For the eighth Saturday in a row, tens of thousands of people demonstrated on February 25 in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, brandishing alarming slogans: “No to religious fascism! and “We will not become Iran!” “.
On a huge sign, demonstrators had juxtaposed the faces of five “enemies of democracy”: Ayatollah Khomeini, the Turkish Erdogan, the Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu (in the middle), then Vladimir Putin and finally Viktor Orbán, the first Hungarian minister.
A beautiful gallery that summarizes the authoritarian and warlike perils of our time.
Israel’s evolution towards “fascism” is no longer an outrageous figure of speech, in the mouths of a few sworn and eternal enemies of the Jewish state. Today it is a concrete possibility, a nightmare that haunts a good number of Israelis who have remained democrats despite the spectacular swing to the right since the beginning of the 21st century.e century, of a majority of the electorate.
At stake here: not the treatment of the Israeli Arab minority, or of the “terrorist enemy” in the West Bank (on these points, Israeli society is rather united and intransigent… to the greatest misfortune of the Palestinians). But rather the “justice reform” put forward by the right-extreme right alliance around Netanyahu, whose main texts have just been adopted at first reading in the Knesset.
Even if the popular consensus in Israel has shifted to the right and the left formations have almost disappeared from the landscape, there is today, on the question of internal governance, a real confrontation.
Israel’s evolution towards “fascism” is no longer an outrageous figure of speech, in the mouths of a few sworn and eternal enemies of the Jewish state.
Face to face: conservatives who still want to believe in the division of powers, and a religious and radical extreme right which no longer wants it.
These extremists in power, who control key ministries, demand: a fundamentalist state, a total annexation of the occupied territories in the name of divine right, the denial of the rights of the Arabs (20% of the population of Israel) and – specific object of the current debate — a submission of justice to politics.
In short, an “illiberal” regime inspired by Viktor Orbán, where the government puts all state bodies under its control, including the judiciary. Doubled — to quote Charles Enderlin in The diplomatic world (February 2023) — of an “identity coup”, based on “an authoritarian, religious Jewish nationalism, breaking with the vision of democracy held by the founding fathers of Zionism”.
The new law was introduced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin. If it passes – and the Netanyahu coalition seems solid, with 64 deputies out of 120 – the decisions of the Supreme Court could be invalidated by a simple vote in the Knesset… the Supreme Court becoming an advisory body!
Another element of this law: the increased power of the government over the appointment of judges, under the pretext that the judiciary has too much influence and that the courts would systematically lean to the left.
Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption: these new provisions would also be a way for him to free himself from prosecution. The opposition accuses him of wanting judges “in his hand”, to be exonerated from the charges which overwhelm him in three ongoing trials.
There is also the case of Aryé Déry, Minister of Justice, although he was convicted of tax evasion in 2022. The new government voted for a waiver to appoint him anyway.
Let us add the question of the rights of minorities (apart from those of the Palestinians and the Israeli Arabs)… In Israel, with the coming to power of the ultra-religious, ministers openly affirm that they want to put an end to all these rights, such as those of homosexuals, which are are based on liberal laws and court rulings.
An example, finally, taken in January from the daily Ha’aretz. Headline quote from Bezalel Smotrich, new finance minister: “I’m a homophobic fascist, but I won’t stone gays. »
It is people like that who lead Israel today.
François Brousseau is an international affairs columnist at Ici Radio-Canada. [email protected]