For all the Sturm und Drang of the past week, which culminated in the closing of Ben Gurion airport and a general strike by the Histadrut trade union, Israel’s democracy is battered but unbowed.
When activists outnumbered police at the Prime Minister’s residence this week, there were no scenes reminiscent of the Capitol Hill riots in Washington DC in 2021. And a provocative march of secularists through Orthodox Bnai Brak was met with goodwill and free snacks.
Compare this to Tahrir Square in 2013 — where 850 people were killed by security forces and thousands injured — and the peaceful nature of Israel’s public dissent has been remarkable. Tel Aviv is just 250 miles from Tahrir Square, but thankfully it is worlds away.
This at least we must take as a cause for optimism. As Sir Vernon Bogdanor writes this week democracy in the Jewish state is deeply ingrained. Take a step back and it’s apparent that the vast majority on both sides are demanding more and better democracy, not less and worse.
Now that Netanyahuhas paused the reforms, an acceptance is emerging that the only endgame is compromise. Having said that, despite the rights and wrongs of the issue, there is a red line: the extremists who have crowbarred their way into government must not be given the power to vandalise the country.
As negotiations come closer, both sides would do well to consider their own obligations to democracy. The opposition parties have refused to join a coalition with a prime minister facing corruption charges, leaving the extremists to step into the vacuum. However unpalatable, they could exercise their own democratic power, hold their noses and join the Netanyahu government in the national interest, enabling him to discard the fanatics.
If this is a step too far, they will have to accept that some reform of the Supreme Court’s overweening power is necessary. But the main burden of compromise needs to be shouldered by the Netanyahu camp. The current turmoil gripping the state came about because of their choices. They must now act in the interests of the country, accept the imperative for finding the middle ground and return Israel to sanity.
