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Today’s vote by the Netanyahu government to restrict the Israeli Supreme
Court’s authority to overturn the government’s decisions through its
“reasonableness standard” is a terrible blow to Israeli democracy and the
rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The decision to unilaterally ram through this key piece of the judicial
overhaul – in the face of historic opposition and unprecedented protest
from so many corners of Israeli society – plunges Israel into an alarming
new phase of civic turmoil and constitutional crisis.

Join us for an emergency briefing this Wednesday, July 26 at 1pm
Eastern/10am Pacific with Haaretz Deputy Editor-in-Chief Noa Landau and
Dr. Tamar Hostovsky Brandes, law professor at Ono Academic College and a
member of the Law Professors’ Forum for Democracy. They’ll discuss what
this means legally and politically for Israel, and what could come next.
[ [link removed] ]Register to join us now >>

[ [link removed] ]Register Here

With the “reasonableness standard” repealed with respect to a critical
range of government decisions, the Supreme Court has lost significant
ability to act as a check and balance on the actions of the Knesset and
the executive branch of government. This extreme-right government will
have an increasingly unrestricted hand to carry out appointments,
dismissals and policies without fear that they could be halted by the
court.

The Netanyahu coalition’s agenda will almost certainly include harmful
acts of annexation in the West Bank, where they continue to pursue a
one-state nightmare of permanent occupation between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean Sea. It will continue to chip away at the rights of
women, LGBTQ+ people, Palestinians (both Israeli citizens and those in the
occupied territory), non-Orthodox Jews and many others.

While it was good to see Congress and the White House celebrate the
US-Israel relationship and Israeli democracy during President Herzog’s
visit last week, the truth is that far, far more must be done to respond
to the grave crisis underway.

President Herzog may be right that Israel has “democracy in its DNA.” But
we know that the resilience and survival of even longstanding democracies
is never guaranteed.

That’s exactly why hundreds of thousands of Israelis are in the streets,
why incredible acts of protest and civil disobedience are taking place,
and why IDF reservists, chiefs of staff and other security leaders are
accusing the Netanyahu government of sabotaging Israel’s founding values.

Israelis need our government’s full-throated support – now. Netanyahu and
his extremist coalition partners have deliberately crossed an
anti-democratic red line. They have ignored the Biden administration’s
polite warnings and objections, just as they have consistently ignored
objections to major acts of settlement expansion and creeping annexation
in the West Bank.

While the Netanyahu government fundamentally alters Israel’s democratic
character and plows ahead toward a more authoritarian and
ethno-nationalist future, “business as usual” from Congress and the White
House is a recipe for terrible failure.

As the political home for the pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
majority of Jewish Americans, J Street will continue to sound the alarm
and to stand in solidarity with those Israelis who are struggling to
defend democracy.

We will continue to push our elected officials to leave behind pandering
rhetoric and partisan games, and focus instead on how to effectively
challenge and deter the anti-democratic, far-right tidal wave that
currently threatens to submerge one of our country’s closest allies.

We hope you can [ [link removed] ]join us on Wednesday to discuss this unfolding
constitutional crisis, and how we can respond.

Thank you,

Logan Bayroff,
Vice President of Communications, J Street


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the
Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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