anti-democratic legislation

Israeli soldiers take position near a burning tyre during clashes with Palestinian protesters at a demonstration marking Land Day at Qalandiya checkpoint, March 30, 2012. (Uri Lenz/Flash90)

Israel, the occupation is at the core of who you are

If Jewish leaders and activists are going to speak up against Israel’s recent anti-democratic trends, they cannot remain silent on what has been corrupting its democracy for decades. By Nadav Bigelman It is not news to many Israelis that their government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is pushing all those who do not align with his spirit of…

By +972 Magazine August 25, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crosses his arms as Education Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at a cabinet meeting, August 30, 2016. (Emil Salman/Pool)

The oldest trick in the book, and we’re still falling for it

While Netanyahu distracts the Left with attacks on the media, his right-wing coalition partners are taking far more dangerous steps. By Ilan Manor Like many on the Israeli left, my Facebook feed last week was swarming with images of veteran journalist Ilana Dayan trouncing Prime Minister Netanyahu. Friends from all over country felt certain that…

By +972 Magazine November 14, 2016

Haneen Zoabi is removed by Knesset security on February 8, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

New Israeli law seeks to expel ‘misbehaved’ Arab parliamentarians

Plenty of democratic countries have mechanisms for de-seating elected representatives, but those countries don’t have rich histories of trying to ban politicians of one ethnic group. And their laws weren’t designed to target specific unpopular politicians. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with the “Expulsion Law” passed by Israel’s Knesset early Wednesday morning. Lots of…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man July 20, 2016

Latest

Illustrative photo of a man wearing an Israeli flag at the Western Wall. (By Shutterstock.com / Robert Hoetink)

Want to be a judge in Israel? Get in line and sing the national anthem

The Israeli national anthem, a Zionist hymn that excludes Israel’s Palestinian population, could soon become part of the job requirement for judges. Do you want to be a judge in Israel? Then according to Yisrael Beiteinu MK Robert Ilatov, you must sing Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem. Although Ilatov was only elected to the judicial appointment…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland July 23, 2015

Israel's Supreme Court sits as the High Court of Justice, April 1, 2014. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills)

The real reason Netanyahu has the High Court in his crosshairs

The government’s plan to curb the High Court’s authority distracts from the fact that on most of Israel’s discriminatory and anti-democratic laws and policies, the two institutions see eye to eye. In recent weeks, the Israeli media has reported on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to propose new legislation that would grant the government more authority…

By Amjad Iraqi May 6, 2015

WATCH: The Knesset’s all-out war against the Left

Earlier this month, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the preparation of and support for a new ‘NGO law.’ The law would impose a 45 percent tax on donations to NGOs calling for a boycott of Israel, the prosecution IDF soldiers, that deny Israel’s state symbols. The NGO law is the latest of some 30…

By Social TV December 26, 2013

Panel of the Israeli Supreme Court (file photo, Activestills.org)

Jerusalem bill: A return to anti-democratic legislation?

By a 5-4 majority, a ministerial committee on Sunday approved a bill that proposes to require 80 Knesset members to approve any negotiations about the future of Jerusalem before the issue can even be discussed in peace talks, as reported by Israeli press. It sounds like a technicality: the bill is far from passing as…

By Dahlia Scheindlin October 22, 2013

Protest against the boycott Law, Tel Aviv, June 12 2011 (photo: Oren Ziv/activestills)

Silence is no longer an option: A call to action from Israel

It is imperative that Jews around the world who cherish humanistic values publicly express their concern about the current situation in Israel, and call for the government to return to peaceful, moral, democratic, and humanistic values. By Daniel Bar-Tal Israel is a prosperous and well developed state with remarkable achievements in technological, educational, cultural, scientific…

By +972 Magazine May 18, 2013

Reuven Rivlin, Feb 2012 (Photo: Oscepa/flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

New bill would let the Knesset crush the Court

Haaretz reports that a new bill for a Basic Law currently being debated would allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings that a law is unconstitutional, by a 65-member Knesset vote, neatly killing off one of the last traces of checks and balances in Israel. It is particularly disturbing that Reuven Rivlin, Speaker of…

By Dahlia Scheindlin April 8, 2012

Im Tirzu supporters trying to shout down a leftist demonstration (photo: Yossi Gurvitz)

Leaked BGU report: Part of broader assault on academic freedom

Read excerpts from the report obtained by +972 Magazine. The leaked report of a committee appointed by Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE), assessing Ben Gurion University’s Department of Politics and Government, is an anomaly compared to other reports, if not an outright, government-sponsored politicized mission against an academic department that has no precedent. I repeat…

By Dahlia Scheindlin November 26, 2011

Threats to Israeli democracy, tolerance gather momentum

If the threat against Israeli democracy is not recognized and opposed, it will gather momentum until inevitably, one of democracy’s vital organs – tolerance, enshrined in law, for minority groups and minority opinions – will cease to function. By Rachel Liel One thing on which virtually all Israelis, from right to left, can agree is…

By +972 Magazine November 14, 2011

change theory (Image: F l a n k e r, penubag/Wikicommons, public domain)

Israel’s social protests: the key to changing everything?

For the first few weeks of the housing-cum-social protests in Israel, nothing else seemed to matter. For at least a week or two after the “J14” protests began (on July 14, in Tel Aviv), the press happily let it muscle out everything else – Palestinians, Iran, September, democracy barely reached back pages of the papers.…

By Dahlia Scheindlin August 17, 2011

Protesting the boycott law, Rabin Square (Photo: Yossi Gurvitz)

Israeli society mounts resistance to assault on democracy (updated)

This post has been updated, 21 July, 2011 When we look back on this period in Israeli history, I don’t want to wonder: “why didn’t Israelis fight for their democracy? Why did they stand by and let themselves be taken over by sham leaders representing repressions that belonged to the dark days of the last…

By Dahlia Scheindlin July 20, 2011