Background Info: Israel in its modern state is a parliamentary democratic state that holds free and fair elections with various parties offering its citizens ease in interacting with their government. All in all, Israel stands as a good example of democracy in a region where very little democracy is seen. Israel’s last election was held in November of 2022 and the “Likud” party won the majority of the seats. The Likud stands as a major right-wing party in Israel, and it leads the cabinet along with various other right-wing, nationalist, and regional parties. The figurehead of this coalition of right-wing parties is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (or Bibi Netanyahu as he is more informally known). He had served as prime minister for most of the 2000s but was briefly voted out for about a year. Netanyahu has recently fallen into hot water due to his proposal of judicial reforms that greatly strengthen the political power of the largest group in parliament (which just so happens to be his). These reforms include:

Barring the Supreme Court from striking down decisions by parliament it deems “unreasonable”.
The court attorney general may no longer declare a prime minister unfit and remove them from office (unless they are physically or mentally incapacitated)
Allowing Justice Minister Yariv Levin to delay the convening the committee that appoints the country’s judges (Frankel 2023)


Theory: Professors of law at UChicago Aziz Huq and Tom Ginsburg write extensively on the role of the legal sphere when it comes to democratic backsliding. They state in their article, How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy, “ Conjuring or overemphasizing a national security threat creates a sense of crisis, allowing would-be autocrats to malign critics as weak-willed or unpatriotic. Other rhetorical moves are common: Leaders who wish to roll back democratic institutions tend to depict those institutions’ defenders as representatives of a tired, insulated elite.”

“An independent judiciary and checks such as legislative oversight of administrative activity can prove significant barriers. Hence, we often see would-be autocrats trying to pack the courts or intimidate judges into getting with the program.”
Thus if we see a legislature attempting to tamper with the judiciary’s role in government, we can safely assume that the party is attempting to erode democracy.

Backsliding: When looking at the actions being taken by Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Likud party, it’s important to look at what procedure/legislative norm they’re trying to erode, and how it has affected the Likud in the past.

For example, the first reform that Netanyahu is attempting to pass, the Supreme Court from striking down decisions by parliament it deems “unreasonable”. Earlier this year the court had blocked a decision to appoint Aryeh Deri as finance minister. This was done due to Deri having been convicted of bribery and tax offenses in the past (Lubell 23). Netanyahu is also a firm believer that parliament should have final say over appointments. Netanyahu now seeks to revoke this power from the judiciary, allowing him to appoint potentially corrupt officials as a means to further his party’s political goals. By stripping the judiciary of this power and giving it to the majority coalition in parliament, Netanyahu further centralizes his power and weakens the government’s ability to put checks on him and his party.

The second reform stands as a good example of Netanyahu attempting to insulate himself from consequences. The second reform being, “The court attorney general may no longer declare a prime minister unfit and remove them from office (unless they are physically or mentally incapacitated)”. Netanyahu is passing this reform in the middle of his corruption trial. Netanyahu is currently on trial for, “ fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates” (Goldenberg 23). This makes it all the clearer why Netanyahu would like to weaken the powers of the court attorney general.

The final reform that Netanyahu is attempting to pass, “Allowing Justice Minister Yariv Levin to delay the convening the committee that appoints the country’s judges” also stands as an example of Netanyahu and his party attempting to strip power away from the judiciary and give it to the ruling party in parliament. Critics of Justice Levins state that he is delaying the convening of the committee, “ until he can appoint judges sympathetic to the overhaul” (Frankel 23).

These three reforms serve as examples of Netanyahu and his parliamentary allies attempting to tamper with the judiciary’s role in government. By removing their ability to strike down unreasonable decisions made by parliament, removing their ability to declare a prime minister unfit, and attempting to appoint only judges who are sympathetic to their cause, Netanyahu has eroded the judiciary into a branch of government that holds little to no authority that only serves to do the bidding of the parliament’s majority coalition.

Conclusion: Netanyahu has made a continuous attempt to erode the democracy of Israel. By passing reforms the concentrate power in the ruling party of the parliament and remove it from the judiciary, Netanyahu is creating a situation where there is no government institution capable of holding him and his party accountable for its actions.



Bibliography

Frankel, Julia. “Israel’s Contentious Legal Overhaul Comes to a Head as Judges Hear Cases on Their Own Fate.” AP News, 12 Sept. 2023, apnews.com/article/israel-judicial-overhaul-netanyahu-d4ebdff08f42b225f7a2a933f7d793f5. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.

Gidron, Noam. “Why Israeli Democracy Is in Crisis.” Journal of Democracy, July 2023, www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/why-israeli-democracy-is-in-crisis/.

Ginsburg, Aziz Huq and Tom. “How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy.” Vox, 21 Feb. 2017, www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/2/21/14664568/lose-constitutional-democracy-autocracy-trump-authoritarian.

Goldenberg, Tia. “What Is the Latest on Netanyahu’s Corruption Trial?” AP News, 27 Apr. 2023, apnews.com/article/israel-netanyahu-corruption-trial-courts-4e18ed8f34e65707bd47e37696da4705.
Lubell, Maayan. “Israel Supreme Court Tells Netanyahu He Must Fire Minister.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 18 Jan. 2023, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-supreme-court-strikes-down-appointment-minister-deri-court-spokesman-2023-01-18/.