Israeli Minister Embarks on U.S. PR Blitz, Armed With PowerPoint From Right-wing Think Tank - Israel News - Haaretz.com
The freshly minted Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli is in the U.S. on a campaign targeting Jewish communities. Even though he’s explained to every group he’s met that he’s there in order to hear what’s on their mind, people who attend these meetings say that he is there mainly to talk. In fact, Chikli is participating in a public relations effort in which he is telling every Jewish group he encounters that the plan to weaken Israel’s justice system is not anti-democratic – on the contrary.
The Jewish news website The Forward pointed out that an important facet of Chikli’s campaign is its target audience. Among his numerous meetings with Jewish organizations, one was prominent in its absence: J Street. Chikli determined that this leading left-wing Jewish organization was “hostile to Zionism and the State of Israel.” A further sign of the trip’s purpose came up at another meeting with Jewish activists, when Chikli gave a presentation warning about “non-Jewish emigration” from Eastern Europe. According to The Forward, the PowerPoint presentation was produced by a right-wing research organization called the Kohelet Policy Forum.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli at the Knesset, last month.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interview with CNN may be the pinnacle, but it is only one part of the media blitz waged by Israel’s right wing in the U.S. in an attempt to mobilize the American right wing. It has already borne some fruit: Supporters of the government’s plan are waving a series of opinion pieces published recently by the Wall Street Journal in support of moves taken by the Netanyahu government. An editorial from two weeks ago stated that Israel’s Supreme Court is a dangerous entity which must be stopped; two days later, legal scholar Eugene Kontorovich wrote an article in the same vein, claiming that weakening the justice system would strengthen Israel’s democracy. Last week, they were joined by Richard Epstein, an influential libertarian legal scholar who rarely writes about Israel. He said that the plan is not an “extreme” one.
However, when one examines the three Wall Street Journal articles, as well as others in right-wing media outlets, including Breitbart News, one notes a clear fingerprint. Just like Chikli’s PowerPoint presentation, this is part of a PR campaign with roots stretching back to Jerusalem, not only to government ministries but mainly to the offices of the Kohelet Forum across the street. This is first and foremost an _expression_ of the network of bidirectional relations between right-wing elites in New York, Washington and Jerusalem.
Influential libertarian legal scholar Richard Epstein, in 2018.Credit: White whirlwind
Kontorovich is an excellent example of this. He is an American Jew who was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel in 2013. He now holds two roles. In Israel he is the head of the international law department at the Kohelet Forum, while in the U.S. he is a lecturer at the Antonin Scalia Law School at the George Mason University in Virginia, a bastion of legal conservatism, and of the Federalist Society, which has awarded Kontorovich a prize in the past. He frequently writes opinion pieces in the Wall Street Journal about Israel in general and about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in particular.
Epstein is also an indicator of this trend. He is one of the most quoted legal scholars in American academia, defining himself as a “libertarian hawk.” He’s declared that he cannot bring himself to vote Republican, since it is to his left on issues of taxation, public health services, national insurance and other issues. He has therefore voted for the Libertarian Party as an act of protest. His extracurricular activities have apparently changed America more than anything else, with Israel possibly about to follow suit.
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As a lecturer, Epstein helped three students found the Federalist Society in 1982. The organization has become a powerful monopoly which has elected most of the current Supreme Court justices. Since 2020, Epstein has headed the committee of advisers for the Israeli imitation of this society, the Israel Law and Liberty Forum, a right-wing organization which was founded by the Tikvah Fund. It has been operating in Israeli universities for the last three years. Even though he doesn’t write much about Israel, he chose to publish a rare article in the Wall Street Journal after his involvement in Israel was made public, in a Haaretz story describing the attempt to bring the Federalist Society’s manner of operation and bank of targets to Israel.
Less familiar figures have also joined this blitz of articles. Newsweek published an article by Prof. Avi Bell, entitled “Israel’s Judicial Reform Will Strengthen its Democracy.” Bell is presented as a researcher at the University of San Diego and at Bar-Ilan University, but his non-academic activities are not mentioned. These include a role as a researcher at the Kohelet Forum and as a dean at a summer seminar at the Israel Law and Liberty Forum.
A month earlier it was Bezalel Smotrich who published his first article in the Wall Street Journal, in which he tried to defend his appointment as finance minister in language American conservatives are fond of. Smotrich and the Kohelet Forum’s choice of publishing in this paper is noteworthy. By appearing in the leading newspaper of the American economy’s right wing, these articles are an _expression_ of an urge to convince the conservative elite that there is no danger to democracy.
Indeed, it appears that there is a reason for this effort. American legal scholars who have spoken with Haaretz do not automatically lend their support to the plan for weakening Israel’s judicial system. They represent a camp that strives to decentralize the administration’s power as much as possible, by splitting each branch of government. They advocate having two legislative assemblies, a federal government facing state governments, and even a federal justice system and a constitution along with state justice systems and state constitutions.
The most prominent right-wing critic is the most famous and influential jurist among conservative circles, Alan Dershowitz. He came out strongly against Netanyahu’s plan for weakening the judiciary. Even before that, the appointment of Smotrich caused discomfort in the American right wing, which was unhappy to hear a minister declaring himself to be a “proud homophobe.” American conservatives have recognized their defeat in this particular battle, now wishing to focus on transgender people.
The interesting exception in this string of articles was the Wall Street Journal’s editorial on January 20, in which editors defended the Israeli government’s plan. With regard to New York members of the editorial board, some of whom are Jews with extensive ties to Israel’s right wing, it’s important to remember the wider context. Prior to that, there was an editorial published by its rival paper, situated only a few minutes away by foot. When The New York Times warns in an editorial about “risks to Israel’s democracy,” a response by the Wall Street Journal claiming the opposite is only a matter of time. Whether it’s about Donald Trump or Israel, everything is related to an ongoing debate which is essentially an American one on internal affairs.
This is also the context for the intervention of the famous right-wing media personality Ben Shapiro. In an embarrassing video in which he assailed the justice system, he exposed an inverse relationship between his familiarity with it and the confidence with which he talked about it. For Shapiro, this was mainly an opportunity to assail the American left wing and the Times. Due to its errors, Netanyahu, who had disseminated the video, rushed to remove it.
The National Review is less famous than Shapiro or the Wall Street Journal, but this doesn’t attest to its importance. This is the most serious and respectable bastion of the American conservative movement in general, and of its legal part in particular. Since the magazine is identified with the neo-conservative wing, it takes great interest in the U.S.’ foreign policy in general and in Israel in particular.
The debate around Israel’s justice system began there in November with a string of articles. Bobby Miller wrote that there was nothing conservative about the reform. Although he had scathing criticism for Israel’s justice system, he clarified that in his view, Netanyahu’s solution was more dangerous than the problem. He wrote that “originalists should not make common cause with Israel’s radical judicial reformers.” This reform, he said, would give one person immunity from prosecution while weakening the entire system.
The response to this article was written by the chairwoman and the executive director of the Israel Law and Liberty Forum, Aylana Meisel-Diament and Yonatan Green. Their response was a defense brief for those wishing to change the justice system, but it also exposed what was bothering Israel’s right-wing conservative elite. Their article complained about coverage in the U.S., trying to depict any criticism as having an internal American agenda.
“Some foreign-press coverage of these issues, however, has conflated the substance of the proposed reforms with a partisan distaste for their current advocates. This is an unjustified attack on the very notion of judicial reform, which can chill a growing Israeli constitutional discourse that is vital to Israel’s stability and prosperity,” wrote Meisel-Diament, then turning to Americans: “Israeli legal conservatives have learned much from originalists and the American conservative legal movement, along with everyone else who cherishes the classical-liberal tradition of limited and accountable government. We share many values, and the conversation between us is an important one for the rule of law everywhere.”
The concern of right-wing Americans for the rule of law and for Israel’s status as a democratic state in the Middle East is the soft underbelly. When right-wing Americans are the main or only source of funding of right-wing organizations such as the Kohelet Forum and the Tikvah Fund, the PR campaign may be aiming to minimize the damage among their support base. There is no other explanation for a decision by Kohelet to suddenly put out a video in English, in which they try to explain their moves to an American audience.
The right-wing elite that has taken shape in Israel over the last decade is an active participant in the conservative American community. Its many representatives can be seen at conferences and other events. If they are perceived there as trying to bring Israel’s regime closer to those of Hungary and Poland, they may gain support among Trump followers, but they are at risk of losing the conservative elite.
A similar mode of operation was taken by trader Jeffrey Yass, who was exposed in Haaretz in 2021 as a major donor of the Kohelet Forum. The Jewish billionaire from Pennsylvania managed to carefully maintain his anonymity, never talking to journalists. His perennial ambition to remain anonymous was broken on January 6, 2021. The attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol sparked an interest in politicians who participated and in their sources of funding. Yass was the most prominent donor. This disclosure led him to respond to journalists’ questions for the first time. He told the Guardian that politicians sometimes mislead their donors. Later, when he wished to further clean up his reputation, he too published an article in the Wall Street Journal.
Like Yass, the Kohelet Forum is largely responsible for the reactions it gets. This is an organization that up to two years ago – or a few weeks ago, depending on the media outlet – was entirely unknown to the Israeli public. It was no coincidence. People at the organization worked hard in order to remain in the shadows. It’s important to note that this is standard conduct in civil society organizations trying to advance their policies, on both left and right.
The Kohelet Forum is now finding out what it’s like to come under public scrutiny. They may want to open a support group with people from the New Israel Fund, who are regularly used to being demonized. A main complaint of the forum relates to the way they are covered by the media, mainly by Channel 12 News. They are correct in saying that there have been some inaccuracies. Perhaps they noticed that the most accurate coverage was by Yishai Shenrav, hosted by Guy Zohar on public broadcaster Kan TV. If the Kohelet Forum succeeds in closing down public broadcasting, this too will disappear. The free market does not reward thorough journalism such as public broadcasting.