Here on Daily Kos and other sites there has been much speculation on the path that the Israeli Government has been taking regarding it's democracy. Just a week ago the Israeli Knesset passed a bill that subjected those who advocate Boycotts against Israel to civil suits and damages if that boycott caused pain and suffering. Rightly so, this new law was slammed as anti-Democratic and an attempt to stifle dissent.
A few months ago Rightists in the Israeli Knesset (it's parliment) introduced a measure to authorize the government to investigate Leftist NGO's and other organizations that it deemed as receiving outside aid in order to subvert the current State. This was met by an outcry and was pushed to the back of the agenda.
But like a bad meal it threatened to come back. AND then with the passage of last weeks bill it did.
The Israeli Right, "feeling their oats" brought back this clearly anti-Democratic measure in an attempt to capitalize on what they thought was a sure victory that would lead to more in the future. Immediately, P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu (who supported the first law's passage) facing a great deal of criticsm, told the far Rightists that he would NOT support this bill and would not ask for Party discipline on the vote regarding this (and indeed recommended that his party not support this). The far Rightists were furious about this as I documented in this diary: BREAKING FROM ISRAEL - NETANYAHU FIGHTS HIS OWN COALITION
This fight was further evidenced by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sitting with his faction rather than sitting at the Government table to show his displeasure with the Prime Minister.
Anyway as Haaretz is reporting today: Knesset votes against proposal to probe Israeli NGOs
Following a stormy debate, the Knesset voted against a contentious bill on Wednesday which called to set up panels of inquiry into human rights organizations in Israel.
28 Knesset members voted in favor and 57 voted against the two bills calling to set up two parliamentary panels of inquiry into NGOs, proposed by Likud MK Danny Dannon and Yisrael Beiteinu MK Faina Kirschenbaum......
Further, Opposition leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) and the United Arab List MK Ahmed Tibi were scathing in their criticsm:
A dark wind is blowing through the country - created by Netanyahu's coalition," Livni said during the Knesset debate."Beyond being an anti-democratic [proposal] it also harms the interests of the State of Israel…. The idea that MKs want to investigate citizens who are not party to their views is horrifying."
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) sarcastically praised Lieberman’s initiative for bringing Israel “one step closer to 1984,” suggesting the probe would constitute a Big Brother-like infringement on democratic values. Tibi further stated that “the current Knesset outdoes itself, over and over, in its McCarthyist ways”.
Foreign Minister Lieberman, who suffered a hit when the bill went down to defeat had this to say:
"What changed since the preliminary vote in the Knesset?," Lieberman asked. " There was pressure from the media and the international arena. All of a sudden Israeli leaders cannot withstand the pressure and are changing their position dramatically."
Lieberman added that after the bill was passed in the Knesset plenum, he received hints from the leaders of the coalition to delay the vote, but changed his mind after the Likud-sponsored boycott bill was brought to a vote and passed.
Which of course opens the door to talking about what "behind the scenes pressure leaders are facing". I thought of this comment when I read this Maan article earlier regarding Netanyahu speaking to Al-Arabiyeh: Israel ready to talk in Jerusalem, Ramallah
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel is willing to hold peace talks with the Palestinians immediately, in Jerusalem or even Ramallah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in excerpts of an interview released Wednesday....
...."Everything is on the table," he said. "But we need to get to the table."
He said the Palestinian leadership had in the past not wanted to conclude negotiations, and now it was unwilling to even restart talks.
"I'm prepared to negotiate with president (Mahmoud) Abbas directly for peace between our two peoples right now. We can do it here in my home in Jerusalem, we can do it in Ramallah (in the West Bank), we can do it anywhere," he said.
So now that this attempt at weakening the Israeli Democracy has ended, what is the next step. It's obvious something is going on behind the scenes in the run up to September and a possible Palestinian vote in the U.N. General Assembly (it seems the Palestinians are going to skip the U.N. Security Council completely realizing the U.S. will definitely veto).
Will the Israeli Coalition hold in the face of this? By the way, here is a great website that updates polling and Knesset activity. It has some fascinating info. on it.
Please comment and drop your thoughts here.
Shalom