Illustration: Sivan Schwam

1

After a period of relative calm with muted, nonviolent protests every Motzaei Shabbos, the protesters returned to Israel’s streets this week with the renewal of the reform legislation. It came as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, without consulting or even informing his coalition allies ahead of time, outlined the new parameters of the reform in an interview to the Wall Street Journal.

Bibi made it clear that the government would focus on eliminating the reasonability argument, a murky mechanism the High Court has used to strike down government appointments and legislation. Netanyahu unceremoniously discarded the all-important override clause, laying down the facts to his coalition allies.

“I’ve shown before that I always have a trick up my sleeve,” Netanyahu once told me. Until about two weeks ago, it seemed the trickster had finally been tricked. If there was something Netanyahu lost during the first half year of his sixth term, it was the element of surprise.

Ever since the election results were announced, the man who was always one move ahead of his rivals has found himself outmaneuvered at every turn. First by his right-wing allies, who squeezed him dry in the coalition agreements; then by his closest confidant, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who forced him into the judicial reform; and lastly by the leaders of the protest movement.