Lavie-Ajayi notes the withdrawal of American support would be a powerful lesson to Netanyahu: “Bibi would understand that he can’t just do whatever he wants, that he doesn’t have an open ticket to chip away at the democratic nature of this country.” “We see Hungary and we see Russia and we know you get to a point where can’t fight back anymore.” She added that while Israel isn’t there yet, “I think that we need support to keep the democratic nature that was problematic in the first place.” Maya Lavie-Ajayi, a 48-year-old professor at Ben Gurion University, says she hopes to see some sort of intervention from the Biden administration and the European Union. We’re supposed to be the only democracy in the Middle East and that doesn’t seem like where we’re going with the latest changes.” ![]() (Just a few days later, hundreds of Israeli high-tech employees would take to the streets, leaving their desks abruptly at midday to march on Rothschild Boulevard as they carried signs that read, “No democracy, no high-tech.”)Īsked if Israel’s relationship with the United States is a concern, Hila replies, “It’s always a concern. Because what would an Israel - held accountable to no one, left entirely to its own devices - look like?Īvi, who works in high-tech, a key Israeli industry, says he is particularly worried about the government targeting the rights of secular Israelis, women and LGBTQ individuals - which could also prove to open rifts between America’s Democratic Party and the Israeli government. But while there are fears about losing American support, some Israelis also voice concern that American backing will continue regardless of what this new government does - a scenario they view as enabling and dangerous. When I wade into the crowd on that Saturday night, just after Shabbat has ended, there’s another consistent fear I hear from Israelis: that this new government will undermine its standing in the world, including with its most important ally, the United States. “The gunpowder barrel is about to explode.” “I feel, we all feel, that we are in the moment before a clash, even a violent clash,” Herzog said. In a speech given on Sunday - the day before a massive nationwide strike that brought 100,000 Israelis to protest outside of the Knesset on Monday - Herzog warned that the country is “on the brink of constitutional and social collapse.” Netanyahu defends the reshuffling of the judiciary, dismissively calling them a “ minor correction.”īut even Israel’s own president, Isaac Herzog, is sounding the alarm. The government also announced an intent to shut down Kan - the country’s only publicly funded broadcast news service - with Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi “ calling public broadcasting unnecessary.” Outrage was so intense that it’s been put on ice for now as the government focuses instead on pushing through its controversial judicial reforms. A proposed overhaul to the judiciary would render the High Court’s judgments toothless and would destroy its independence, upending the country’s system of checks and balances. Smotrich is now serving as a finance minister it is widely believed that, in this role, he will ensure West Bank settlements get the money they need to continue to grow, threatening what little possibility remains of a territorially contiguous Palestinian state.Īlready, this new government is making moves to chip away at the country’s democratic space. ![]() Al Aqsa is sacred to Jews as well, but such visits are viewed by Palestinians as a huge provocation - an act so contentious that Ariel Sharon’s September 2000 visit is widely credited with sparking the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.Īnother controversial figure in the new government is Bezalel Smotrich, a settler and the leader of an ultra-nationalist religious Zionist party. Since taking the helm, he has visited the Al Aqsa compound in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, home to the third holiest site in Islam. State Department’s list of terror organizations in a twist of irony, Ben Gvir is now serving as the country’s national security minister. That includes Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right religious nationalist who heads a political party named “Jewish Power.” Previously, he was a member of Kach, a party that was outlawed in Israel and that spent 25 years on the U.S. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on Feb.12, 2023.īut the coalition he cobbled together to regain power includes elements that once composed the fringe of Israeli politics.
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