Israel has NEVER been a democracy

Dangers of Israel's Judicial Reform Bill

There has been mass protest in Israel for 30 weeks calling for “democracy” in an Apartheid state on occupied Palestinian land. The Israeli government just passed a judicial reform bill that guts government oversight and weakens the Supreme Court’s power. This comes because of not having a centralized constitution, which has been purposefully executed as a way to avoid granting Israel’s Palestinian population equal rights through an “equality clause”. Tens of thousands of Israelis chanting for “democracy” when it suits their interest but completely silent over the last 73 years when witnessing the brutalization of Palestinians, the land theft, and degradation of Palestinian’s basic human rights.

This is the most far-right government Israel has had since its inception. This current bill strikes down the ability of the Supreme Court to check the parliament’s decisions. Its leaders deny the mere existence of Palestinians, want to annex and steal more Palestinian land, and deny us our basic rights. In fact, by weakening the Supreme court, the only avenue Palestinians have to defend ourselves in the Israeli system, future Israeli governments will have the power to further commit acts of violence and war crimes on the Palestinian people.

As a Palestinian I find it laughable that Israeli media call this time a “black day” or that the U.S. and other western nations are quick to defend the “only democracy in the Middle East”, when in fact this time is just a black future for Palestinian rights. What is happening is an attempt to make apartheid permanent, to continue the dictatorship that has shackled Palestinians, stolen every breath, and has robbed millions of a just future.

Their government occupies over both Israelis and Palestinians; their own Nation State Law claims that the right to self-determination in “The Land of Israel” is “Unique to the Jewish People”. Israel has weaponized this to ethnically cleanse Palestinians for decades, trying to wipe any notion of a Palestinian people, culture, or resistance. In fact, more than 65 laws exist in Israel to discriminate against Palestinians, for instance, Palestinians are barred from entering the recently built illegal settlements, the right to free  movement across Palestine, unequal access to water and electricity, and no right to self-determination.

Israeli law has always codified racial discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and more so against Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. What this shows is that while Israelis are willing to protest their government action for their own interests, they are perfectly content with the occupation, murder, and brutalization of Palestinians. If they wanted to protest, they would have, and the occupation is something they are perfectly content to maintain.

In the last few months, there has been an accelerated effort of normalization to obscure and legitimize Israeli crimes against Palestinians. Nations that were never at war forge “peace agreements,” while the Palestinian people are suffocated by a settler-colonialism and military occupation.  For Palestinians in cities like Jerusalem, their lives filled with checkpoints, walls, patrols, and military posts which restrict their human right to movement. These checkpoints meant to dehumanize and disconnect the Palestinians to their land, while also “protecting” the illegal settlers colonizing their land. Since the 1967 war, over 600 armed checkpoints have been built, separating Palestinian cities from one another and from settlements. Palestinians have different license plates and IDs and can be denied entry through check-points for no-reason at all but to dehumanize them; often times, this leads to Palestinians being unable to work or unable to seek medical treatments. These checkpoints are essentially herding the cattle, Israel funneling Palestinians into lines of acceptance or rejection, monitoring their behavior as if they are animals. Nights raids become a daily occurrence, Palestinian trees are burned, and livestock killed, these are just some of the injustices that take place in “the only democracy”.  

If Palestinians are lucky enough to make it past checkpoints, to wake up with their homes still their own, and to have their land not burned, they each face a different reality depending on where they live. For Palestinians living in Bethlehem, they work alongside the Apartheid Wall, a constant reminder of the segregation and ethnic cleansing they face because they were born on the “wrong” side. This wall is a separation barrier in the West Bank that continues to annex land within the West Bank, a racial segregation which the United Nations deemed illegal 15 years ago.

I am sadly reminded that no matter the result of internal Israeli politics, Palestinians will still be occupied and still not know the taste of freedom. This is why Palestinians must be central in the discussion of “democracy” and liberation - we need to create a society where it is not okay for human rights to be so blatantly dismissed while the perpetrators of mass violence are celebrated for doing nothing more than playing a bad game of Risk. There is no question of “democracy” as long as Palestine is occupied.