Dear Kineti readers,
Below you'll find a guest post from Aaron Hecht, a Messianic believer from Israel who has written extensively for Kehila News. Aaron and I developed an unlikely friendship several years ago after he and I discussed our differing views of Torah observance for Yeshua's disciples.
His post today is on the months-long judicial crisis in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed judicial reforms would curtail the power of Israeli judicial system while expanding the power Knesset and rabbinical court. For over a month, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated against the reforms, labelling them a power grab and a threat to Israeli democracy.
Aaron's post also touches on Christian Zionism and Zionist groups who have injected themselves into the debate.
Not everything Aaron says I endorse, and that's OK. It's healthy to hear voices outside one's own echo chamber. Enjoy, dear readers!
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| Thousands of Israelis protesting the proposed judicial reforms of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu |
Israel is in the midst of a serious crisis.
As I am sitting
here writing this in my modest Jerusalem apartment, I can hear the sounds of
angry (and frightened) people just a few blocks away, chanting slogans as they
march through the streets of our capital city to make known that they do not
approve of measures currently being pushed through the Knesset by the governing
coalition. The protests I can hear out my window are part of a much larger
protest movement, the largest by far in all of Israel's modern history, against
actions being taken by the government.
You may already be fairly familiar with the issues
surrounding what is being called by those within the governing coalition who
support it "Judicial Reform" and by those in the opposition who
oppose it "the death knell of Israeli democracy."
Both of these
labels are deeply dishonest, as is most of the rhetoric being thrown around by
both sides in the debate surrounding the particulars of different measures that
are being proposed. This dishonesty is at the heart of the crisis, and it's
what's making it so difficult to find a solution.
I offer the
following thoughts as my own personal attempt at a solution to this crisis. I
don't imagine it'll do much good, but here it is, for what it's worth.
Let's start with
some truth because that's the only way to solve a problem caused by lies and
deceit.
Truth number one is
that the judiciary in Israel is long overdue for reforms. There are many
serious problems with the judiciary and it is absolutely true that it has
issued rulings in the past several years which overturned laws passed by the
Knesset which were completely legitimate expressions of the will of the Israeli
people. The Israeli Supreme Court has assumed powers that were completely
outside its mandate.
Those who decry the
"assault on democracy" that they say these proposed laws represent
should take a moment to reflect on the damage that has already been done to
democracy in recent years by the court's inappropriate behavior.
That leads us to
truth number two, that some of the measures being proposed to undo the abuse of
power that the courts are unquestionably guilty of are quite constructive and
necessary. Others are catastrophically absurd overcorrections that will lead to
a situation that is even worse than what we have now.
In particular, the
"override clause" which is being so strongly insisted upon by some
parties in the coalition, which will allow a ruling of the Israeli Supreme
Court to be dismissed by a simple majority vote in the Knesset is a really bad
joke. There might as well not be a Supreme Court if the parliament has the
power to ignore it.
If you don't have a
Supreme Court which has the authority to declare a law passed by the
legislature to be out of line with the previously agreed upon "Basic
Laws" or "Constitution" or whatever the foundational principles
of that government are, then that is not a democracy. Full stop!
The leaders of the
parties in the coalition who are pressing the hardest for this "override
clause" are themselves attorneys who went to law school where they learned
all about this stuff, so they know exactly what they're doing. But they are
deceitfully pretending like there's nothing at all out of the ordinary in the
changes they're trying to make and the opposition and the protesters are being
hysterical drama queens and "anarchists."
These absurdly
childish ad hominem attacks should cause any thinking person to question the
moral integrity of the people making them.
That leads to truth
number three, which is that the governing coalition does not have a mandate
from the voters to make these changes to the Basic Laws of the country. They
endlessly repeat the claim that "the people voted for Judicial Reform and
they're going to get it" but they know that's not true. They know, as does
everyone, that in order to make a change this big, a large majority is
necessary. Having a coalition made up of 64 out of 120 Knesset seats is not
nearly enough to make a change this consequential to the DNA of a country.
Something else
everyone knows but which few are willing to say out loud is that most of the
people who voted for the parties that make up the current governing coalition
in the last election had no idea that anything like what's happening now would
result from their vote.
It's purely
anecdotal, but I have several friends who voted for right-wing parties which
make up the current coalition in the recent elections because they wanted Netanyahu
to return as Prime Minister. These people are now out in the streets protesting
because the actions those who they voted for have taken are nothing like what
they expected. Most of them say they want a new election as soon as possible so
they can vote for someone else. (Keep this in mind, it's very important for
what comes later in the blog.)
That leads to
another truth, not really on our list, but highly relevant nonetheless, and
that is that Israeli democracy has been very dysfunctional for a very long time
for all kinds of reasons. One of the primary reasons is that the voting public
has very little knowledge and understanding about how the government works,
much less the highly complex and nuanced issues the government deals with.
The teenagers I talk
to about this say they've never learned much in all their years in school about
Israeli history, the economy, the Court system, the military, or any other
issues that might be helpful for them to decide who to vote for when they're
old enough. This tracks with what I've heard from many older people, some who
vote in every election for the same party, some who vote occasionally, and some
who rarely if ever vote. What they all have in common is that they have very
little understanding of any of the relevant issues.
Those who vote for
the same party in every election usually do so because it's the party their
parents voted for, or which their rabbi told them to vote for. They rarely have
more than the vaguest ideas about what the party stands for or what plans their
party has for the power they're asking voters to give them. They just know that
"people like me vote for this party" and that's the whole story.
Most of the major
political parties like this situation just fine and don't even bother to
publish a platform on their websites. Reporters who ask leaders questions about
what their plans are in this or that area usually don't receive serious answers
or even empty campaign promises. In fact, many Israeli politicians don't even
bother to talk to the press. Netanyahu almost never gives media interviews, and
when he speaks at press conferences, he ignores the questions that are asked of
him and talks about the things he wants to talk about.
The major parties
rarely if ever make any effort to attract voters from other parties who are not
already inclined to vote for them, they just concentrate all their efforts on
getting those who are usually their supporters to show up at the polls. The
favorite tools for doing this are fear and loathing of the other parties.
For instance, a few
years ago, the election slogan of the Likud Party was "it's either us or
them."
That's it. Nothing
about why anyone should want "us" rather than "them" just a
reminder to everyone that it was "either us or them."
What all of this
adds up to is the simple and undeniable truth that Israeli democracy has been
highly dysfunctional for a long time. The five elections we've had in the past
four years is both a cause and a symptom of that dysfunction. But the primary
cause, as I said at the beginning, is deceit.
Everyone, on all
sides, is being dishonest about their own positions, the positions of their
opponents, and the situation in general. In such a dystopian
"post-truth" environment, there's every reason to expect things to go
from bad to worse.
Crisis in Christian Zionism
That leads me to
the next point that needs to be addressed in this blog, and that is the effect,
and the connection, between this terrible crisis in Israel, and the crisis it
has sparked in the Christian Zionist movement.
Most Israelis who
are even aware of the existence of Christian Zionists think that it's a
relatively new phenomenon, but that's not true at all. Christian Zionist
organizations were active in Jerusalem for over a century before the modern
State of Israel came into existence. In fact, the movement which would come to
be known as "Christian Zionism" has its roots in the Protestant
Reformation which occurred in the late 16th century in Europe and quickly
spread to North America. For many years it was called the "Restorationist
Movement" because these Protestant Christians wanted to help
"restore" the Jews to their ancestral homeland. This desire came from
a reading of the Scriptures (remember the Protestant Reformation happened in
large part because European Catholics could, for the first time in centuries,
read the Bible in their own native languages) and that motivation continues to
be a factor in relations between Israelis and Christians to this day.
In any case,
starting all the way back in the 16th century, the Christian Zionist movement
has played a major role in the development of the Jewish community in this
country leading up to the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948
and afterward. The Jews of Israel do not like to acknowledge any of this
history, but that's a topic for another blog.
What needs to be
said here in this blog is that the current crisis in Israel, which even
President Isaac Herzog said has the potential to lead to a civil war, has led
to what must be the deepest crisis in Christian Zionist history as well.
The obvious question
everyone has is, what should Christian Zionists do in this situation? What can they do? They obviously want to support Israel, but the question is which Israelis can they support since Israelis are so bitterly divided on these
issues.
Several years ago,
I wrote a blog in which I tracked some of the internal Jewish/Israeli schisms
we're seeing explode today and I advised Christian supporters of Israel not to
try and get in the middle of these internal Jewish/Israeli discussions. I don't
know how many people saw that blog, but the fact is, although most Christian
Zionist organizations have taken a cautious and/or neutral stance, some have jumped into the current discussion with both feet.
One group in
particular which is very closely allied with the National Religious/Modern
Orthodox settler groups in Judea and Samaria has given a full-throated
endorsement of the current governing coalition's agenda, including its scornful
dismissal of the hundreds of thousands of Israelis marching in the streets to
protest against that agenda. This Christian Zionist group has, sadly but not surprisingly,
initiated a mindless repetition and amplification of the false narratives the
coalition keeps peddling. They have even taken the step of denouncing some of
the leaders of Israel's Believer community who have spoken out against the
coalition's agenda.
Guys (you know who
you are), I have a nickel's worth of free advice for you.
First, you are
completely out of order. You are guests in this country, not citizens. You have
no business shooting your mouths off about the internal political battles being
fought here, much less telling your supporters to disregard the testimony of
Israeli Believers who are citizens of this country and have been appointed by
God to represent His Kingdom in this country.
You frame your
shilling for the Religious Zionist Party (RZP) as "reporting" the real truth from your
perspective "on the ground" etc. but that's less than even a
half-truth and you know it.
Second, you should
be aware that there will be another election in Israel sooner or later and your
pals in the RZP might disappear as quickly as they rose to
prominence. There have been several such "one-election wonders" over
the years, and most of them had more of a natural base of voters than RZP does.
The opposition parties which might very easily return to a majority in the
Knesset one day (and for that matter, some of the Likud MKs who are already
showing deep discomfort with their RZP allies) will surely remember who was on
their side and who was against them in this current situation.
Everything you've
built up over the past 15 years you've been working your tails off out there in
Judea and Samaria could be taken away from you faster than you can even
imagine. This too is something that has happened in the past to Christian
Zionist organizations who backed the wrong horse in a political contest in this
country.
There's an old
saying "mess around and find out."
If you guys don't
want to find out, you better stop messing around, although it's probably
already too late.
I had an interesting conversation this week with some Jewish folks over Twitter. It started with an open-ended question:
