Watch Now: Rapid Response: Judicial Disruption and Democracy in Israel

Proposals from Israel’s new far-right government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would significantly weaken the country’s Supreme Court.

In what the Court’s chief justice has described as a “fatal blow to democracy,” these sweeping changes would give the parliament powers to override Supreme Court decisions by one vote; reinstate legislation that has been ruled in violation of Israel’s Basic Laws; and effectively control the appointment of judges.

Critics fear this disruption is a symptom of democratic backsliding in Israel, following the playbook of increasingly autocratic governments in Hungary and Poland. There are also concerns that the changes could bring back laws that the Court previously struck down, such as one retroactively legalizing settlements on land privately owned by Palestinians. These fears have sparked weeks of enormous protests in Israel, with tens of thousands of people marching on the streets and military reservists refusing to train.

Is Israel in a similar process of democratic backsliding to that seen in Hungary and Poland? What might this mean for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Will Netanyahu’s government be forced to back down by public dissent? Join Perry World House for a discussion of this unfolding issue.

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