Opinion Express View: People’s protests against proposed overhaul of judiciary carry a message that resonates beyond Israel

The street protests in Israel against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed legislation on the country’s judiciary, forcing him to back down on a day of panic in Tel Aviv, speak of the limits to which the people can be taken for granted by elected leaders. Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul consists of laws that seek to give the government the upper hand in a committee that appoints judges, divest the Supreme Court of its powers to strike down legislation passed by the Knesset, and take away the judiciary’s power to intervene where it sees a threat to the country’s “Basic Law”, a set of laws enacted by parliament defining the rights and freedoms of people. Even conservatives fear that the ultra-right coalition that Netanyahu cobbled together to become prime minister last December constitutes a challenge to the country’s democracy.

The protests that began in January became an urgent and daily feature, drawing out tens of thousands of people, with former Mossad chiefs, and reservists who make up the bulk of the Israeli Army, joining in. The culmination in a mass strike in which a government union also participated affected work not just in Israel — the main airport was paralysed — but in its diplomatic missions across the world, including in Delhi. Netanyahu, who had last week postponed most bills in the “judicial reforms” package to the next session but was determined to push one on the judges’ appointment before the Knesset rose on April 2, even sacking his defence minister who counselled against it. On March 27, he addressed the nation and said that he had decided to delay the bill in the interests of national unity. Meanwhile, plans by the Netanyahu government to expand settlements in the West Bank have also caused concern, at home and internationally, that it would undermine a two-state solution, and create more instability. No support has been forthcoming from the US, Israel’s chief patron. And an Israeli government has for the first time lost the support of one of its most valued constituencies, the Jewish diaspora, who have come out as one to condemn Netanyahu and his bargains with the ultra-right parties in his coalition.

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Over the last 12 months, the world has seen people’s protests in Sri Lanka, Iran, France, even China and now Israel, so powerful that they have forced leaders to blink, and in one case, flee. Just as people in different corners of the globe take inspiration from each other as they take on their leaders, there are lessons that leaders everywhere can draw from these protests.