Over the last year, I’ve watched the political left weaponize judicial reform inside Israel while also witnessing the political left in America do the same as almost every major Jewish organization came out with strong statements opposing judicial reform. I recall even the Jewish Federation of North America said things like “Democracy is dying in Israel”.
In addition, Blue and White spend $25,000 a month on a liberal PR firm in DC to help spin the narrative here in America.
All of the division ended when Hamas butchered +1000 Israelis in cold blood on October 7th. I would venture to say the vast majority of Israelis that were murdered by the savage Hamas terrorists identified as liberal or left. These same people fought so hard to keep alive the fantasy of a two-state solution only to have the very people they thought they could have peace with burn Jews alive, rape women in front of their families and behead babies.
Israelis – left and right, religious and non, young and old – are united because the enemy is not from within like the left thought. No, the enemy is in Gaza and in Ramallah and in Southern Lebanon.
The Israel that I see from afar is now a united Israel – and has been since the October 7th massacre. But now Israel’s Supreme Court, a group of un-elected, self-appointed individuals are trying to break apart that unity – by bringing back the divisive debate over judicial reform.
It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court chose Israel’s moment of unity to bring back division, as Israeli soldiers are dying every day fighting for the very freedoms that these Supreme Court justices want to enjoy, like all Israelis.
This is reckless and selfish behavior that puts the anti-Netanyahu interests ahead of what is best for Eretz Israel.
They committed the most divisive, most unreasonable act in the history of Israeli jurisprudence – a long and (until now) unbroken history of high-minded, highly-respected legal and judicial thinking that stretched in an unbroken (until now) line all the way back to the Talmud and the Torah itself.
In a brazen act of divisiveness and selfishness, two retired anti-reform justices – on their way out the door and clinging to their last few days of judicial power over the people of Israel – threw a grenade into Israel’s national unity by striking down the “Reasonableness” standard, which was crafted precisely to stop these sorts of undemocratic power grabs.
In doing this, the Supreme Court made the case – clear to all – of the need for the judicial restraint they just threw off.
Judging by the immediate reaction from the Israeli people – the Court’s brazen attack on Israel’s national unity is not being received well by the people. Israeli sons and daughters, fathers and mothers are dying every day, and the Supreme Court takes such a divisive action like this.
Policy aside, this is precisely the wrong time for the Court to sow division. From my perspective, the State of Israel and Israelis are united like never before.
The court should have respected this special moment. They should have done what almost everyone in our country has done: put their personal interests and grievances aside and unite as a nation to defeat our true enemies. And they should have done what is right and decent: maintain our unity and give Israel and Israeli families time to heal after all our nation has been through.
I am traveling to Israel in a few days to stand in solidarity with the people and land of Israel that I love so much with a delegation of young Jewish leaders in media, politics, and activism. We will crisscross Israel, visit sites of the terrorist attacks, volunteer alongside soldiers, and visit wounded soldiers and Israelis in the hospital.
We are flying +6,000 miles away from the comfort of America in the middle of a war to offer our strength and support to our Israeli brothers and sisters who are fighting for survival right now.
Perhaps these Justices should take off their robes and report for duty to the battlefront like so many Israelis have done. Then, perhaps, they would know how destructive their ruling is at this moment in time.
Know this: we are coming to lift up our Israeli brothers and sisters - we won’t let these Supreme Court justices get in the way of our mission.
Bryan E. Leib is the CEO of Henry PR, a Senior Fellow for the Center for Fundamental Rights, and a former Republican Congressional Candidate.