s r a e l i s o n t h e b r i n k o f a d i s a s t e r

The other false claim that Netanyahu and his cohorts assert is that the majority of Israelis voted for his government, which gives it the mandate to govern as it deems fits To begin with, whereas the current government did win the election, it was essentially a tied vote 2 36 million eligible voters voted for the pro-Netanyahu bloc and roughly 2 31 million voted for the opposition parties approximately 39 percent versus 38 9 percent of eligible voters Over 1 3 million eligible voters did not vote in addition to 3 05 million Israelis under the age of 18

Thus, to suggest that a government that was voted in by less than half of the population can usurp the power of the Supreme Court enshrined in the basic law by a simple majority is absurd as it runs completely against the will and the interests of the overwhelming majority of the people In addition it will impair the future of Israelis under the age of 18 one-third of the country s total population who may well end up living under a dictatorship with catastrophic implications Tens of thousands of young people will leave the country causing a dire brain drain that will have a crippling effect on just about every economic and scientific sector in the country

Beyond efforts to severely undercut the judiciary from the moment the current Netanyahu government was formed the onslaught on democracy began with a vengeance, as each of the coalition partners wanted to secure their share of power and the financial largess that comes with it

The creation and distribution of new superfluous ministries like candy with appropriations of hundreds of millions of shekels only to satisfy the egos of various party leaders is sick and alarmingly damaging to the well-being of the country The funds appropriated for these utterly unnecessary ministries, such as the Ministry of National Security headed by a thug, Itamar Ben-Gvir could have been spent on the poor and the needy the tens of thousands of children who live in poverty, go to sleep hungry and live in squalor This is not a democracy; this is hypocrisy and a criminal waste of the country’s resources

Prime Minister NetanyahuÊs disingenuous statement that the judicial reform will in fact strengthen rather than erode IsraelÊs democracy flies in the face of what democracy is all about as it is largely practiced in the Western hemisphere.

When there is no clear separation between religion and state democracy is inherently compromised as it directly infringes on the right of every non-religious person to live as they see fit But this government has even