Amir Tsarfati: The Current Crisis

Worldview with Amir Tsarfati: The Current Crisis

Amir Tsarfati

 Sunday night was like no other night I’ve experienced in my life. I was in Tel Aviv to record the audiobook for my upcoming release, Has the Tribulation Begun? From my hotel room, I had a bird’s eye view of tens of thousands of Israelis chanting, waving flags, blocking roads, and causing all sorts of mayhem. My heart broke as I witnessed firsthand the division that has laid siege to my country. Friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, family member against family member.

This is a seminal moment in the history of my nation, Israel. As such, I have decided to make this week’s newsletter a Special Edition focusing on the current crisis. Along with reading what is written below, I would also encourage you to watch my Breaking News Update from Sunday night and my Special Middle East Update: Chaos in Israel from Monday. They both go into far more detail than I am able to provide here. When you have finished reading this special edition newsletter, please forward it on to others you know who have a love for the nation of Israel.

This situation in which Israel finds itself is not an overnight development. Despite it seeming as if the nation’s struggles have only come over the past couple of years, the foundations of this divide have been laid over the previous three-and-a half decades. It was at that time that the Israeli judicial system began to go through a revolution. The Supreme Court took more and more powers to themselves to the point that they began making various laws and overturning others.

The justification for this judicial overreach was found in the “reasonableness doctrine”. When a case or law is brought before the Supreme Court, they are allowed to ascertain whether or not it could be considered “reasonable” by their own arbitrary standards. This is a lot of leeway, particularly for a liberal, activist court, such as the one that exists in Israel today. The result, according to one pundit I respect, has been that our nation is now ruled by a judicial oligarchy. But if this has been building up for 35 years, why has it suddenly blown up now? It is because Benjamin Netanyahu ran his latest campaign on a platform of judicial reform, and the majority of Israelis voted him back in. Once in office, he sought to fulfill his pledge. The reform bill that he put forth seeks to correct five very obvious problems:

1. Remove attorney general overreach. Right now, rather than simply advising the government, the attorney general has the authority to dictate. This corrects his role from boss to adviser.

2. Currently, the judiciary has veto power over judge nominations. This has led to generational leftism amongst the judges wherein liberal judges beget liberal judges. The reform will limit the authority over judicial appointments.

3. As mentioned above, the “reasonableness doctrine” has given the judiciary the power to arbitrarily override any decision coming out of the administration or the Knesset. Judicial reform will require there be more solid reasoning for striking down a decision than just “we don’t agree with that.”

4. Israel does not have a formal constitution. Rather, it has an incremental constitution based on 13 Basic Laws. Judicial reform says that the Supreme Court cannot strike down any of the Basic Laws.

5. Judicial reform says that the courts can use Basic Laws to strike down new laws, but only under certain conditions. Those conditions require that all 15 justices must participate in the decision, there must be a supermajority of the justices voting against the law, and the Knesset must have the opportunity to override the decision. It is the third in that list that opponents to reform say will bring the end of democracy in Israel.

As the judicial reform began the process of working its way through the Knesset, the Left, funded by billionaires both domestic and foreign, unleashed their well-organized and well-funded resistance troops. The media began a campaign of disinformation that insisted that passing judicial reform meant an end to democracy and an end to Israel. People began buying into it. And it wasn’t just the masses. It was business leaders and people of influence. Generals began saying that they would not support the legislation. Military reservists said that if the reforms passed, they would not obey a call-up in case of national emergency. These included officers and air force pilots. The nation was beginning to erode from within.

Then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant took the opportunity of Netanyahu being on a state trip to the UK to announce his opposition to the reform bill. He made the announcement on a Sabbath, when Netanyahu was unable to respond right away, and he did it after promising the prime minister that he wouldn’t. When Netanyahu returned to Israel the next day, he justifiably fired Gallant.

Israel exploded. Protesters took to the streets by the tens of thousands. As I mentioned above, I was in Tel Aviv at the time, and watched out my window as they blocked main arteries and brought the city to a standstill. Then, the next day, Monday, the Histadrut union announced an unprecedented and illegal strike that saw 700,000 workers walk off their jobs shutting down airports, hospitals, museums, national parks, malls, government offices, and many more places. The promise was that the strike would continue until the judicial reforms were shelved.

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