"A democracy that only has the name, not the essence."
This is how Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara formulated her fears about Israel's political future, if the ruling coalition's bills are passed.
A new government was indeed formed on Wednesday, December 21, by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Its composition has not yet been specified but it should be the most right-wing in the history of Israel, like the coalition from which it comes.
This brings together three far-right parties, two ultra-Orthodox parties and Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud.
In the viewfinder of the Attorney General, a reform of the High Court of Justice, the equivalent of the Constitutional Council in France.
This body, responsible for disputes between citizens and the State, is also responsible for verifying the conformity of laws with Israeli fundamental laws, and therefore guaranteeing the rule of law.
But the new government has indicated that it wants to allow Parliament to vote again on the laws challenged by the High Court of Justice, thus emptying the mechanism of all its substance.
"Without judicial review and without independent legal advice, we will end up with the sole principle of majority rule, and nothing else", denounced the Attorney General, in an exceptional bloodshed on the part of this jurist. appointed in February by the government of Naftali Bennett – also the first woman to hold this very important position.
"The plans of this coalition are of great concern because the winners of the last elections want to call into question the balances which relate to the very structure of Israeli democracy", observes Denis Charbit, professor of political science at the Open University of Israel.
"If they are carried out, Israel could become a formal democracy having lost its essence and its checks and balances. By authorizing the Parliament to revote laws annulled by the High Court of Justice, the government wants to deprive it of its power to control and freedom from constraint."
"Arsonist Fireman"
The Attorney General also denounced the government's desire to modify a law prohibiting the appointment to a ministerial post of a person sentenced to prison.
A tailor-made reform that could benefit Arié Dery, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shass party, sentenced to a suspended prison sentence for tax evasion.
"This is an opportunist law, which they want to pass only to appoint him minister", points out Elizabeth Sheppard Selam, lecturer at the University of Tours and specialist in Israeli politics.
"This is not done, we do not make personalized laws in a state of law."
Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the ultra-right Jewish Force (Otzma Yehudit) party, and tipped to become Minister of National Security, finally said he wanted to exercise direct control over the police.
A way of "politicizing the police", pointed out by the Attorney General, who, according to her, risks dealing a "serious blow to the most fundamental principles of the rule of law, that is to say equality, the absence of arbitrariness and impartiality".
The bill would effectively place the police under the direct control of Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted on several occasions for calls for violence and hatred.
He would then have discretionary power over the appointment of senior officers, the right to oversee the Border Police – a unit widely deployed in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank –, and would also be responsible for maintaining the order on the esplanade of the Mosques.
A prospect that does not fail to worry many observers, while Itamar Ben-Gvir calls for the relaxation of the rules for opening fire for the police and the army.
"Itamar Ben-Gvir comes from the ultra-right and it is feared that he will interfere directly with the work of the police", explains Denis Charbit.
“He risks playing the arsonist fireman and exacerbating tensions between the communities, which are already very high in Israel. We are talking about someone who has been convicted of inciting violence and terrorism, of a madman, to whom we are going to entrust an extremely important position."
Risk of rupture with the diaspora
Such a shift in the Jewish state would also risk complicating its relations with its diaspora, particularly in the United States.
"If Bibi changes the nature of democracy in Israel, he will change the nature of the support of the United States and the American Jewish community for Israel," warned American lawyer and activist Abraham Foxman.
The head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, William Daroff, said he was "very concerned".
"The program of the new government resembles that of Éric Zemmour in France", remarks Elizabeth Sheppard Selam.
"These are very divisive personalities, to the point that diasporas, especially in the United States, feel excluded. A rift is being created between religious Israelis and Jewish-Americans, who are more progressive. It's bad for Israel, because its diaspora is a valuable financial and political support abroad, and it is also not good for the diaspora to disconnect from its roots."
But the radical nature of the bills is such that it is not certain that they will finally be adopted.
"Netanyahu will take care to calm things down," hopes Denis Charbit.
“Granted, he may have trouble keeping the coalition in hand, the Attorney General's concerns are far from unfounded. This is not the case with Netanyahu, he is not here for chaos. He has experience, and protests can also break out inside Israel and abroad. It is a test for Israeli democracy, we have to see which line ends up winning."
The policy of the next Israeli government will probably be determined by the balance of power that will be established within the government majority - 32 deputies for the Likud, 18 for the ultra-Orthodox and 14 for the extreme right - and by the weight that the Prime Minister will manage to weigh in.
Experienced, but weakened by his ongoing trial for corruption, Benjamin Netanyahu could thus be pushed to give in to the demands of the most radical fringes of his coalition... Unless he succeeds in imposing himself, once again, as he is doing for nearly fifteen years.
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