There is no room for relief. Benjamin Netanyahu’s assault on Israel’s democratic institutions is not over; it is merely on pause. After nearly three months of political crisis, popular outrage and mounting protests, the prime minister was forced to suspend his attack on the judiciary. He has already caused serious damage to the economy and the state through a headlong charge at the supreme court’s independence, which was opposed by most Israelis. Though he said that he was “not willing to tear the nation in half”, his primary motivation is not saving the country, but himself.
Mr Netanyahu, who has corruption charges hanging over him, has no love for the judiciary. And though the court has repeatedly undercut Palestinian rights in the West Bank and helped to entrench the occupation, the prime minister’s far-right coalition partners are angered by even its modest rulings outlawing Israeli settlements. They are unlikely to back down. Mr Netanyahu’s best hope is that the protests’ momentum ebbs over Passover and in the weeks that follow.
