Israel’s democratic process is a democracy at work

Ever since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took over, both he and his coalition partners as well as the country itself have come under unprecedented and vicious attacks, with accusations of radicalism, right-wing extremism and apartheid being thrown their way without any evidence and without any due process, let alone facts.

In recent months, the attacks on Netanyahu’s government have unfortunately not been limited to Palestinian terror attacks; in some cases they have come from within and funded by external parties with far-left extremist agendas.

In my experience, having visited Israel, worked with people from Israel, and interviewed Israeli officials and politicians and businessmen and women, they tell me that if it could happen to an advanced, powerful and rich country like Israel, it could happen to Greece just as easily. Especially now as we are facing our own challenges and are about to go to the polls.

Some have suggested that Israel’s new coalition government has proposed its first phase of Basic Law reforms. Troublingly, the proposed changes would dismantle external and internal checks on the executive’s power, including through curbing judicial oversight of the government’s and parliament’s actions. The attorney general has indicated that the proposals would harm the core characteristics of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, key words to invoke Supreme Court jurisdiction to strike down the suggested amendments to Basic Law: Judiciary. The stage may therefore be set for the deepest and most dangerous constitutional – and even existential – crisis in Israel’s history.

This argument is utterly preposterous on the face of it and has no merit. The legitimate argument Netanyahu and his government make is that at the heart of the new reform lies the judiciary’s ability to annul laws enacted by the legislature. In some liberal democracies, but not many, this is outright impossible. At the other end of the spectrum is the current situation in Israel, where it is extremely easy for the Supreme Court to review laws of the Knesset.

Any Israeli citizen can challenge the ‘legality’ of a law in court, even without demonstrating that he or she will be harmed by it

In Israel, there are no formal limitations on such judicial review. Any Israeli citizen can challenge the “legality” of a law in court, even without demonstrating that he or she will be harmed by it. This means that at any given moment, there are some 10 million potential petitioners in Israel. It remains up to the discretion of the court to decide whether to discuss the petition. There is no quorum for judicial review of the Knesset’s laws, and a simple majority can annul laws. Thus, even laws that were approved by overwhelming majority in the Knesset can be annulled by a court decision of two judges against one. The Israeli Supreme Court has practically given itself this authority, without ever having an explicit legal basis for it.

This type of encroachment of the judiciary on the legislature has no equivalent in the West. It has been the focus of fierce criticism for the last 25 years, from both right and left, and it is the reason for the current need for reform. The only question is to what extent this institutional imbalance should be amended, or in other words, how difficult it should be for the courts to review laws passed by the Knesset. In fact, judicial reform is needed to preserve the legitimacy of Israeli democracy.

Israel is a Jewish state first and foremost, and the Jewish identity is rooted in the very fiber of the Jewish people, their history, culture, traditions and customs since ancient times. It is then a democratic state, and its democracy no different than that of Greece has allowed not only Jews, but Muslims, Christians, Druze, and almost every conceivable nationality to live freely and enjoy the same equal rights as those in the UK, US, France or any other democratic nation.

Right or wrong, whether as Europeans or Greeks, to criticize and attack our most trusted friend and ally in the region before we even understand the issues facing them, and before we even understand the concerns facing our ally, is unwise and unfair. It is no different than the UK telling Greece they know better than us to keep our national treasure, that they are better equipped to decide for all of Greece what is and isn’t good for us. We ought to emulate our friends in Israel and applaud them for having the open debate over something that is so critical, as long as that debate is done in a civilized and respectful manner. I hope that the leaders in Brussels will listen and take note, and allow Israel the freedom and opportunity it deserves to go through its process uninterrupted and unobstructed without any efforts to undermine it.

Alexia Tasouli is a journalist.