Democratic Values & Civil Liberties are at Risk in Israel as Netanyahu and allies pursue Regime Change

Israel only finds itself at this junction because of the (criminal) Trials of Netanyahu.

Each day reveals new aspects of his vindictive plans for regime change.

Times like these make for strange political bedfellows. The stakes are so high. The ethos of Herzlian Zionism is at risk. What matters is blocking constitutional transformations that would rob Israelis of civil liberties and the values that give the word "democracy" meaning.

<>Netanyahu’s demagogic minister of information has declared that Kol Yisroel / Kan public broadcasting is “racist.” She and Netanyahu want to close publicly supported media outlets.

<>His multiple ministers of religion want gender segregation in our national parks.

<>Without fanfare in Jerusalem, public libraries are already segregated.

<> One of his supporters wants to authorize physicians not to treat Arabs.

<> He has robbed the Minister of Defense of key powers to operate in the West Bank, handing them instead to the leader of the Hardal Religious Zionist Party.

<>He has promised the King of Jordan that there will be no changes in the status quo on the Temple Mount. Yet everyone can see the changes - thousands more visitors, prayers, genuflecting. And his Minister of Internal security is hinting at animal sacrifices for the Passover holiday.

<>Museums open for free to the public on Shabbat are to be closed or forced to charge admission (robbing observant people of the chance to visit)

<>Talmud study will be considered a core educational value and financially rewarded, while English and math will not be required in Haredi schools.

<> A Who’s Who of Israeli economists, Nobel Prize winners among them, and central bankers, many recruited and appointed by Netanyahu, are warning that his plans for regime change will undermine foreign investment in our economy. He dismisses them as leftists and fear-mongers.

<> Law school deans, venture capitalists, medical school deans, and the leaders of our hi-tech community have all come up against regime change.

<> One of his MKs, a former editor who quit 'Israel Today' when it stopped blindly backing Netanyahu, plans to introduce legislation to make it illegal for a secret recording to be used in press exposes. This (according to a secret recording of him!) is just the start of efforts to curb press freedom.

<>Another minister wants to end the generation of electricity on Shabbat.

<> Yet another wants to end all infrastructure work on Shabbat (keeping in mind that Sunday is a regular work day and many children have school on Friday). Much of this work is anyway done by non-Jews.

Lots of folks are piggybacking on the anti-regime change protests. Channel 14 (which is loyal to Netanyahu) reported that the New Israel Fund is financing protests against Netanyahu. I have no reason to doubt this.

But like Donald Trump and Netanyahu himself, not everything the NIF does is wrongheaded. In this instance -- whatever its ulterior motives -- the ends justify the means. After all, Israel is facing its greatest constitutional crisis since 1948.

Most rallies have been organized as cross-party Big Tent protests against regime change based on a single Knesset election (resulting in a 64-56 Knesset). The judicial system needs reform, but it has to come as part of a coherent constitutional plan for Israel, not as a “get-out-of-jail” card for demagogues.

I oppose radical alterations in the judiciary that set the stage for democracy based on pure majority rule. Do we want Israel to be like the UN General Assembly and suffer from the tyranny of the majority?

Those trying to hijack our protest movement to fly enemy flags or carry unrelated banners are playing into the hands of the Netanyahu-Haredi-Hardal camp’s claim that the opposition is comprised of radical, the Godless, and leftists. The negative elements exploiting our protest have their own agenda, and there is no reasoning with them any more than with the Bibists/Hardalnikim and Haredim in control of the government.

Now is the time for liberal Jabotinsky nationalists, centrists, Zionist left-wingers, and indeed Israeli citizens of all stripes and hues to focus on one goal: blocking regime change that will turn this country into a Hardal/Haredi theocracy with limited civil liberties.

For more information, go to 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1512241989262016

To book me to speak to your group or for a briefing on your next visit to Israel email me ej5@nyu.edu