Arabic-Language, Middle Eastern Media React to Israel Judicial Reform

Many Middle Eastern newspapers predict that the social breakdown caused by the judicial reforms will lead to Israel’s collapse

The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a controversial judicial reform bill on Monday that has split the nation and drawn criticism from allies abroad.

The law passed on Monday removed the Supreme Court’s ability to override a government decision on grounds of “unreasonableness.” Its passage on Monday has already sparked legal challenges and clashes on the streets, with opponents saying that it will weaken the country’s judicial system and compromise its democracy.

Media outlets throughout the Middle East covered the passage of the law, which is the first of several proposed reforms to Israel’s judicial system.

Al Jazeera, the leading Arabic-language news channel, covered the law’s passage as well as the resulting demonstrations. The analysis focused mostly on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to remain in power by placating his tenuous coalition with judicial reforms. Analysts partially attributed this attempt to Netanyahu’s desire to avoid prison time for his corruption charges.

The crisis may turn into a deeper and more violent internal confrontation in the future, revealing how the occupying state is not a natural political entity, but rather a mosaic created for the occupation of Palestine

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper responded to Monday’s news with an analysis by Mohammad Ayesh titled “Is Israel collapsing?”

In the piece, Ayesh wrote that “the crushing political crisis that Israel is experiencing is a natural and logical result of the distorted and divided political map that governs this racist entity.”

He predicted increasing political troubles in Israel.

“The crisis may turn into a deeper and more violent internal confrontation in the future, revealing how the occupying state is not a natural political entity, but rather a mosaic created for the occupation of Palestine,” he wrote. He argued that the “internal division” around the proposed judicial reforms may lead to Israel’s collapse.

Similarly, the English-language online newspaper Tehran Times featured an article by Ali Karbalaei titled “Israel teeters on edge of a precipice.” The article focused on Israeli reservists’ threats to stop serving in the military if the judicial reforms are passed.

The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, which is funded by the Saudi royal family, extensively covered the protests against the judicial reforms. Tuesday’s front page featured a large photo of protesters and a smaller picture of Netanyahu.

The Asharq Al-Awsat correspondent wrote that Monday’s passage of the “reasonableness” law “entered Israel into the beginning of chaos, and it is not clear to what extent it will expand.”

The Kuwaiti daily paper Al-Jarida covered the events leading up to the vote in an article titled “Netanyahu challenges the opposition and Biden and restricts the Supreme Court.”

The article explained the consequences of the law’s passage on US-Israel ties as well as on Israeli Internal affairs.

The correspondent wrote that the law “divided Israeli society in an unprecedented way and prompted security to warn of future chaos and the army to face a crisis of disobedience.”

On the website of the Lebanese news channel Al Mayadeen, which aligns itself with the “resistance axis” including Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, and Hamas, correspondent Ayman Al-Rafati analyzed the implications of the law on Israeli society. His article, “Israel … between the descent of the right and the ‘melting pot,’” discussed the relationship between secular Israelis and Israel’s religious right.

“The internal clash will be the penultimate result in the current scene in Israel, which means the collapse of the concept of ‘the harmony of the Jewish people’ and the breaking of the internal bond,” Al-Rafati wrote.

He argued that right-wing Israelis see Westerners, secularists, and leftists as representing “the deep state, and use the cards of demonstrations, the army, and external pressure to impose their will despite their lack of victory in the recent elections. What is more dangerous is the right-wingers’ sense of inferiority in their dealings with Westerners and secularists, who treat them with superiority and arrogance.”

“From a political point of view, the right has a dream of controlling all aspects of government in the occupying ‘state,’ especially the judiciary, which has been controlled by the left movement since its development in the early seventies of the last century,” he added.

Ragab Abu Sariya of the Palestinian daily Al Ayyam wrote that Israel can no longer be considered “a stable democratic state.” He described the efforts to pass the judicial reforms as “the most dangerous attempt to change the regime under its most extreme government.”

Israeli society, which believed that its army was invincible and that its state should extend from the Nile to the Euphrates and that Israel is a superpower in the region, began descending, descending, descending with its conviction, awareness, faith, and confidence

In a speech broadcast on the Al-Manar news station, which is owned and operated by Hizbullah, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah described Monday as “the worst day in the history of the entity,” using a euphemistic term for the state of Israel. “Israeli society, which believed that its army was invincible and that its state should extend from the Nile to the Euphrates and that Israel is a superpower in the region, began descending, descending, descending with its conviction, awareness, faith, and confidence,” he said, adding that Israel is on a path toward nonexistence.

The London-based, Saudi-owned Al Majalla online paper characterized current events in Israel as a breakdown among the population. Majid Kayali wrote that “the Netanyahu government pits half of the Israelis against the other half,” noting that only 64 out of 120 lawmakers voted for the bill, while the other 56 boycotted the vote.

“This is the first precedent of its kind in the history of Israel, since its establishment 75 years ago. … In previous times, maximum efforts were made to reach compromises, in a way that enhances the unity of Israeli society, and the state’s immunity, as an existential necessity in the face of what Israel considers a hostile environment,” Kayali wrote. He argued that Israel will no longer be able to present itself as a liberal democratic state or as “an extension of the West in the region.”

He noted that Israel ignored requests from the US and other Western countries to delay the vote.

“This time, Israel seemed completely uninterested in responding to external pressures from allied Western countries, including the United States, to the extent that it bluntly repelled hints and direct requests by US President Joe Biden to refrain from that step,” he wrote.

He called attention to the many Israeli groups from the “elite of Israeli society” that opposed Netanyahu and the judicial reforms.