海角大神

As protests go,聽there鈥檚 a difference between聽chants, over the years, of聽鈥淗ey, hey, ho, ho, Bibi has got to go,鈥� and repeated shouts of 鈥淒emocracy!鈥�

This one word 鈥� pronounced 鈥淒e-mo-crat-ya鈥� in Hebrew 鈥� is the protest slogan of the moment.

In recent weeks,聽it has聽echoed across Israel with increasing urgency, anxiety, and frequency.聽And聽it is聽repeated 鈥� often accompanied by a steady beat of drums 鈥� by citizens from a widening swath of the political spectrum.

The groundswell is a reaction to proposed legislation by the new聽hard-right religious-nationalist聽coalition聽led by聽鈥淏ibi,鈥� Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which would聽give the government more power to select judges and allow it to overrule Supreme Court rulings with a simple majority in parliament.

The government calls the legislation a needed reform聽of an overpowerful judiciary. Others see it as a way to weaken the Supreme Court and attorney general 鈥� and hand the government unchecked power.

Hundreds of thousands of people 鈥� from members of the ultra-Orthodox community to army veterans to high-tech executives 鈥� join together week after week, making comparisons to democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland.

鈥淟ook around聽at聽the demonstrations,鈥� suggests Yotam Margalit, a Tel Aviv University political science professor and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. 鈥淧eople look stunned at the situation they are in. Something truly unprecedented is happening.鈥�

Broadening opposition

The rhetoric is sharpening, with mutual accusations of incitement and attempted coups. Sunday night,聽President Isaac Herzog stepped out of his normally ceremonial role to issue a televised warning. Conceding the need for some judicial reform, he asked all sides to work on it together to avoid a 鈥渃onstitutional collapse鈥� and possible violence. 鈥淭his powder keg is about to explode,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is an emergency.鈥�

Over the last 75 years, Israelis 鈥� argumentative, opinionated, polarized 鈥撀爃ave聽voiced many frustrations and demands: 鈥淪top the occupation!鈥� 鈥淭his is not our war!鈥� 鈥淭raitors!鈥澛燛ven, in the lead-up to the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 鈥淣azis!鈥�

鈥淪ure, one side or another in this country has almost always disagreed with the policies of those in power,鈥� says Professor Margalit. 鈥淏ut we never thought the basic fundamentals of our country would be threatened in such a way in our lifetimes. And yet it鈥檚 happening, rapidly.鈥�

Weekly Saturday night protests in Israel鈥檚 major cities have morphed into an almost daily ritual, with activities outside the homes of聽coalition聽members and in front of the Knesset and Supreme Court. 鈥淪ave our Democracy鈥澛爌etitions are being passed around, WhatsApp groups聽are聽proliferating, and tempers flaring.

Protests reached a crescendo Monday when the Knesset鈥檚 Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee held its first vote on the proposed judicial changes 鈥撀爌rompting聽Israelis around the country to strike and travel en masse to Jerusalem with their flags and chants.

Unsurprisingly, almost the entire legal establishment has聽come out against the proposed changes.

Perhaps even more critically,聽so have聽many of Israel鈥檚 top financial and economic leaders, from聽the governor of the Bank of Israel to CEOs of the country鈥檚 major banks and leaders聽of Israel鈥檚 vaunted high-tech industry.

Jewish communities across the world are taking out full-page ads in the Israeli press to express support for聽the anti-bill camp. Foreign leaders, typically careful about commenting on internal Israeli affairs, have offered veiled rebukes of the plan too.

鈥淭he genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary,鈥澛燯.S. President Joe聽Biden said in a聽statement聽to The New York Times.

鈥淲hat would I have done?鈥�

The Black Flag movement, which came to prominence in 2020-21 to protest Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 continued tenure聽as prime minister while facing corruption charges in court, has returned as part of this broader protest movement.

Mr. Netanyahu has everything to gain from weakening and controlling the courts, says the movement鈥檚 founder, Shikma Bressler, a physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. But the larger implications of聽the聽proposed judicial changes are far more chilling聽than the promotion of one man鈥檚 narrow self-interest, she says.

鈥淭hey are knowingly dealing with a nation of a people who grew up on stories of how bad things can get when a dictatorship takes hold,鈥� says Dr. Bressler, excusing herself for the Holocaust comparison, and then immediately taking it up again. 鈥淭his is a nation of people who ask themselves all the time: 鈥榃hat would I have done if I had lived in those days? What would I have done when I understood minorities were not going to be protected anymore?鈥� Well. Now is the time to answer that question.鈥�

On Monday, Dr. Bressler was out in the plaza in front of the Knesset, together with scores of thousands of other protesters.

鈥淗undreds of thousands did not go to work or school today,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a statement. And we are willing to take more aggressive steps and shut down the economy.鈥�

It鈥檚 not only the number of protesters that is critical to organizers, but also their diversity,聽though聽the government and its supporters聽accuse the current wave of protesters of being homogeneously white, privileged, and leftist.

Mr. Netanyahu聽calls them 鈥渁narchists.鈥�

鈥淲e are patriots鈥�

鈥淲e resent being dismissed this way,鈥� says Noga Halevi, spokeswoman for a protest group called Brothers in Arms, made up of alumni of Israel鈥檚 most elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal, and other elite units.

鈥淲e are patriots. We are Zionists who care and love this country. We have served it and we will keep on serving. In fact, we feel that this protest is our best way of serving now.鈥�

鈥淢ost of us in this group are not typical activists,鈥澛爏ays聽one member, speaking off the record because he still is in active service. 鈥淎lso, many of us are on the right side of spectrum! I am not here against Bibi. I want the government to succeed! I even believe there needs to be judicial reform. But I know reform and I know danger. This is danger.鈥�

While these soldiers urge legal and peaceful means of protest, some politicians are less reserved in their choice of words.

鈥淲e now must get to the next stage, the stage of war, and war is not waged through speeches. War is waged in a face-to-face battle, head-to-head and hand-to-hand, and that is bound to happen here,鈥� former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 鈥撀爋nce a member of Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 Likud party聽鈥� said in a TV interview this week. Mr. Netanyahu and his party announced they were filing a police complaint against Mr. Olmert for incitement.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, also facing a similar complaint, warned聽demonstrators on Monday聽that 鈥渄emocratic countries such as ours can become dictatorships. But dictatorships can only return to be democracies through bloodshed.鈥澛�

A crisis scenario

How effective,聽then, are all these demonstrations, warnings, and聽threats?

Professor聽Margalit says one likely scenario is a clash between branches of government, the judiciary and the executive. If the courts ruled against one of the new laws, and the government chose to ignore the ruling, that would precipitate a serious crisis.

In such a standoff, the numbers and diversity of Israelis standing up to be counted lend legitimacy to the judiciary, argues聽Professor聽Margalit. 鈥淭he Supreme Court needs to have not only legal justifications in this battle, but also a moral justification,鈥澛爃e says.聽鈥淗aving a clear majority of the country behind them could strengthen their resolve.鈥� 聽

For a few days after President Herzog made his appeal, the ruling coalition seemed open to his offer to broker a compromise. So far, however, it is rejecting the opposition鈥檚 insistence that, in order to start such negotiations, the government needs to pause the race to get the bills passed.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close ally of Mr. Netanyahu, said the聽judicial聽bills聽will be tabled聽in the Knesset, as planned, for the first of three readings, this coming Monday.

Leaders of the protest movement immediately countered that they would be there too.