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The crisis of democracy in Israel

Brian Leiter

Israel is facing dramatic changes to its legal system, being forced through by the right-wing coalition in control:  it would effectively do to Israel what has happened in Hungary and Poland, especially by destroying the independence and power of the judiciary.  This website by Israeli law professors has much information, including a useful capsule summary of what is being proposed.  (Thanks to David Enoch for the pointer.)

Philosopher David Heyd drafted an open letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of Israel, which has now been signed by 90% of the philosophers in Israel; I paste it below the fold:

Philosophers’ Open Letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of Israel

            We, over one hundred Israeli philosophers teaching in all the universities and colleges in the country, wish to express our anxiety at the far-reaching legal reforms that are hastily advanced these days in the Knesset. The moral achievements of the modern liberal-democratic state are the fruit of centuries of political thought and of a persistent struggle to apply it in the state’s constitutional structure: human and civil rights, the separation of powers, the protection of the individual from the arbitrary exercise of governmental power, and the equality of every human being without discrimination on the basis of nationality, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual inclination.

            We warn against the political and cultural danger of the self-isolation of Israel within narrow ethnocentric bounds, ignoring universal values such as the dignity of human beings as human beings, openness to other cultures, and the freedom of scientific research and artistic creation.

            Twentieth-century experience has demonstrated the intolerable ease with which democratic states backslide from the primary liberal principle – the limitation of government power, particularly by undermining the independence of the judiciary. Such regress begins with a regime that is democratic only in the formal sense of majority rule and ends in dictatorship.

Comments are open for more links and information.

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4 responses to “The crisis of democracy in Israel”

  1. Howard

    During my year as a volunteer in the early nineties, Israel felt like a worthwhile cause- no longer now- it is very hard to feel any idealism about Israel. What does Israel stand for now other than Jewish power and beating up Palestinians? Maybe tourism and exporting Cyberweapons?
    If flawed Israel inspired millions who dreamed of a better, if not normal life.
    The Rabbis and the settlers did nothing or very little to build Israel- they have now hijacked Israel and turned it into a Shtetl from Hell- oh and with nuclear weapons,
    Israel meant not just freedom from the Galut but freedom from the menacing yolk of the Rabbis.

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  2. Brian Leiter

    Professor Heyd shared the full list of signatories to the open letter:

    Meirav Almog, Kibbutzim College
    Ilai Alon, Tel Aviv University
    Michael Anthony, Haifa University
    Daniel Attas, The Hebrew University
    Oded Balaban, Haifa University
    Dan Baras, Bar-Ilan University
    Dorit Barchana-Lorand, Kibbutzim College
    Ori Belkind, Tel Aviv University
    Hagit Benbaji, Ben-Gurion University
    Aaron Ben-Ze’ev, Haifa University
    Yotam Benziman, Sapir Academic College
    Anastasia Berg, The Hebrew University
    Jonathan Berg, Haifa University
    Shlomo Biderman, Tel Aviv University
    Anat Biletzky, Tel Aviv University
    Jose Brunner, Tel Aviv University
    Alon Chasid, Bar-Ilan University
    Shlomo Cohen, Ben-Gurion University
    Yisrael Cohen, Herzog College
    Leo Cory, Tel Aviv University
    Eli Dresner, Tel Aviv University
    David Enoch, The Hebrew University
    Yuval Eylon, The Open University
    Ilit Ferber, Tel Aviv University
    Menachem Fisch, Tel Aviv University
    Gideon Freudenthal, Tel Aviv University
    Naveh Frumer, Tel Aviv University
    Ido Geiger, Ben-Gurion University
    Yehuda Gellman, Ben-Gurion University
    Andy German, Ben-Gurion University
    Amihud Gilead, Haifa University
    Snait Gissis, Tel Aviv University
    Moran Godess-Riccitelli, Bar-Ilan University
    Elizabeth Goldwyn, Haifa University
    Tom Hanauer, Tel Aviv University
    Alon Harel, The Hebrew University
    Meir Hemmo, Haifa University
    Ori Herstein, The Hebrew University
    David Heyd, The Hebrew University
    Giora Hon, Haifa University
    Amir Horowitz, Open University
    Pini Ifergan, Bar-Ilan University
    Hilla Jacobson, The Hebrew University
    Tatiana Karachentseva, The Hebrew University
    Asa Kasher, Tel Aviv University
    Hagi Kenaan, Tel Aviv University
    Arnon Keren, Haifa University
    Naomi Korem, Tel Aviv University
    Sharon Krishek, The Hebrew University
    Iddo Landau, Haifa University
    Sam Lebens, Haifa University
    Uri Leibowitz, Ben-Gurion University
    Ori Lev, Sapir Academic College
    Talia Leven, Open University
    Arnon Levy, The Hebrew University
    Yair Levy, Tel Aviv University
    Ruth Lorand, Haifa University
    Yair Lorberbaum, Bar-Ilan University
    Abraham Mansbach, Ben-Gurion University
    Avishai Margalit, The Hebrew University
    Anat Matar, Tel Aviv University
    Ariel Meirav, Haifa University
    Boaz Miller, Zefat Academic College
    Gabriel Motzkin, The Hebrew University
    Oded Na’aman, The Hebrew University
    Noa Naaman-Zauderer, Tel Aviv University
    Ohad Nachtomy, Technion Haifa
    Isaac (Yanni) Nevo, Ben-Gurion University
    Ittay Nissan-Rozen, The Hebrew University
    Adi Parush, Ben-Gurion University
    Galia Patt-Shamir, Tel Aviv University
    Carl Posy, The Hebrew University
    Gadi Prodowski, The Hebrew University
    Efrat Ram-Tiktin, Bar-Ilan University
    Ofra Rechter, Tel Aviv University
    Ruth Ronen, Tel Aviv University
    Michael Roubach, The Hebrew University
    Avi Sagi, Bar-Ilan University
    Gil Sagi, Haifa University
    Jacques Schlanger, The Hebrew University
    Judith Schlanger, The Hebrew University
    Yair Schlein, Open University
    Christoph Schmidt, The Hebrew University
    Aaron Segal, The Hebrew University
    Shlomi Segall, The Hebrew University
    Arik Segev, Sapir Academic College
    Re’em Segev, The Hebrew University
    Yaron Senderowicz, Tel Aviv University
    Oron Shagrir, The Hebrew University
    Keren Shahar, Tel Aviv University
    Assaf Sharon, Tel Aviv University
    Ayelet Shavit, Tel-Hai Academic College
    Noa Shein, Ben-Gurion University
    Orly Shenker, The Hebrew University
    Saul Smilansky, Haifa University
    Levi Spectre, Open University
    Daniel Statman, Haifa University
    Etye Steinberg, Haifa University
    Josef Stern, Bar-Ilan University
    Zvi Tauber, Tel Aviv University
    Naly Thaler, The Hebrew University
    Nehama Verbin, Tel Aviv University
    Ruth Weintraub, Tel Aviv University
    Sharon Weisser, Tel Aviv University
    Preston Werner, The Hebrew University
    Noam Zohar, Bar-Ilan University

    Reply
  3. Israeli Grad Student

    More pieces of information about the political background besides the details of the legal reforms/autocratic revolution:

    1. For the first time in Israel, there is a majority against the rule of law that was created by an intersection of the interests of 3 major groups. Our prime minister Netanyahu is under trial for bribery (among others), and he's doing everything he can to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the trial and most probably to cancel the trial or make a joke out of it. The ultra orthodox currently enjoy an exempt from the military that was ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court and in their view they must overcome the court ruling. They also want to cancel other rulings of the supreme court, e.g., that it is unconstitutional to forbid people from bringing non-kosher food to hospitals in Passover. The national orthodox (which roughly but not exactly overlaps with what in the diaspora known as "the settlers"), currently represented by the most extreme forces, some of which were illegal not that long ago, view the supreme court as their enemy for years, mainly due to rulings limiting the legality of settlements on privately owned lands.

    2. This initiative comes with what appears to by an overreaching sentiment against any institution whatsoever. The communication minister wants to cancel the public broadcast, our foreign minister wants to cancel the independence of the central bank. Yesterday Netanyahu tried to appoint a friend to be the leading statistician, and today our minister of education decided to take control on the national library, probably because the chair of the library today was the district attorney who recommended putting Netanyahu to trial.

    3. While I completely understand Howard's sentiment above, You should know that there is still a very large group of people (almost half) who are strong defenders of democracy and peace who are seeing their country going to waste with eyes full of tears. We protest 8 weeks in a row by now. Unfortunately, we don't have enough kids to fight the inevitable demographics (the average fertility rate of the ultra orthodox is 7.5 children per woman). Currently our government doesn't fear so much from the protests but does fear mainly from two things: economic collapse due to their "reform" and international pressure, especially from the US.

    4. Please allow me not to be informative in section 4 and use the stage to make a call: If you can pressure the US government to make a stronger stand, it might be what will save Israel's democracy. A strong declaration by Biden that if Israel is losing its democracy the US will need to entirely reconsider the state of the "special relationship" can be what will make the difference.

    Reply
  4. John Pillette

    The proposed “reforms” have a distinctly American, Republican Party odor about them. Based on nothing more than this, I guessed that there must be some sort of exchange program between the usual suspects over here (ALEC, the Federalist Society, et al.) and their fellow “reformers” over there.

    The law professors’ site linked above doesn’t seem go into the history of this movement, but a couple of Google searches suggest to me that my hunch was correct, but I can’t provide any real links to anything, and I can’t get behind any headlines and determine whether I’m really onto something, because all of the information is all paywalled.

    But there must be something written about this Republican-Israeli (The *Schmederalist* Society?) hookup available somewhere …

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