The Battle over Israel's Fragile Democracy: Socio-legal Observations and Personal Experience
In January 2023, the Israeli government proposed reforms to the country's judicial system. These reforms aim to significantly limit the power of the Supreme Court, which has been the single structural check on the power of the government for decades. The so-called judicial reform was met with mass protests led by academics, lawyers, prominent figures in the hi-tech industry and the business sector, and civil society groups. They have argued that the judicial overhaul would undermine the rule of law in Israel and immediately jeopardize its democracy. The protests gained support from senior military officers and former heads of the secret services, as well as thousands of reserve soldiers who declared their intention to discontinue their service. In late July, the government passed a law stripping the Supreme Court of its power to obstruct government decisions on the grounds of the doctrine of reasonableness. This decision dragged the country into a constitutional crisis.
In his public talk, Professor Avi Rubin will offer some observations on the judicial overhaul and its context from a socio-legal perspective. In addition, he will share his personal experience as a university professor teaching "sensitive" topics in a volatile political period and as an active participant in the greatest street protests Israel has ever known.
About the speaker: Avi Rubin is the 2023 Greenberg Middle East Scholar-in-Residence at Skidmore College. He received his Ph.D. in History and Middle East Studies from Harvard (2006) and has been teaching at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Middle East Studies since 2006.
Sponsor: Skidmore College’s Office of Special Programs and History Department