Israel is in the throes of a struggle between opposing forces in support of its partly liberal democratic state and those proposing a fully neo-fascist one. For seven months now large demonstrations have taken place against legislative proposals by the most rightwing government in Israel’s history to remove the power of the judiciary to overrule government decisions as being unreasonable. The government has been described by Bret Stephens, a conservative New York Times columnist, and a strong supporter of Israel, as “a coalition of the bigoted, the corrupt, the dependent and the extreme.” Reforms to give more power to the government over judicial appointments, weakening the power of government lawyers and limiting judicial review of appointments, are yet to come. The already conservative Supreme Court has approved the torture of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes and the expansion of settlements.
