US: Jewish American donors to Zionist causes warn of rift with Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms could threaten Israel’s ties with the Jewish community in the diaspora, major US donors to Zionist projects have said in an open letter. Jewish American philanthropists, who have long been seen as a key pillar in the success of Israel’s settler colonial state, are the latest to warn publicly of the threat to democracy posed by the reforms introduced by the current far-right government.

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed the draft legislation on its first reading in the very early hours of Monday morning, with 63 MKs in favour of judicial review, a simple majority in the 120-seat chamber. The vote on the contentious legislation has been described as “a battle over Israel’s essence.” Bills tabled will amend Israel’s “basic laws”, which are the legal equivalent to a constitution. The changes will grant lawmakers control over judicial appointments, eliminate judicial review of legislation and allow parliament to vote down Supreme Court decisions.

Weeks of protests and public appeals by opposition leaders preceded Monday’s vote. Fifteen major donors and charitable foundations, including Birthright co-founder Charlies Bronfman, are the latest in a mounting pile of open pleas from groups who say the proposed reforms threaten Israel’s future as a democracy.

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“Because of our love for Israel,” said the signatories of the latest open letter, “we are deeply troubled by this attempt to curtail the independence of the judiciary, one of the key features that makes Israel one of the most vibrant democracies in the world.”

The letter highlighted a major weakness in the Israeli political system. With the government always enjoying a majority by necessity, the judicial reforms will eliminate the independence of the three main branches of a democratic system: the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

The letter argues that Israel’s political system lacks many of the checks and balances that exist in other countries, such as a bicameral parliament. “The only counterweight to the legislative and the executive is an independent judiciary, which — while imperfect and in need of improvement — plays a critical role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of all Israelis and ensuring that the laws of the country are applied fairly and justly.”

The letter went on to warn that the overhaul is “threatening critical relationships both within Israel (among Jews and between Jews and Arabs) and between Israel and the diaspora.”

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The letter is the latest example of growing tension between Israel and Jewish communities around the world. Historians have long argued that the success of Zionism has always rested on three pillars: the weakness and division amongst Arabs; the recruitment of foreign patrons such as the US and before that the UK; and the support of the Jewish community in the diaspora.

A consensus within the human rights community over Israel’s practice of the crime of apartheid and the most far-right government in the state’s history have put a strain on those relationships, especially with diaspora Jews. Relations are unlikely to be helped by a leaked policy memo published in Haaretz. The memo from the party of a deputy minister in the Israeli government portrays many Jewish American donors to civil society organisations in Israel as a nefarious force bent on imposing pluralistic values on Israeli schoolchildren.