I’m writing to share J Street’s statements and news updates, and also want to thank all of you who came to our two briefings for Hill staff during this momentous week in the fight for Israeli democracy.

If you weren’t able to attend yesterday’s virtual briefing with J Street’s Israel Director Nadav Tamir and myself, you can view the recording here, with the passcode 7M6YHJB+.

The biggest developments this week were Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to delay critical legislation in his government’s push to overhaul Israel’s judiciary following a massive nationwide general strike – that was itself a response to Netanyahu’s decision to fire his own defense minister who had called for pausing the overhaul – and President Biden’s most forceful pushback to date against the “reforms.” You’ll also find reporting on protests against the agreement to form a new “national guard” to be controlled by far right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

I hope you’ll continue to make use of our dossier on the Netanyahu government. As always, you can find our Congressional briefing book, background information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, recordings of previous briefings and more at J Street’s Congressional Resource Page.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

All the best,
Debra

—
Debra Shushan, PhD
Director of Policy, J Street
mobile: (757) 746-0366 | [email protected] | @DrShushan

This week on j street

STATEMENT

J STREET COMMENDS BIPARTISAN SENATE PASSAGE OF 2002 & 1991 AUMF REPEAL

STATEMENT

J STREET WELCOMES PRESIDENT BIDEN’S COMMENTS ON NETANYAHU’S JUDICIAL OVERHAUL

STATEMENT

THE WHITE HOUSE SHOULD NOT HOST NETANYAHU WHILE HIS GOVERNMENT STILL WORKS AGAINST ISRAEL’S DEMOCRACY

EDITORIAL

ON HISTORIC DAY FOR DEMOCRACY, J STREET PROUDLY STANDS WITH ISRAELI PROTESTERS

STATEMENT

THE NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT’S DESTRUCTIVE ACTIONS ARE OUT OF CONTROL. HERE’S HOW THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SHOULD RESPOND.

U.S.-Israel Tensions Over Judicial Overhaul Burst Into Open

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel responded defiantly on Wednesday to sharp criticism from President Biden over his government’s contentious judicial overhaul plan, declaring that Israel was “a sovereign country” that would make its own decisions. As weeks of quiet diplomatic pressure burst into a rare open dispute between the allies, Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents in Israel accused him of endangering the longstanding and critical relationship with the United States in a way that could harm the country’s ability to face daunting security challenges, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions… Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks, first issued by his office at the unusual time of about 1 a.m. in Israel, came after Mr. Biden told reporters that he was “very concerned” about the events in Israel. The president’s comments came after suggestions on Tuesday by the U.S. ambassador to Israel that Mr. Netanyahu would be welcome in Washington sometime soon. But Mr. Biden made it clear that a much coveted invitation was not about to be issued. When asked whether Mr. Netanyahu would be invited to the White House, the president replied bluntly, in a very public snub: “No. Not in the near term.” “They cannot continue down this road — I’ve sort of made that clear,” Mr. Biden said. “Hopefully the prime minister will act in a way that he can try to work out some genuine compromise, but that remains to be seen.”

An uneasy calm is returning to Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would delay a key part of controversial plans to overhaul the justice system. On Monday night he said he would pause the legislation to prevent a “rupture among our people”. However it is unclear what a delay will achieve beyond buying time. It followed intensified protests after he fired his defence minister, who had spoken against the plans… When he finally addressed the nation on Monday night, he was quick to cast blame. He accused an “extremist minority” of trying to divide the nation, and criticised military reservists who had opposed the bill by saying they wouldn’t report for duty. His own part in the country’s upheaval was not acknowledged. The solution Mr Netanyahu has proposed will buy him time, but it won’t solve the problem – demonstrators were fighting for this bill to be scrapped, not delayed. Israel’s opposition have said they’ll enter into fresh dialogue. Mr Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partner, the Jewish Power party, said they had withdrawn a veto on any delay to passing the reforms in return for a guarantee that Mr Netanyahu would pass them during the next session of parliament. That could happen any time from the end of April, when parliament returns following a recess which begins on Sunday.

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets Wednesday to protest the imminent creation of a national guard under the command of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. In Tel Aviv, lawmaker Ayman Odeh (leader of the predominantly Arab Joint List) addressed the crowd at Habima Square. He credited the 12 weeks of street demonstrations for forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze his judicial overhaul, noting that the struggle “for democracy and against racism must continue”… The reason Netanyahu was granting Ben-Gvir his wish for a personally directed militia, Odeh said, was to “divert the conversation from one about democracy to one about nationalistic security. “Israel has a police force and an army – not to mention the multiple security services, prison services. All that’s missing is Ben-Gvir’s militia. This is the way you build a dictatorship. History has given us brownshirts and blackshirts, and now we have yellow shirts,” the Arab lawmaker said, referring to the signature color of the Kach movement led by Ben-Gvir’s mentor, the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. A Ben-Gvir-directed national guard, he predicted, “will be designed to pit citizen against citizen,” recalling the Arab-Jewish violence of May 2021 during the 11-day mini-war between Israel and Gazan militant groups, and the violent behavior of far-right gangs like La Familia. But “we will stand here and tell them that Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies,” he said.

Negotiating teams from the government coalition and opposition met Tuesday evening for their initial working session to discuss possible changes to Israel’s judicial system, after the coalition suspended pending legislation on the subject. It also follows many discussions among various professionals at President Isaac Herzog’s residence. It marked the first time that authorized representatives of the parties have sat around the table. At times, the negotiating teams were joined by several political figures… The first meeting of the negotiating teams was devoted to constructing and institutionalizing a framework for the talks rather than discussing the details of various proposed plans. Among other things, the two sides must decide on the boundaries for the discussions, their duration and their participants. The time frame for the talks is clear. The Knesset’s summer session opens on April 20 and ends on July 30 – the latter of which is the deadline set by the coalition. At the end of Tuesday’s session, the National Unity party issued a statement calling the meeting “significant” and described the two primary goals as protecting Israeli democracy and the unity of the people. The party called on the coalition to show responsibility not only at the negotiating table but also publicly. Nevertheless, officials from both sides said they are not certain that they will come to agreement and there are considerable suspicions. Coalition officials claim that the opposition will refuse any compromise, while opposition figures are convinced that Netanyahu is not interested in genuine dialogue.

Thank goodness that Israel’s civil society has forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause, for now, his attempt to impose his control over Israel’s independent judiciary and gain a free hand to rule as he wishes. But this whole affair has exposed a new and troubling reality for the United States: For the first time, the leader of Israel is an irrational actor, a danger not only to Israelis but also to important American interests and values. This demands an immediate reassessment by both President Biden and the pro-Israel Jewish lobby in America. Netanyahu essentially told them all: “Trust the process,” “Israel is a healthy democracy” and, in a whisper, “Don’t worry about the religious zealots and Jewish supremacists I brought into power to help block my trial for corruption. I will keep Israel within its traditional political and foreign policy boundaries. It’s me, your old pal, Bibi.” They wanted to trust him, and it all turned out to be a lie. From Day 1, it has been obvious to many of us that this Israeli government would go to extremes that none before it ever dared. With no real guardrails, it would take the United States and world Jewry across redlines they never imagined crossing, while possibly destabilizing Jordan and the Abraham Accords, eliminating hope of a two-state solution and bringing Israel in its 75th anniversary year to the edge of civil war… It is finally time that the American government, the American Congress and American Jewish leaders and lobbyists, who too often have been Netanyahu’s enablers, make it unmistakably clear that they are also marching with all those Israelis — from the military, the high-tech community, the universities, traditional religious communities, doctors, nurses, air force pilots, bankers, labor unions and even settlements — who took to the streets in the last week to ensure the 75th anniversary of Israeli democracy will not be its last.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last year, he never mentioned plans to overhaul the country’s judiciary. But a little-known Jerusalem think tank had been preparing for the moment for years. The Kohelet Policy Forum, founded by an American Israeli and funded by a U.S. libertarian billionaire, quietly authored and helped introduce the far-reaching package of judicial changes that has sparked a national crisis and driven hundreds of thousands of Israelis into the streets. Likud member Keti Shitrit, in a recent interview with Israel’s Channel 13, said Netanyahu’s party never internally discussed the judicial overhaul bills supplied by Kohelet before fast-tracking them through the parliament. “It wasn’t us that prepared it; it was Kohelet Forum,” she said on a special TV broadcast covering the mass anti-government protests, adding that the group has been providing “materials” to right-wing politicians for years… In 2019, Mike Pompeo, then secretary of state under President Donald Trump, thanked the group for supporting a major shift in long-standing American policy toward Israeli settlements, which he said should not be viewed as, “per se, inconsistent with international law.” Kohelet promotes libertarian ideas, but it also supports the “welfare state we established for the West Bank settlers with public funds,” Zehava Galon, former leader of the left-wing Meretz party, wrote in 2021. “It is mired in hatred of women and homosexuals, and insists on promoting the ‘family.’… All of this is imported from the rigid American Right.”

A burst of deadly violence between U.S. forces and suspected Iranian proxies in Syria has reignited long-smoldering tensions between Washington and Tehran, as President Biden warned Iran on Friday that violent attacks on American troops would be met with retribution. “The United States does not — emphasize does not — seek conflict with Iran,” said Biden, speaking in Ottawa alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after U.S. warplanes carried out retaliatory airstrikes for the death of an American contractor. “But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people. That’s exactly what happened last night”… The violence that erupted in Syria in recent days highlights the risk for escalation at a moment when Washington and Tehran remain sharply at odds over issues including Iran’s nuclear program, the country’s support for militants across the Middle East and, since last year, its provision of military technology to Russia for its war in Ukraine. The president’s remarks underscored his attempt to avoid further violence while also containing attacks by proxy forces that have long posed a threat to Americans in Iraq, Lebanon and beyond.

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | March 31, 2023

This week on j street

What we’re reading

U.S.-Israel Tensions Over Judicial Overhaul Burst Into Open

Israel protests: PM Netanyahu delays legal reforms after day of strikes

Protesting Ben-Gvir’s Militia: Netanyahu’s Promise of a ‘National Guard’ Sparks New Fight

First Talks on Israel’s Judicial Overhaul Between Coalition, Opposition Conclude at President Isaac Herzog’s Residence

OPINION: Netanyahu Cannot Be Trusted

The secretive Israeli think tank behind Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul

Biden warns Iran after U.S. forces clash with proxy groups in Syria