Several major Israeli newspapers appeared Tuesday morning with completely black front pages. It is a response to the approval of the highly controversial law ‘to cancel the standard of reasonableness’.
The black pages read in white letters: “A black day for Israeli democracy.” At the top, in small letters, is the word “advertisement.” The black pages were paid for by the Israeli Hi-Tech Protest Movement, a group of representatives of hi-tech companies, including CEOs, self-employed entrepreneurs and ordinary hi-tech workers.
The “standard of fairness,” now struck down by the Netanyahu government, allowed Israel’s Supreme Court to quash government decisions and appointments if they were deemed “extremely unreasonable.” Abolishing this norm will allow Netanyahu to appoint or fire people as he sees fit, without having to answer to the Supreme Court.
A car drove through a crowd of protesters in Israel on Monday:
According to the opposition, this undermines a hard-fought democracy and the package of new laws even offers room for a coup that could turn Israel into a dictatorship. The fear and expectation is that Israeli society will further polarize due to extreme appointments and legislative decisions – under the influence of extreme nationalist coalition parties – and that the Palestinians in particular will have to foot the bill for this. The passage of the law has further fueled protests and unrest in the country.
Declare invalid
Opponents of Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel have vowed not to give up. Young people have announced their refusal to serve in the army. Human rights groups are asking the Supreme Court to declare the new law invalid. The ongoing political crisis could quickly escalate as the opposition refuses to resume negotiations unless progress on this law is stopped immediately. That chance seems small. The largest trade union in Israel has already threatened a general strike.
Opposition to the reform has also reached Israel’s security sector, with members of the military protesting the bill and threatening more than 1,000 Air Force reservists to stop volunteering. Following the passage of the bill, former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called on military reservists to “not stop serving as long as we don’t know what the Supreme Court will rule” on the law for the sake of the security of the State of Israel.
Protest in Tel Aviv, Monday evening. © REUTERS
The passage of the law has also strained the relationship between Israel and the United States, with President Biden expressing concern and former US ambassadors suggesting that military support be ended. There are deep concerns in Washington about the impact of the law on Israel’s Arab minority and the perception of Israel as a democracy.
If the Supreme Court finds the fairness law itself unreasonable and invalidates the law that deprives the court of its own powers, it could create a constitutional crisis that pits the government and the court against each other.
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2023-07-25 09:18:20
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