US Jews side with Biden and Hezbollah in opposing Israel’s judicial reform
As the first stage of the judicial reforms passes in the Knesset, criticism begins to roll in. Politics makes strange bedfellows, and this issue has US Jews siding with their president and… Hezbollah.
On Monday, the Knesset voted to approve a law that prevents the courts from reviewing the “reasonableness” of government and ministerial decisions. The law abolishes Israel’s “reasonableness standard,” eliminating the Supreme Court’s ability to block government decisions it deems “unreasonable,” a vague and subjective standard as Israel’s Supreme Court is not guided or encumbered by a constitution.
The passage of the law marks the first stage in the judicial reform being pushed by the right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The bill passed its third and final reading with 64 votes in favor and 0 against, as the entire 56-member opposition boycotted the vote in protest.
Israel has seen 29 weeks of protests over the reforms. While the protests stated purpose is to oppose the judicial reforms, they are overwhelmingly partisan in their opposition to Netanyahu. Palestinian flags have been spotted, and a contingent of protesters marched in solidarity with the Palestinians of Hawarra after Jewish rioters responded to ongoing terrorist attacks by the Arabs of that city. IDF reservists have also signed letters of intent stating that they will refuse to report for duty if the reforms are instituted. The most recent march on the Knesset culminated on Shabbat, disenfranchising religious Jews who supported the anti-reform cause. Reservists marched with banners stating, “We will not die protecting the settlements,” a message that has little to do with judicial reform.
Support for the anti-judicial reform movement has also been rising from foreign sources. The White House released a statement opposing the reforms.
As a lifelong friend of Israel, President Biden has publicly and privately expressed his views that major changes in a democracy to be enduring must have as broad a consensus as possible. It is unfortunate that the vote today took place with the smallest possible majority. We understand talks are ongoing and likely to continue over the coming weeks and months to forge a broader compromise even with the Knesset in recess. The United States will continue to support the efforts of President Herzog and other Israeli leaders as they seek to build a broader consensus through political dialogue.”
It should be noted that the reforms come as a democratic process following a recent election. Substantial protest rallies have been held in support of the reforms. As president of Israel, Isaac Herzog holds an unelected ceremonial position and was a member of the left-wing Labor Party that stood in opposition to Netanyahu’s centrist Likud Party.
Conservative pundit Mark Levin opined that it was hypocritical for Biden to criticize Israel’s judicial reform.
“While Biden is relentlessly trashing our Supreme Court and the conservative justices and is defying the court on his student loan forgiveness ‘get around,’ he has the temerity to tell Israel’s prime minister and their parliament not to pass legislation that stops their rogue judicial oligarchy from seizing power from the voters,” Levin tweeted. “Biden is an autocrat, and his party and party media cheer him on.”
Daily Wire host and Israel advocate Ben Shapiro, who is an Orthodox Jew, posted: “The current Israeli government had to pass judicial reform. It is INCREDIBLY mild: it merely says that the judiciary cannot simply declare a law ‘unconstitutional’ in a land with no written constitution on the basis of it being ‘unreasonable.’”
He continued, “Imagine the Supreme Court in the United States routinely striking down popularly-passed legislation without citing anything but their own view of whether such legislation is ‘reasonable.’ No legal arguments, no citations of a written text, no authority. Nothing. That’s the situation currently.”
Several Jewish organizations came out with statements condemning the passage of the law. The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) opposed the Israeli government’s proposed judicial overhaul, announcing that it strongly opposes the passage of this bill. JDCA CEO Halie Soifer said the following:
“JDCA is committed to the safety and security of the State of Israel and its future as a Jewish and democratic state. We are deeply concerned by the ongoing attempts to erode Israel’s democracy with measures like this one, which unequivocally weakens Israel’s judiciary, democracy, and systems of checks and balances. As President Herzog has urged and President Biden advised, the focus of the Israeli government should be on uniting around a consensus for judicial reform, not divisive and undemocratic measures like this one. We stand with the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have demonstrated in support of Israel’s democracy and in opposition to harmful judicial overhaul proposals, including this legislation.”
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs released a similar statement.
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) in the United States, released the following statement:
“More than ever, the Israelis fighting for democracy need to know that American Jews are with them,” Spitalnick wrote. “ We are. This is our fight too – and the vast majority of American Jews believe in a Jewish, democratic Israel that lives up to its founding values of equality, freedom, and justice for all.”
“At a moment when democracy is under threat in different ways both here in the U.S. and in Israel, it feels like a particularly precarious and daunting time to be an American Jew. But we have no choice but to continue the fight and to stand in solidarity with both our Israeli family and all communities standing up for democracy in the face of unprecedented threats.”
The American Jewish Committee, one of the oldest pro-Israel groups in the US, expressed “profound disappointment” at the vote. While acknowledging that Israel’s judicial system is flawed and reform is warranted, the AJC criticized the passage of the law as being “pushed through unilaterally by the governing coalition.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticized the law, suggesting that the government follow the directions of Herzog.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Israeli government passed the controversial Reasonableness Bill, failing to heed the call of President Herzog and others to reach a compromise rooted in a broad societal consensus,” the ADL stated.
It should be noted that bringing the president into the process would violate Israel’s democratic framework, as the president is not part of the legislative branch of the government. The ADL has garnered criticism for sacrificing its stated purpose of fighting antisemitism in order to voice talking points of the Democratic Party.
The National Council of Jewish Women put out a statement criticizing the law and the judicial reforms.
“We believe in a secure, Jewish, and democratic Israel – and the move to limit the power of the Supreme Court’s abilities to provide checks and balances on the government undermines that vision,” the council wrote on Twitter.
Shapiro explained the antipathy of secular US Jews to Israel’s judicial reform, hinting that their self-identity as Democrats was more important than supporting Israel:
“The absurdity of morons like Thomas Friedman calling on Joe Biden to step in – the same Joe Biden currently claiming that the US Supreme Court is undemocratic and undermining its own legitimacy – is apparent. It’s more about Democrats’ increasing antipathy for Israel than anything reality-based.”
Perhaps ironically, Hezbollah has also taken the side of the anti-judicial reform elements. Like Israel’s left wing and the Biden administration, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah decried the passage of the pro-reform law.
“There was a time when it was believed that Israel could not be defeated, and that its army was invincible. Many countries in the region considered its threat as an undeniable fact that cannot be removed,” the head of the Shiite terror organization in Lebanon said. “This specific day is the darkest day in the history of Israel, as some Israelis [anti-reform protesters] testify, and this day sets the country on a path toward disappearance.”
Several Israeli media agreed with the leader of Hezbollah, posting a large black image on their front pages to show displeasure with the passage of the law.
The New Israel Fund, an anti-Israel ultra-left wing organization funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, quoted Nasrallah directly, calling the passage of the law in the Knesset a “dark day in the history of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.”
In February, Nasrallah noted that the anti-reform elements in the Israeli government were creating the basis for a civil war.
“We are hearing discourse from the entity’s president [Isaac Herzog] and former prime ministers [Yair] Lapid, [Naftali] Bennett, [Ehud] Olmert, [Ehud] Barak and former defense ministers and a general who talk about civil war and bloodshed and that there is no solution to the challenges posed by the new government,” the Lebanese terrorist leader said.
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