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Analysis

Israel faces internal threat in Netanyahu’s judicial reforms

After warning from Israel’s top opposition leaders, President of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut warns that the Netanyahu government judicial reform could crush Israel’s democracy.
A man holds a sign with writing in Hebrew reading "we won't let you go back to the old days of the British Mandate" during a demonstration by lawyers against the Israeli government's controversial plans to overhaul the judicial system, outside the Tel Aviv District Court of Justice on January 12, 2023.  (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Supreme Court President Esther Hayut denounced on Thursday the new government’s plan to overhaul Israel’s judicial system. Addressing a conference in Haifa, Hayut warned that such a plan would deal a “fatal blow” to the country’s democratic identity. Her unprecedentedly fierce speech reflected the current schism in Israel, pitting the liberal values that guided the founders of the state against the conservative, nationalist forces that have assumed control of the country in recent weeks.

The specter of an internal battle, which emerged in Israeli discourse after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his radical partners won the Nov. 1 elections, appeared imaginary at first, even absurd. But just two months on, these doomsday scenarios are materializing at high speed, gathering steam as they appear headed for a mighty clash between Israel’s judicial and legal system and the political forces intent on crushing it.

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