Right-wing Israelis demand more than judicial overhaul as Knesset restarts

About 200,000 supporters of the government came to Jerusalem last week to support its ultraconservative agenda

Pro-government protesters wave Israeli flags as they gather near Israel's parliament in Jerusalem. AFP

“I need you — we need everyone to come to Jerusalem so a clear voice in favour of the reform will be heard,” Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin told supporters in Jerusalem.

The minister stood among a sea of Israeli flags wrapping round Jerusalem's government district last week, lauding “the referendum six months ago”.

By “referendum”, he was referring to the elections that swept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government — the most right wing in Israel's history — into power.

At the end of last week, about 200,000 Israelis from across the country showed that the government could pull together the same support that anti-overhaul protesters have amassed in weekly demonstrations since in December.

Until now, mass protests throughout the country had focused on what demonstrators viewed as the coalition's potentially fatal attacks on democratic institutions.

But government supporters, many of whom travelled for hours on organised bus convoys, were less single-minded in their reason for turning up.

Yehuda, a student in a religious school, told The National that young people like him “should vote for the judicial reforms because we’re the next generation of Israelis”.

“We’re building the future,” he said.

But judicial reforms were only a small part of what he and his friends wanted to advocate. Much more attention was given to security.

“Young Israelis are more right wing than the older generation because of security,” he said. “We tried to give land back to the Arabs and it didn’t work. They still bomb us. There’s no peace with them, only force works.”

At one point, an older bystander butted in to say “but we don't hate Arabs” and Yehuda agreed.

Yoram, a teacher, was angry at the Supreme Court but more because of its policies than its position in Israel's political system.

“The families of terrorists here in Israel — who shoot at us, massacre us and kill us — receive national insurance and therefore permit themselves to continue executing terrorist attacks,” he said.

“If the Supreme Court would only decide — as the people so want — that these families will not receive any such benefits, the terror will stop.”

Amid such rampant fears about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Ayala, who works in a music school, stuck out.

She voted for firebrand extreme-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has advocated a total annexation of the West Bank, which is home to about three million Palestinians.

“I don’t think that this has anything to do with Arabs,” she said. “This is about Jewish racism towards other Jews.”

In her mind, politicians such as Mr Ben-Gvir represent a chance for racial justice.

“When I was deciding who to vote for, I simply looked at each man. I really felt like Ben-Gvir is a man of truth. He's there for us.”

Ayala's family are Mizrahi, Jews who came to Israel from across the Middle East and North Africa.

She was keen to stress her closer connection to Arabs than European Ashkenazi Jews, whom she said built Israel's institutions while Jews from other part of the world “carried the stones”.

“My family loves [Muslim Egyptian singer] Umm Kulthum. She’s part of our culture, unlike the western Jews. We put music like hers in our synagogues for our most holy days,” she says.

Her response to a question about Mr Levin's judicial overhaul was simple: “This protest has nothing to do with the legal reforms.”

Meir, a Talmudic student, disagreed. He described the Supreme Court as “a very closed clique that expresses on the views of a very small sector in Israel’s public, the progressive and radical left”.

He was born in Israel, but grew up in the US, and believes the latter's system — in which Supreme Court judges are politically appointed — is a lot fairer.

“Israel is the only place besides Turkey and Iran where the judges vote which judges come in,” he said.

“Nowhere in the western countries does the same happen. You can see it statistically. The decisions are always left or radical left ones and always against the Israeli parliament, which is chosen by the people, unlike the court.”

Meir was the only person that spoke to The National at length about the judicial overhaul. But however varied the reasons for turning up to Jerusalem might have been, there was still a uniform belief that the legal system would soon have to change.

Yoram explained his confidence it would happen with a Hebrew saying.

“The groove has already been ploughed into the earth” — meaning if not now, then at some point down the line.