Judicial reform in Isreal: A harbinger of more democratic backsliding? 

Across the world, we are witnessing countries roll back democratic norms and the pace appears to be increasing. The most surprising country to join this club is Israel, which had, for a long time always prided itself on being the only democracy in the Middle East. And yet the way in which events are unfolding in that country suggest that a truly profound change is happening in that country's political culture. 

In Israel, there always had been a clear separation of powers between the executive/legislature and the judiciary. Israeli judges had the power to strike down laws as unconstitutional if they thought they were. Although they didn't use the power often, they did not shy away from using it either. 

The current crisis was years in the making, but gained traction recently because of the precarious situation of the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu, fighting corruption charges, began losing most of his erstwhile allies and formed a coalition government with members of the ideological, extreme right. The latter, meanwhile, saw at the present moment an opportunity to get rid of judicial overreach. The extremists had always had an animus with the judiciary, who they thought was composed of liberals who wanted to erase the Jewish identity of Israel. Thus the two coalition partners, Netanyahu and the extreme right, were in bed together for different reasons. Netanyahu had pragmatic reasons as he wanted to fight off corruption charges whereas the rightists saw in this moment an opportunity to shape the future of Israel in their own ideological colors. 

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have gathered to protest the judicial overhaul but Netanyahu has not given an indication that he is going to back down. It will be interesting to see what happens in that country in the weeks and months to come.