The Decks Are Stacked

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The half-accidental rescue of Bedouin-Israeli Farhan Qadi from a Gaza tunnel, and his complimentary phone call with Netanyahu, whom he addressed as “Abu Yair,” moments after describing himself as Palestinian rather than Israeli, couldn’t help but make one smile during an Av that otherwise felt like the Yamim Noraim. Israel as a whole has been going through a ten-month manic-depressive episode. Indeed, just one week ago, Israel seemed headed for an escalation that might have sealed the hostages’ fates.

Only in Israel of 2024 is a threatening headline proclaiming the outbreak of war in the north followed in less than a day by an equally loud headline about the judicial reform’s return to center stage.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir lobbed the first grenade by announcing the promotion of police officer Meir Suissa, who was indicted for throwing a stun grenade at anti-judicial reform protesters in the summer of 2023, to the rank of chief superintendent, leading the attorney general to immediately strike down the promotion.

Next up was Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who last Monday submitted a compromise proposal to resolve his standoff with the judiciary regarding the election of the next High Court president and the filling of several vacancies on the Court. The proposal — electing the conservative justice Yosef Elron as High Court president for a year before he retires in favor of a liberal justice, as well as splitting the Court’s three vacancies between the elected and the judicial branch — was rejected by acting High Court president Uzi Vogelman in the manner and tone of someone who doesn’t think he needs to compromise.