This was a rush issue that has now been updated twice in the illiberalism section as there have been developments with Binyamin Netanyahu’s judicial subordination project.
I had a slow tire leak to go get fixed, likely from debris—a nail, apparently—I ran over in the strong winds that hit the Pittsburgh area Saturday. A lot of trees are down and I encountered a street closure yesterday for drooping power lines. Yeah, it’s a bit of a mess here and it did take a while to get that tire fixed as I didn’t have an appointment.
Gilead
White Christian nationalism (Trumpism)
Fig. 1. In terms of geographic area, Pennsylvania is very much a white Christian nationalist kind of place. Photograph by author, January 5, 2023.
There is a new blog post entitled, “It should be obvious by now: Donald Trump and Doug Mastriano are not the future of the Republican Party.” And yes, I’m expecting something of a repeat of 2022 in 2024, simply because the Republicans haven’t fixed what went wrong in 2022.
Illiberalism
Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
Ishaan Tharoor points out that Binyamin Netanyahu’s judicial subordination project isn’t just about evading the charges against him. It’s also about ensuring ultra-Orthodox supremacy even over the not-insignificant secular part of the Israeli population.[1] There is a lot at stake here and it’s even more clear that this isn’t going well for Netanyahu:
[Binyamin] Netanyahu’s new willingness to pause the judicial overhaul came after at least three more government ministers called for the legislation to be suspended. One of them, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, is responsible for the government’s relationship with world Jewry, many of whose leaders have come out against the court reform. Another minister indicating his support for a pause is former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.[2]
What willingness?
Those voices signaled that [Binyamin] Netanyahu has lost the votes he needs to pass the court reform, which would sap the Israeli Supreme Court of much of its power and independence. Netanyahu has a 64-member majority in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and had planned to bring a major piece of the overhaul to a final vote as soon as Monday. But if four of his coalition’s lawmakers vote against the bill — something that now would appear likely — it would fail.[3]
That’s gotta sting. But it gets worse for Netanyahu:
Israeli media was reporting Monday morning that Itamar Ben-Gvir, the head of the far-right Jewish Power party, was threatening to topple the government if the reform did not move forward.[4]
That’d be because of what Tharoor was pointing to, the demands of ultra-Orthodox Jews for a greater say.[5] This was looking like a circle that can’t be squared. But, in the end, Netanyahu agreed to a month’s delay.[6]
Steve Hendrix, “Netanyahu’s political touch eludes him as Israel spirals into chaos,” Washington Post, March 26, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/26/israel-judicial-reform-netanyahu-protests/
Steve Hendrix and Shira Rubin, “Netanyahu fires defense minister who called for halt to judicial overhaul,” Washington Post, March 26, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/26/israel-netanyahu-gallant-defense-minister/
Patrick Kingsley, “Israel Boils as Netanyahu Ousts Minister Who Bucked Court Overhaul,” New York Times, March 26, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/26/world/middleeast/judiciary-overhaul-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-parliament.html
Maayan Lubell, “Netanyahu agrees to delay Israel’s judicial overhaul until next parliament session,” Reuters, March 27, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-president-urges-halt-judicial-overhaul-after-protests-2023-03-27/
Ben Sales, “Protests and strike rock Israel as future of Netanyahu’s judicial reforms falls into doubt,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 27, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/03/27/israel/protests-and-strike-rock-israel-as-future-of-netanyahus-judicial-reforms-falls-into-doubt
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s democratic crisis is about more than just Netanyahu,” Washington Post, March 27, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/27/israel-democratic-crisis-ideological-divide-netanyahu/
- [1]Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s democratic crisis is about more than just Netanyahu,” Washington Post, March 27, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/27/israel-democratic-crisis-ideological-divide-netanyahu/↩
- [2]Ben Sales, “Protests and strike rock Israel as future of Netanyahu’s judicial reforms falls into doubt,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 27, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/03/27/israel/protests-and-strike-rock-israel-as-future-of-netanyahus-judicial-reforms-falls-into-doubt↩
- [3]Ben Sales, “Protests and strike rock Israel as future of Netanyahu’s judicial reforms falls into doubt,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 27, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/03/27/israel/protests-and-strike-rock-israel-as-future-of-netanyahus-judicial-reforms-falls-into-doubt↩
- [4]Ben Sales, “Protests and strike rock Israel as future of Netanyahu’s judicial reforms falls into doubt,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 27, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/03/27/israel/protests-and-strike-rock-israel-as-future-of-netanyahus-judicial-reforms-falls-into-doubt↩
- [5]Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s democratic crisis is about more than just Netanyahu,” Washington Post, March 27, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/27/israel-democratic-crisis-ideological-divide-netanyahu/↩
- [6]Maayan Lubell, “Netanyahu agrees to delay Israel’s judicial overhaul until next parliament session,” Reuters, March 27, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-president-urges-halt-judicial-overhaul-after-protests-2023-03-27/↩