2023-08-14 18:00:10
During a demonstration against the judicial reform of the Israeli government, in Tel Aviv, August 12, 2023. JACK GUEZ / AFP
Three weeks after the vote on the first part of the justice reform wanted by the government of Benyamin Netanyahu, it is time for the opponents to take stock. “The vote was a blow. Some have had broken morale, others are thinking of leaving the country. But all the organizations are convinced that this is only the first step of a marathon”says Alon-Lee Green, co-director of the Arab-Jewish Israeli group Standing Together.
The official refers to the July 24 vote by the Knesset of an amendment to one of the Basic Laws, which serves as the country’s constitution, and which ended the “reasonableness” clause, thanks to which the Supreme Court could overrule government decisions deemed unreasonable. Judicial reform as a whole sparked a movement on a scale never seen in Israel’s history: every week for seven months, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of a country of 9 million residents. And the majority, according to the polls, continues to disapprove of this text.
This did not prevent Binyamin Netanyahu’s government from moving forward, ignoring attempts at mediation and compromise; he managed to impose the text with the smallest possible majority thanks to the 64 votes of the current coalition out of 120 deputies. The forced passage was more shocking than the provision itself, while the initial project, unveiled by the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, in January, was much more ambitious. In particular, it included an override clause that would have allowed Parliament to override Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority vote.
” Hit or miss “
“Yariv Levin could not follow his fantasies. If there had been no active opposition, he could have done whatever he wanted. In the past seven months, there have been victories and defeats. The main damage is that done to Israeli society. The positive is that the liberal camp has grown in strength and confidence in its values. It is a source of hope in these difficult times.”said a member of an opposition party. “These months of struggle have made it possible to carry out actions, to get to know each other, to create databases, to form groups in all localities. This infrastructure and this determination were lacking in the liberal camp, which is now aware that it makes or breaksabounds Alon-Lee Green, in an allusion to the next stages of the reform. This is the last battle. »
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