Netanyahu's Supreme Court overhaul effort seen by protesters as threat to Israel's democracy

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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's push to weaken the Supreme Court set off months of unrest, tearing Israel apart. Lesley Stahl reports why protestors call his plan a profound threat to democracy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to the United States – with plans to meet President Biden at the UN General Assembly this week, as his country faces perhaps its worst domestic crisis ever. And it's not about the Palestinian conflict: it's about Israelis fighting Israelis.

The protests were triggered by the government's judicial initiative to sap the Supreme Court of much of its power. A wide majority of the country sees weakening the court as a power grab, since it is the only check in Israel on the government. The protestors say that laws his government has introduced – over 200 of them – would not only weaken the courts, but control the press and diminish individual rights, and that this is how democracies like Hungary became autocratic.Lesley Stahl: There is a trend and it's going against you around the worldLesley Stahl: You're all determined.

Eyal Naveh: They want a law that they will not go to the Army. My 15-years-old, in three years he will go to the army. I'm gonna not sleep, like, three years. And the other father, the ultra-Orthodox father, will sleep all the time. That means forming human chains in front of the Defense Ministry… they block major traffic arteries. Their barricade of the Knesset brought out police water cannons. members, including Ron, have been arrested and interrogated.

Lesley Stahl: But you have people in your Cabinet who have made openly racist and homophobic statements, and they're ministers. He says the court is an elite bastion that too often overrules lawmakers chosen by the people. The fight over the court has brought the country to a cold civil war. In July, the first step of Levin's judicial overhaul passed, severely limiting the court's power to strike down government decisions. Some 10,000 military reservists were so upset, they pledged to stop showing up for duty. Some of Netanyahu's allies suggested they should be tried, even executed.

Eyal Naveh: They can say whatever they want. I am a patriot. Every year I go to reserve and serve. I leave the house, I leave my children, I leave my wife, I leave everyone to serve. My friends died for this country. Lesley Stahl: If you don't include Palestinian rights as part of what you're fighting for, then how can you say you're fighting for democracy?

 

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