A sad week for Israeli democracy

Democracies do not just suddenly disappear they are gradually eroded from within by their enemies, similar to the way in which cliffs are eroded by the ocean: wave after wave, sometimes gentle, sometimes ferocious, until they finally collapse.
Because democracy is a maze of ideologies, values, procedures, institutions, intentions and, above all, those people who deeply believe in it and are devoted to it, harming it requires an assault on all of them, and that is what the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been doing for more than two years now.
During this week of all weeks, however, it seems as though the “mere” tidal wave of antidemocratic measures has grown into a destructive tsunami. This was a week in which the government decided to move to dismiss one of the most crucial gatekeepers of the democratic system, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, while continuing its efforts to remove from his post the head of security agency Shin Bet, Ronen Bar.
This was a week in which legislation that is at the heart of the government’s so-called judicial reform process but is effectively judicial vandalism, a law that grants the government unprecedented influence over judicial appointments, was passed in the Knesset while police brutality against pro-democracy protesters reached new and appalling levels.
This was a week in which Netanyahu shamelessly tried once again to avoid giving evidence in his corruption trial, and derail the investigation into allegations of corruption and breaches of security among his close advisers by exploiting the power of his office.
This was a week in which the war in Gaza was resumed to ensure the stability of Israel’s governing coalition, at the expense of the people of Gaza and probably the hostages still held by Hamas. It had nothing to do with the security of the country.
And it was also a week in which the government approved the construction of 13 new settlements to ensure that millions of Palestinians, through the occupation and the possible annexation of their land, will remain deprived of their political, human, and civil rights.
These were seven days that might change Israel forever. Seven days that raise serious doubts about the ability of its democracy to survive.
A country that is defined by its own Declaration of Independence as being Jewish and democratic is currently fighting a rearguard action to retain that democracy. The strands of Judaism that dominate its present government, and as a result the rest of the country, range from the ultranationalistic-messianic to a version that is parasitic and out of touch with the modern world.
This dire situation is likely causing those who wrote and were signatories to this seminal document to turn in their graves.

The only good news, sort of, is that the very last remaining democratic mask — the one worn by Netanyahu for many years as he masqueraded as a democratic leader who puts the interests of his country, his people, and the rule of law above his own political and personal needs — was stripped away this week.
I know, this has not been much of a shock to most of us. But at least the battle lines between the democratic and authoritarian camps are now clearer. Netanyahu’s level of cynicism in being prepared to lead his country, with ever-increasing haste, down the slippery slope of authoritarianism has been frightening in its pace and its nature.
Not a single sacred value, institution or role that protects the very foundations of Israel’s democratic system, which admittedly has always been fragile, has been spared the rage of a politician who is clinging to power while abusing his position without compunction in an attempt to get off the hook in his corruption trial.

This was a week in which Netanyahu shamelessly tried once again to avoid giving evidence in his corruption trial.

Yossi Mekelberg

But increasingly there is also the impression that the trail of destruction caused by his unquenchable thirst for power is motivated by a hunger for revenge against his own people — political opponents, the gatekeepers of democracy, even those who loyally serve their country and are ready to sacrifice their lives for it — for daring to put him on trial or question his suitability for the job, let alone demand an independent inquiry into the Oct. 7 disaster.
Netanyahu rages, as do his minions in government and the right-wing media, at the mere suggestion that they should abide by the law, as is expected of any citizen. The reason — the only reason — the government is so adamant about getting rid of the attorney general is that Baharav-Miara is asking it to respect the law and the rule of law. For that she is bravely facing, and resisting, vicious onslaughts from members of the governing coalition and their loyal attack dogs in the right-wing media.
She is doing her job, as are the other gatekeepers of democracy, as the last line of defense against illegal government behavior, as she struggles to preserve the principles of transparency and accountability.
Netanyahu’s abuse of power is as manipulative as it is calculated. When Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, left the coalition government over his opposition to the ceasefire deal with Hamas he demanded that the attorney general be sacked. Now Shin Bet has suggested that Khanists, Jewish supremacists who follow the deplorable racist ideology of assassinated ultranationalist politician Meir Khana (of whom Ben Gvir is one), have infiltrated police ranks to arrest and throw into jail Bar, the agency’s chief.
With the war in Gaza now raging again and the government moving to dismiss both Bar and Baharav-Miara, and declaring that any Supreme Court ruling that reverses the decisions will be ignored, Otzma Yehudit is back as part of the government, ensuring that Netanyahu’s coalition now enjoys the most support it has had in the Knesset since the prime minister returned to power two years ago.
This is the sad reality of Israel’s democracy this week. The nation’s parliament, which should be a bastion against the antidemocratic legislation and policies of the government, has been transformed into a rubber stamp for laws that discriminate against those who are most devoted to the country’s security and prosperity, in order to bestow privileges on those who contribute next to nothing and even harm the country.
This week the budget bill, which in Israel amounts to a vote of no confidence should it fail to pass, passed with a big majority. This means tax hikes and public service cuts, while billions of shekels are handed out to the ultraorthodox sector, the least productive in Israel, and more money is allocated to the expansion of settlements, a major tool for burying any hopes for a peace agreement with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution.
Netanyahu is doing all of this simply because it keeps him in power, which is the only ideology he adheres to. So, too, does his support for legalization of the draft dodging by the ultraorthodox, despite the unbelievable and intolerable sacrifices of everyone else who serves in the army as regular or reserve troops.
When the entirety of a country’s political and social systems exists merely to serve the needs and whims of a leader, democracy dies. It is left for those who believe that Israeli democracy can be salvaged to fight for that cause and, unlike their opponents, to do so while respecting the law.

• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg