[Salon] We’ll Stop Right After We Destroy Israeli Democracy - Haaretz Editorial - Haaretz.com

[Todd Pierce <todd.e.pierce@icloud.com>]

Title: We’ll Stop Right After We Destroy Israeli Democracy - Haaretz Editorial - Haaretz.com

My last on Democratic Fascism, for today.

BLUF: "The goal the government seeks to achieve through its legal overhaul is dismantling democracy. Netanyahu is doing this to extricate himself from his criminal trial, and in the process, he has sold the country to racists, nationalists and draft-dodgers. This destruction must be halted by expanding and intensifying the protests, and also by recruiting the leaders of the democratic world to make clear to Netanyahu what destroying the justice system’s independence would mean."

I hate to say it but it's a little late for that, especially when the Settlers have a representative Settler Ideologist, Yoram Hazony, accomplishing what the “Neoconservatives” never quite achieved. Which is the full incorporation and acceptance of their Settler (Fascist)  ideology into Western Conservatism, as we see here in the U.S. with Peter Thiel and Josh Hawley in the lead propagating their fascist “theory,” though “hidden” as to its true meaning and content. And in Italy, Poland, Hungary, India under Modi, to name a few, in linking up like a “Fascist International” with other “Conservative” parties/factions/networks. Just as the “Conservative Movement” did with its original ideology put forward in 1955 in the pages of National Review. Though it was modulated over the years, until “resurrected” by the “New Right Traditional Conservatives” of today  for a new generation of the “New Right.” 

I would disagree with the point above that Netanyahu is doing this to "extricate himself from his criminal trial.” The Netanyahu family, Benzion and Benjamin, were always part of the Israeli fascists led by Menachem Begin (as he was denounced by Einstein, Arendt, et al.), though Begin too had to modulate his fascist ideology. But after more decades of fascist indoctrination as “Conservatism” in the “West,” and the inherent radicalization of Perpetual War, the "wraps have come off,” to where military aggression and repression of dissent has gone “mainstream” in all the Western countries, and thoroughly bi-partisan in the U.S. as the “Empire.” An inherently “fascist” and totalitarianmodel of government, as Hannah Arendt well knew!

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-08-08/ty-article-opinion/well-stop-right-after-we-destroy-israeli-democracy/00000189-d172-d20c-addf-d3f281050000

We’ll Stop Right After We Destroy Israeli Democracy - Haaretz Editorial - Haaretz.com

Haaretz EditorialAug 8, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the international news agency Bloomberg on Sunday that he intends to work to change the composition of the Judicial Appointments Committee, and after that, he’ll stop all the legislation planned as part of the government’s legal overhaul. “Other things I think we should not legislate,” he said in the tone of someone who has just given the world incontrovertible evidence of his infinite willingness to compromise and his commitment to democracy.

'Despicable and disappointing' that Netanyahu won't commit to obeying Supreme Court ruling

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Unfortunately, Bloomberg fell into the trap of the one-time magician and, in its headline, mistakenly credited him with a willingness to retreat from the legal overhaul. Despite all the interviews Netanyahu has given the foreign media, they aren’t yet experienced enough at spotting his lies in real time. That’s precisely why he gives interviews only to them. To Israeli ears, well-versed in his lies, it’s clear that what he said was “we’ll finish the legal overhaul and then stop.”

Changing the Judicial Appointments Committee’s composition isn’t just one element in a group of laws that together comprise the legal overhaul being enacted by this government of Jewish supremacy, led by Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. It is the key element.

This change would give the government unlimited power to choose judges at every level, including Supreme Court justices. It’s a law that would enable the complete politicization of the justice system, subordinate the judiciary to the executive and legislative branches – which, in Israel, are in any case Siamese twins – and destroy the courts’ independence.

• How Netanyahu lies to and manipulates the U.S. Media
• Netanyahu reveals he'll push on with key element of judicial overhaul
• Crisis, coup, dictatorship? Netanyahu, Israel’s pro-democracy protests and what’s next

This law would make the rest of the legislation almost superfluous, because it alone is enough to enable the government to avoid any effective judicial review over its actions by appointing judges who would be loyal to it. Consequently, the real meaning of Netanyahu’s statement is that he is determined to continue the overhaul full steam ahead, in complete contrast to his statement after the Knesset passed the law nixing the courts’ ability to overturn government decisions they deem unreasonable. Then, he said he would work to forge “a broad agreement” on the rest of the legislation.

While we should pause for a moment to note that he once again lied, we should also learn from this experience to only listen to others who do say what is in their hearts – like Smotrich, who called Netanyahu “a lying son of a liar.” If we want to know what this dangerous government is planning, it’s worth listening to Smotrich.

The goal the government seeks to achieve through its legal overhaul is dismantling democracy. Netanyahu is doing this to extricate himself from his criminal trial, and in the process, he has sold the country to racists, nationalists and draft-dodgers. This destruction must be halted by expanding and intensifying the protests, and also by recruiting the leaders of the democratic world to make clear to Netanyahu what destroying the justice system’s independence would mean.

The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.