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OPINION 10 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 JULY 2023 David Mednicoff is Chair, Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, UMass Amherst ISRAEL'S parliament passed a law on July 24, 2023, that limits the Supreme Court's ability to rein in government actions, part of a broader proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to strengthen the power of the country's executive branch. The legislation has divided the country for months, sparking massive demonstrations. Op- ponents say the law threatens democracy; supporters argue it protects the will of the electoral majority. Netanyahu has been a political force and survivor in Israeli pol- itics since the 1990s. Yet it makes sense to assess his career now in light of his recent hospitali- zations, the latest coming in the middle of the court reform crisis. As a scholar of Middle Eastern politics, I think that Netanyahu's long-term legacy will be based on three major developments. He has shifted Israeli politics rightward. He has stymied the emergence of a Palestinian state. He has increased Israel's links to nondemocratic foreign govern- ments. From democracy to theocracy Netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999. He returned to power from 2009 to 2021, and once again in 2022. A country once known for left-leaning politics now has a right-wing government dominat- ed by Jewish religious nationalists who spearheaded the efforts to curb judicial checks on executive power. Netanyahu began his first term as prime minister in 1996 with two main qualities – experience living and working in the U.S. and a record focused on Israeli's military security. The first quality meant he un- derstood American politics and interest groups. That helped Is- rael keep and enhance its historic strong support from the U.S. gov- ernment. The second set him up for polit- ical success in a country in which the army is a key – and revered – institution. Massive U.S. foreign aid and military assistance over many years, along with Netanyahu's po- litical backing, have ensured that Israel's army is far more power- ful and well equipped than the armed forces of any other nearby country. Netanyahu typically portrayed himself as the only leader who could keep his country and its economy secure. Like other elect- ed strongmen, he and his allies have gained support from, and encouraged, right-wing national- ists and divisive politics. With Netanyahu, that meant al- lying himself strongly with Jewish settlers – many of them Ortho- dox – in the West Bank in what international law considers to be occupied Palestinian territory. Because Orthodox Jewish fam- ilies tend to be larger than more secular ones, Israel's demography has favored politicians and voters who skew towards Netanyahu's consistent support for the settler movement and broader focus on security. The longer Netanyahu has held power in Israel, the more alle- gations of corruption and crim- inal conduct he has faced. His personal legal vulnerability has likely reinforced his autocratic tendencies. Netanyahu's 2022 government demonstrated its authoritarian tilt with the push for the judicial reform bill that will hobble the Israeli judiciary's capacity to review legislation and government action. This reform appeals to impor- tant sectors of Netanyahu's sup- porters who see the Supreme Court's power as an inappro- priate secular check on Isra- el's increasingly pro-settler and pro-Orthodox government. But it has been divisive: The mass protests against the reform have even spread to prominent mili- tary personnel. Today's Israel is marked by growing splits between secu- lar, urbanized citizens near the Mediterranean coast and Ortho- dox and other settlers in or near the West Bank. The two groups have different visions for Israel's future, with the latter citizens pushing the country in a more theocratic direction. This divisive battle over Israel's nature owes a great deal to Benjamin Netanya- hu's leadership. Distancing Palestinians Netanyahu has long pledged to avoid compromising with Pales- tinians over control of territory and security in the West Bank and Gaza, areas under Israeli mil- itary control since 1967. And he allowed rapid expansion of Jew- ish settlements in the West Bank. He has rarely wavered from these two policies. Among his most tangible leg- acies is the physical barrier now separating West Bank Palestin- ians from Israelis, which gives Israeli authorities great control over how West Bank Palestinians enter Israel. The barrier has kept Israeli Jews from much contact with Pales- tinians other than during military service. This physical separation and a strong Israeli military presence have decreased Palestinian at- tacks within Israel and increased misery in Palestinian-controlled areas, for example, by making travel into Israel and other coun- tries difficult. Netanyahu's approach has min- imized pressure on Jewish Israelis to make a final deal that would trade occupied land for a broad- er peace based on separate Israeli and Palestinian states. It has also deprived Palestinians of some basic liberties and opportunities, particularly in Gaza, which hu- man rights activists have called an "open-air prison." In fact, Netanyahu has used his formidable military to strike hard when he deems necessary in Gaza, the area between Israel and Egypt that Israel unilaterally returned to Palestinian control in 2004. Hamas, a Palestinian group that advocates military ac- tion against Israel, is in charge of Gaza. Reflecting the sentiments of his right-wing base, Netanyahu has had a generally consistent response to Hamas, and Pales- tinians more generally. Israel, he says, awaits Palestinian consen- sus that Israel is a Jewish state, with Jerusalem as its capital, and with no right for Palestinians to return to their pre-1948 homes in Israel. Many Palestinians find these conditions unfair, particularly as a precondition to negotiations. Coupled with the Netanyahu government's vast expansion of Jewish settlements, many veteran observers doubt that a two-state solution with Israeli and Palestin- ian states remains possible. Reshaping Israel's alliances Bolstering the Israeli right and undermining Palestinian state- hood have accompanied efforts by Netanyahu to reshape Israel's foreign relations. Those efforts stem in part from his relentless drive to curb Iran's influence in the Middle East. Tehran's leaders are unremit- tingly hostile toward Israel. Net- anyahu has played up this hostil- ity to domestic and international audiences, even urging the U.S. to attack Iran. The prime minister's an- ti-Iranian campaign connects to strengthening ties to other countries, whether or not they are democratic, with an inter- est in combating Tehran and its funding of pro-Iranian militant groups, which encourage anti-Is- raeli politics and attacks in many Arab countries. Shared security goals, perhaps more than any- thing else, explain the significant willingness of the United Arab Emirates and several other Arab countries to establish diplomatic ties with Israel through the Abra- ham Accords of 2020. More generally, Netanyahu's long time in office and his will- ingness to fan racist flames have endeared him to other rulers who embrace authoritarian or divisive tactics, such as Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Hungari- an Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former U.S. President Don- ald Trump. Yet Netanyahu's policies are also causing major cracks in sup- port for Israel from its central al- ly, the U.S. In recent years, Israeli and American Jews have diverged increasingly on the ethics and im- portance of Palestinian autono- my. In turn, organizations work- ing with the Israeli government have tried to silence pro-Pales- tinian voices in the U.S., often by calling them anti-Semitic. Moreover, Netanyahu's au- thoritarian tendencies and his government's rightist and theo- cratic tendencies have amplified American voices of those who have been skeptical that Israel is democratic and who have called for reductions in U.S. support. Netanyahu has helped reshape Israel and the broader world in profound ways. It's clear that the country's military security and cooperation with major Arab states in the Middle East have ex- panded. But I see the darker side of the prime minister's emphasis on military and security solutions in the erosion of hopes for Pales- tinians and challenges for Israel to remain democratic. As contentious judicial 'reform' becomes law in Israel, Netanyahu cements his political legacy David Mednicoff Netanyahu said he received a mandate from millions of voters to carry out judicial reforms