Dylan Ifrah
Staff Writer
Via Itai Weinberg
The right to peaceably assemble is part of the foundational political rights of the citizens of any democracy. In its truest form, it means that citizens may gather peacefully to express their grievances without government hindrance or repression and that they may do so without fear for their safety.
Since the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October, pro-Palestine protests have taken place in large numbers across Canada and the U.S. However, these protests are often breeding grounds for calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its Jewish inhabitants. For this reason, they subvert the basis of legitimate protests as a constructive way for citizens to air grievances and demands and undermine the right of a democratic state to exist.
Indeed, as is the case in Canada and the United States, Israel guarantees this right to its citizens. Throughout its existence, citizens of Israel, both Arab and Jewish have exercised this right to express their views on governments and politicians. No one knows this better than the current Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.
Benjamin Netanyahu has been the on-and-off Prime Minister of Israel for nearly three decades. Throughout the years, he has become increasingly unpopular with the country’s left wing and has come to rely more on the religious right to remain in power. Throughout his many years in government, his policies have been the subject of controversy amongst all factions of Israeli society. As a result of this, protest movements such as the 2011 Social Justice Protests, and the 2018 LGBT Protests have been commonplace in Israel.
Netanyahu’s policies have squarely drifted to the right on issues such as settlements in the West Bank and military exemptions for yeshiva students. One of the government's most contentious proposals is a judicial reform bill that would curb the ability of the Supreme Court to affect bills passed by the legislature.
On February 13th, 2023, 100,000 protesters gathered outside of the Israeli Knesset in opposition to the impending judicial reforms proposed by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On the 7th of April, 200,000 people once again gathered at the Knesset, this time to support the proposed laws. Among the protesters was the controversial minister Bezalel Smotrich, rallying under the slogan “the people demand judicial reform”.
For months, protests such as these raged from Haifa to Eilat, both in favour of and against the planned judicial overhaul. Those opposed to the reforms claimed that by limiting the power of the Supreme Court to carry out judicial review of bills passed by the Knesset, the Netanyahu government was destroying Israel’s democracy. Supporters of the bill affirmed that the democratically elected government did not need to negotiate the bill with left-wing factions. To them, the unelected members of the Supreme Court are the main obstacle to many judicial projects they wish to pass.
In the past, the court has struck down numerous bills proposed by Netanyahu and his government. In 2017, it ruled that the military draft exemptions for yeshiva students violated the principle of equality. In 2020, it struck down a law that retroactively legalized settlements in the West Bank on the basis that they undermine the rights of Palestinians to equality and dignity.
Rulings such as these have consistently antagonized the religious base of Netanyahu’s electorate, who make up a larger share of the Israeli population each year. The view of the court as an extension of the perceived left-wing-dominated upper class of Israeli society has served as the backdrop to many of the recent policies of the thirty-seventh Israeli government.
Manifestations for and against the government continued to draw hundreds of thousands for months.
Then, they stopped.
The October 7th attacks in which 1200 people were killed and over 200 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip caught the Israeli Defense Forces and the intelligence service off guard. However, over 300,000 soldiers were quickly mobilized and Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza in the following weeks.
In the months following the attack, public opinion of Israel’s response to the attack has remained favorable among the general public, with polls consistently showing that over 50% of American adults agree that Israel's response to the events of October 7th is acceptable.
However, for many North American Jews, a sense of unease and fear looms larger than ever. This is largely because of the number of often provocative and antagonistic pro-Palestinian rallies that have taken place since October 7th. Data shows that although after the initial attacks, there was a wave of protests in support of Israel, in the weeks and months after, pro-Palestine protests have hugely outnumbered pro-Israeli ones. These protests are mainly concentrated on college campuses and areas with large Arab populations. Similar trends have been observed in Canada, where weekly pro-Palestine protests take place in Montreal’s downtown core.
What distinguishes these protests from those seen in Israel is the underlying assumption that Israel has a right to exist. The right to protest is a cornerstone of any democracy. However, instead of being a legitimate form of criticism against Israeli policies, they call for the annihilation of a democratic state.
Chants such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, “resistance by any means necessary” and variant chants inspired by ‘Intifada’ motifs are frequently heard at these protests, and are presented to the public as part of an anti-colonialist struggle and part progressive cause. Of course, if one takes time to analyze the words in phrases, it quickly becomes clear that they have a more sinister meaning.
Anybody with basic knowledge of Israel’s geography knows that Israel is nestled between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a clear call for the entire land of what is Israel and the West Bank to become a Palestinian state without a Jewish one. Interestingly, the original slogan in Arabic “min el-mayeh il-mayeh, Falastin Arabiyeh” translates to “from the water to the water, an Arab Palestine”. Perhaps this may give us a hint of the intentions of the chanters.
“Resistance by any means necessary” needs no explanation; October 7th seems to be what those chanting are pining for.
“There is only one solution, intifada revolution” clearly evokes actions associated with the Intifadas, in which terrorist attacks, notably suicide bombings on civilians were used as an attempt by Palestinians to receive concessions from the the Israeli government.
What these chants have in common is that instead of taking aim at the policies of the Israeli Government, they directly attack the right of Israel to exist and go straight to demanding for the end of the Jewish State.
Protesters who enthusiastically attend pro-Palestine demonstrations and engage with these chants delegitimize the state of Israel as a whole, whether they realize this or not. These protesters often have almost no understanding of the issues at hand and excitedly advocate for the destruction of a sovereign and democratic state without any consideration for the potential repercussions the actions they call for may have.
These protests stand in firm contrast to those in Israel, which legitimately criticize the government without undermining the right of the Jewish State to exist. By delegitimizing Israel as an entity, they not only discourage dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, they lose their credibility in the eye of the larger public. Surely, this is not the direction for peace.
Protesters have every right to criticize the actions of Israel’s government and military, and like in any democracy, they should be encouraged to do so. However, by platforming extreme anti-Zionists who receive thunderous applause after making calls to “kill the enemies of the people of Gaza and to spare none of them”, these protests lose legitimacy.
Those who truly support a peaceful solution in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel should have an honest look at what these protests accomplish and whether or not they truly are in the interests of peace.
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