The Full Belmonte, 3/27/2023
Israel’s democratic crisis is about more than just Netanyahu
By Ishaan Tharoor
with Sammy Westfall
Women's rights activists protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he visits London on Friday. (Toby Melville/Reuters)
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unleashed what critics dubbed a full-scale assault on his country’s democracy, but now he finds himself under siege. For the past four months, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have marched against his far-right government’s plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system — a mooted assertion of government control over the courts that plays into the agendas of the ultra-Orthodox and right-wing nationalist in Netanyahu’s coalition, but which has also triggered a deep backlash against the perceived wrecking of democratic norms that it entails.
On the world stage, where Netanyahu is often most comfortable, the Israeli premier has been humbled. His plans have drawn rebukes from President Biden and leaders in France, Germany and Britain. The protests have underscored exasperations in Washington with Netanyahu, who has loomed large over Israeli politics as well as U.S.-Israeli relations for the better part of a generation. And at home, the mounting opposition has created cracks in the right-wing Likud party that Netanyahu has dominated for years.
On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for the judicial overhaul to be frozen, as hundreds of reservists boycotted their training and members of the Israeli military joined the protests. ‘This poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state,’ he said in a statement. ‘For the sake of Israel’s security, for the sake of our sons and daughters, the legislative process should be stopped.’
Gallant’s appeal, echoed by two other Likud lawmakers, raised the prospect that Netanyahu’s coalition may not be able to ram through the legislation with its slender four-seat majority in the Israeli Knesset, or parliament. On Sunday, Netanyahu dismissed Gallant, raising the stakes in a spiraling crisis. By the evening, crowds gathered by the Knesset after police fired water cannons to disperse protesters outside Netanyahu’s residence. They chanted ‘democracy!’
There are many reasons Netanyahu finds himself in this bind. In Washington, liberal supporters of Israel emphasize the right-wing prime minister’s own relentless will to power. He faces an ongoing legal case involving multiple corruption charges and is widely believed to be engineering whatever political dispensation that can get him out of hot water.
‘One of the most repeated theories raging across social media and television chat panels is that he cares less about healing the country than avoiding prosecution, and hopes the prospect of handpicked judges will help him turn aside the corruption charges that have dogged him for years — and that he is still fighting in a Jerusalem court,’ my colleague Steve Hendrix wrote. He added that it also may be that the famously wily Netanyahu has ‘lost a step.’
‘It’s hard to understand — he knows the damage that’s being done,’ Dan Ben-David, president of the Shoresh Institution and an economist at Tel Aviv University, told my colleagues. ‘As the longest-serving prime minister in our history, he should be concerned with his legacy, which right now is burning down the house.’
Aviv Bushinsky, a former chief of staff to Netanyahu, told The Post: ‘My view is that he lost control. He didn’t perceive that there would be such objection in the streets and the world.’
If Netanyahu has lost control, it’s because the maelstrom he has unleashed is about much more than him. To come to power, he mainstreamed extremist far-right settler factions and brought them into the heart of his coalition. He has also leaned heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, which see the proposed judicial reforms as a key vehicle to push their religious project on broader Israeli society. He gave momentum to a hard right, illiberal agenda that has been gaining traction for years.
The mass protests in Tel Aviv and other cities, often attended by more well-heeled and secular Israelis, are in part a reflection of a profound ideological divide within the country. The government’s legislative plans are ‘breaking the very delicate balance between mainstream Israel and the ultra-Orthodox who understood that they depend on a liberal, prosperous society with a strong military,’ Yofi Tirosh, a vice dean of law at Tel Aviv University, told my colleague Shira Rubin.
But some analysts on the Israeli left point to an even deeper set of forces at play. Millions of Palestinians live under de facto Israeli military control, shorn of many of the same rights afforded to their Israeli neighbors. Their mere existence casts into shadow any substantive debates over what Israeli democracy stands for, especially when you consider how Belazel Smotrich — a far-right settler leader turned leading member of Netanyahu’s cabinet with civilian administrative powers over the occupied West Bank — recently publicly declared that Palestinians as a people don’t actually exist.
And there is no coincidence that Palestinian lands and political aspirations are among the first things in the crosshairs of Netanyahu and his far-right allies as they unfurl their legislative plans.
‘While protesters — many of them among the most privileged in Israeli society — walk in the streets demanding the ‘rule of law’ and ‘democracy,’ Israeli forces are demolishing Palestinian homes; standing alongside settlers who are terrorizing Palestinians; denying freedom of movement and assembly; holding people in prolonged detention without trial; killing unarmed protesters; carrying out torture; and deporting Palestinian activists,’ wrote American Israeli journalist Mairav Zonszein. ‘And within Israel, Palestinian citizens face structural discrimination and inequality under an explicit policy that prioritizes Jewish rights.’
Gershon Baskin, an Israeli peace activist, recently marched in the anti-government protests with a sign that read, ‘There is no democracy with occupation.’
‘No honest Israeli can claim that the military control over millions of Palestinians, without the most basic civil, human and political rights, can really be called a democracy,’ Baskin wrote in an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post.
‘While so many Israelis have finally awakened to the distortions of our democracy and the threats to all of us,’ he added, ‘perhaps they will now also wake up to the need to confront the central core of our existence as a modern liberal society in which there must be full equality for all of those who live under the same regime.’” [Washington Post]
In Macron’s France, streets and fields seethe with protest
By JOHN LEICESTER
FILE - Protesters march during a rally in Paris, on March 23, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron has ignited a firestorm of anger with unpopular pension reforms that he rammed through parliament. Young people, some of them first-time demonstrators, are joining protests against him. Violence is also picking up. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
“PARIS (AP) — A big day has come for French high school student Elisa Fares. At age 17, she is taking part in her first protest.
In a country that taught the world about people power with its revolution of 1789 — and a country again seething with anger against its leaders — graduating from bystander to demonstrator is a generations-old rite of passage. Fares looks both excited and nervous as she prepares to march down Paris streets where people for centuries have similarly defied authority and declared: ‘Non!’
Two friends, neither older than 18 but already protest veterans whose parents took them to demonstrations when they were little, are showing Fares the ropes. They’ve readied eyedrops and gas masks in case police fire tear gas — as they have done repeatedly in recent weeks.
‘The French are known for fighting and we’ll fight,’ says one of the friends, Coline Marionneau, also 17. ‘My mother goes to a lot of demonstrations ... She says if you have things to say, you should protest.’…” Read more at AP News
Putin Says He Is Stationing Nuclear Weapons in Belarus
“Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this weekend that he will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Putin said he made this decision because the United Kingdom agreed to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds that contain depleted uranium. He did not specify how many would be kept in Belarus. Putin also said he was following the lead of the United States, which has nuclear weapons based in places like Germany and Turkey.
‘We are doing what they have been doing for decades, stationing them in certain allied countries, preparing the launch platforms and training their crews. We are going to do the same thing,’ he said.
NATO, in turn, criticized Putin for what it described as ‘dangerous’ rhetoric.
‘Russia’s reference to NATO’s nuclear sharing is totally misleading. NATO allies act with full respect of their international commitments,’ NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told news outlet Reuters. Ukraine’s foreign ministry asked the international community to ‘take decisive measures,’ and the European Union threatened additional sanctions.” [Foreign Policy]
“Partial clock change confusion in Lebanon. A dispute between religious and political leaders about when daylight savings time should start meant that people in Lebanon awoke Sunday to two different time zones. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced it would be at the end of Ramadan, thus allowing Muslims to break their daily fast earlier. However, Christian authorities wanted it to take place the last Sunday in March. Many businesses followed the latter, as this is what happens most years and some suspect Mikati of trying to boost his own political popularity. National plane carrier Middle East Airlines settled on a compromise, keeping clocks set but moving flight times ahead.” [Foreign Policy]
“Rocket threat | North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles, adding to its barrage in recent weeks as Pyongyang protests joint military exercises by the US and South Korea. Kim Jong Un’s regime hasn’t commented on the latest launch, but it’s been seeking new ways to deliver nuclear attacks on the US and its two most important allies in Asia, Tokyo and Seoul.” [Bloomberg]
“Netanyahu fires defense minister. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, a day after Gallant spoke out against the proposed reform to Israel’s judiciary, which he said threatened to undermine Israel’s national security. The firing prompted mass protests in Tel Aviv, and a call from Israeli president Isaac Herzog for an immediate halt to the reform.
Gallant was hardly the first prominent figure to speak out against the reform—former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned that Netanyahu was destroying Israeli democracy to Foreign Policy just last week—but Gallant is a member of Netanyahu’s own Likud party and warned that pushing ahead with the reform could lead to protests among reservists and the regular army. ‘The security of the state of Israel has always been and will always be my life’s mission,’ Gallant said after he was fired. Israel’s consul general in New York, Asaf Zamir, resigned in protest Sunday, writing in his resignation letter, ‘I am very concerned about the legal reform that the government is promoting, which undermines the democratic institutions in Israel and the rule of law in the country.’ All Israeli universities announced a strike for Monday over the proposed changes to the judiciary.” [Foreign Policy]
“Peru’s Congress will decide on March 30 whether to accept a motion to discuss the impeachment of President Dina Boluarte, La Republica reported, a sign that the nation’s political crisis is unabated.” [Bloomberg]
“The Scottish National Party will today announce a replacement for Nicola Sturgeon as both SNP leader and the head of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government. Sturgeon’s decision to stand down marks a new direction for the SNP, which has won all elections to the Scottish Parliament since 2007 yet failed to persuade a majority of voters to back its core policy of independence from the UK in a 2014 referendum. As Katharine Gemmell and Andrew Atkinson report, Scotland’s new first minister must govern a nation still deeply riven and no nearer to resolving its constitutional future.” [Bloomberg]
SNP leadership candidates Humza Yousaf, left, Kate Forbes, center, and Ash Regan on set before a March 9 TV debate in Glasgow. Photographer: Jane Barlow/PA Images
“Refugees die off Tunisia’s coast on an attempted journey to Italy. At least 29 died trying to make the journey from sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia when the two boats carrying them sank off Tunisia’s coast. There has been a significant increase in boats carrying migrants headed for Italy in recent weeks. On Sunday, the Tunisian coast guard said it stopped 80 boats bound for Italy over four days, detaining more than 3,000 people.” [Foreign Policy]
“Hong Kongers hold their first protest in years. For the first time since 2020, when mainland China imposed sharp restrictions on rights, a small rally was held in Hong Kong. Only 100 people were allowed to attend, and they had to wear number tags and have their banners examined ahead of time. Police closely monitored the rally.” [Foreign Policy]
MEN’S N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT
Furious Finishes Set the Final Four: Miami and San Diego State Are In
Fifth-seeded Miami rallied from 13 points down to beat Texas, while a foul and a free throw gave another No. 5 seed, San Diego State, a win over Creighton. They join UConn and Florida Atlantic.
By Noah Weiland and Billy Witz
Noah Weiland reported from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., and Billy Witz from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
“Miami, trailing and listless for much of the first 30 minutes of its round-of-8 game against Texas on Sunday, mounted a stunning, compact comeback in the men’s N.C.A.A. tournament to claim the last spot in the Final Four next weekend in Houston.
Miami, which won, 88-81, will play in its first national semifinal on Saturday against Connecticut. San Diego State, which beat Creighton on a late free throw earlier Sunday, and Florida Atlantic round out the field.
The Hurricanes, calm and persistent, got off to a fast start but quickly fell behind the speedy, sharpshooting Longhorns, who were playing before an overwhelmingly pro-Texas crowd in the same arena where they had captured the Big 12 Conference tournament championship earlier this month.
Miami was down 13 points with 13 minutes left, but the Hurricanes began creeping back, setting up a steadying, then game-tying stretch when it strung together a series of defensive stops and a run of free throws. Forward Norchad Omier coolly hit two of them when the game was tied with a minute left.
Miami was plodding, initially too much but eventually with purpose, lacking the same kind of mercilessness it showed during its convincing win over top-seeded Houston in the round of 16 on Friday.
Yet it mounted its late run precisely when it seemed like the Longhorns and their burnt-orange-clad fans were ready to celebrate the clinching of a home-state advantage next weekend. Throughout the game, with their team comfortably ahead and in control of the pace, Longhorn partisans bounced to the team’s fight song and wagged their hands with the school’s signature Hook ‘em Horns gesture.
Miami ignored the crowd and instead drew on the relaxed, confident personalities of its key players and its famously optimistic coach, Jim Larrañaga.
‘We called a timeout and I said to them, ‘We just need to calm down and play better. There’s no big secret in this,’ Larrañaga said.
Before cutting down the net of the basket where they sealed their victory, the Hurricanes dumped a modest pile of orange and green victory confetti on themselves from a water cooler.
Both teams featured players who typify the mobility and commercialization of modern college basketball. Texas started four transfers, including its hard-charging graduate point guard Marcus Carr.
Miami was led by Jordan Miller, a 6-foot-7 senior who scored 27 points and had a crucial steal with two minutes left. The team was also paced by two guards, Isaiah Wong and Nijel Pack, who played in Coral Gables, Fla., this season in part because of lavish name, image and likeness arrangements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. When Miami had the ball on Sunday, it was often controlled by Pack, who scored 15 points by drifting in and out of scoring lanes, soaring to the hoop for delicate finishes and stepping back for short fadeaways.
A Texas victory on Sunday would have declared the re-emergence of the state’s flagship university near the top of the sport, 20 years after its last appearance in the Final Four. The team’s interim head coach, Rodney Terry, led the Longhorns on a deep run after Chris Beard, their first coach this season, was suspended, then fired following a domestic dispute with his fiancée in which charges were dropped….” Read more at New York Times