a majority of the
parliament able to override a
supreme court decision, when you
are going to see over time is
the evisceration of that
independent judiciary, which has
had pride of place in Israel for
the 75 years of its existence.
William: Netanyahu and his
supporters argue the supreme
court is too liberal, that it
has too much power, and that
there reforms are what get a
closer to a more equitable
distribution of power.
Where do you come down on that?
David: I think that is not a
fair characterization.
There will be times where they
will cherry pick certain points
of well, in America, the senate
judiciary committee has a
hearing.
But the United States, we have
protections Israel does not
have.
We have a constitution.
If there is an amendment it
requires three quarters of the
state.
We have two branches of
congress, we have term limits.
Israel does not have any of
those things.
What you were going to see is
those protections that Israel
not have are going to be
weakened further by politicizing
who gets on the court's through
the selection committee, and how
they are able to override court
decisions with ease.
The critics are worried that the
very identity of the state is at
stake.
It will still be a democracy in
the sense of there will be
elections, but democracy is more
than elections.
William: We can't overlook the
fact that Netanyahu is under
indictment.
Other members of his coalition
have strong disagreements with
this court.
Is it inappropriate to look at
these reforms through that lens?
David: I think it is very fair
to look at it.
It is a perfect storm what's
going on.
Basically, you have a situation,
as he pointed out, the prime
minister is in the middle of a
corruption trial on three
charges.
You have the ultra-orthodox,
they are mad of the courts
because the courts want to
ensure they are not exempt from
the draft.
There is a three year military
conscription.
Also come of the settler
constituency is upset at the
courts because they feel they
are a constraint, a break, on
settlements in terms of
Palestinian land usage and the
like.
Every element of the Netanyahu
coalition has its own individual
grievance, and now it is coming
to a crescendo where all of
these individual grievances are
becoming a collective grievance,
and that is causing them to want
Netanyahu to stand tough against
the 100,000 demonstrators who
are coming against it every
week.
It is not just 100,000.
Point is that the polls do show
a majority of the Israelis want
consensus.
Now you have the Israeli
president, he has come out with
his own principles that he feels
could forge the very consensus
that has not been chosen.
I think there is a sense in
Israel that there is a fraying
of the social fabric, that the
very social cohesion that has
been at the core of Israel and
allowed it to fight against its
enemies when it felt threatened
for the 75 years, that is
fraying.
That is something the united
States cares deeply about,
because these are two countries
that have been joined by common
interest, and also common
values.
If those common values are in
peril, that is something the
U.S. Cares about.
William: David makovsky, of the
Washington institute, great to
see you.
Thank you.
David: Great to be with you.