Where are Israel’s protests against legal reform heading? - BBC Newsnight

tens of thousands of protesters the government's plans to

reform

the judiciary are endangering democracy in Israel and these are not just leftists or political rivals of Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition government, they include much of the country's elite , the last 10 living former Israeli Air Force. The bosses and more than a hundred members, some very high-ranking, of the country's Elite Military Intelligence Special Operations Division, are against the

reform

s. Some volunteers, including a prized squadron of F-16 fighter pilots, have threatened to stop reporting for duty in protest, a prospect that is raising fears in At a time of high tensions both with Iran and between the Israelis and Palestinians, those pilots are not They volunteer.

This is a real threat and really undermines the ideas, but also Israel's competence to realize them. You have to carry out your missions right now and I believe. the army chief, by the way, as a former officer of mine under my command, is very worried at the moment because he really has to say that he will not lose the reservations which many major businessmen, especially in the technology sector, are also strongly opposed to. Legal reforms are linked to mass

protests

and widespread criticism. Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that he is the one who defends democracy based on the fact that his Coalition that does not meddle with the judges of the Supreme Court won the elections last November, so he is carrying out the will of the people and the arguments that millions of Israelis some of whom have organized counter

protests

support I think the prime minister is fulfilling the will of the people 64 of the 120 members of parliament support these reforms in the legislation regarding the judiciary and 64 are the majority and the alternative would be You could say that the 56 are the ones who represent the will of the people, which is obviously not the case.

That is what a parliamentary democracy is all about. The recent rise in violent attacks by Jewish settlers has followed the controversial appointment of several ministers who have Prime Minister Netanyahu has insisted that his hands remain firmly on the wheel, but that they could, after all, lose power. if your coalition partners think you are ignoring their wishes. I think he's a prisoner metaphorically. He is a prisoner in the hands of the very radical right, so obviously his job is to say: no, no, no, don't worry, it's all like that. under control, but you know, if I were a foreign government looking at its relations with Israel these days, I would be very, very concerned, who do you think is going to win the argument between these two reform-prone sides and what do they do? you see the consequences of whoever wins, unfortunately I think we are going towards apartheid, we are going towards very right-wing policies in all spheres of public life um and I said, you know, you know, with all my feelings again to Israel. my friends and family there, I think you know, that's

where

it's going after five elections in four years.

Some say democracy in Israel was already fighting a deepening schism running through Israeli society. Fears have been expressed in the country's press that the Rao could extend to violence and even the Civil War are a concern, some with a lot of experience in conflict probably do not rule out that people talk like that. I don't want to imagine such a possibility. I think when I talk to friends on both sides of the islands I feel that in the end at the last moment people would back down so far the mass protests have remained peaceful the hope is that they will continue that way if the compromise can finally succeed