Two American writers close to Israeli affairs say that Israel is in a place where it has never been before, and that Israeli politics will remain very unstable when the full impact of the judicial amendments introduced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government becomes apparent.

Authors Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, said after recounting the events of the massive protests and what happened before the Israeli government froze the draft judicial amendments.

The Basis for U.S. Support

Israel's existence as the only democracy in its region was the main foundation on which U.S. support was based, and if that foundation collapsed and Israel slipped into illiberalism, the special character of the U.S.-Israeli relationship would change.


In this regard, Miller and Keertzer said that resetting bilateral relations will not be easy even if the crisis of judicial amendments is resolved, because the issue is now a matter of trust, and that the responsibility for this rebuilding of trust lies entirely with Netanyahu, who created this government coalition, supported the legislation that led to the internal crisis, and has yet to take explicit action to change course.

Given Netanyahu's current mentality and reliance on his current coalition partners, rebuilding trust will be very difficult, they said.

Netanyahu will go above and beyond

Both are well acquainted with Netanyahu: In addition to being prime minister and controlling Likud (Israel's largest and most cohesive political party), he is more determined than any other Israeli politician to stay in power, and he has clearly shown that he will go as far as others have not.

They also noted that although Netanyahu has temporarily stopped pushing his judicial amendments, he has also made it clear that he will continue to move bills through the Knesset after the Passover recess ends in May.

On the part of the protesters, with their lack of confidence in Netanyahu, they will not risk any opportunity and plan to continue the pressure in the streets, and as they continue to do so, an unpredictable new factor may emerge on Israel's political scene, such as the emergence of a powerful popular movement that forces Netanyahu and all other politicians not to ignore it.