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The future is now: The demography bomb discombobulates Israel

Never did we think when we penned the editorial on Nov. 11, 2022, on “the meaning of Israel’s recent election” that the predictions therein would descend so swiftly.

We opined then on the meaning of the election: “It’s neither the return of Netanyahu nor the rise of the political right. It’s religious demography.”

We noted: “The current demographic shift toward religious parties is not a projection. It is a reality. That is, a reality not likely to change, since it is founded not on the shifting sands of political ideology and economic policy, but on birth rates.”

Netanyahu and the political right may, or may not, win the next election; and the policies of the current coalition, such as judicial reform, may or may not be enacted now. In the long-term, it makes no difference, because Israel has changed.

This change is best understood in the unremarked irony of the heads of American Jewish organizations bitterly criticizing the plank of the judicial reform that would enable the Knesset to overturn rulings of Israel’s Supreme Court by a simply majority vote. These organizations oppose this plank on the grounds that it endangers the rights of minorities, such as Israeli Arabs and LGBT people. The unremarked irony here is the new reality that the organizations themselves have become a minority within the larger picture of the future orientation of Israel.

As we noted in the Nov. 11 editorial, “Some will celebrate this. Some will bemoan it. Either way, this is the trend. This is the meaning in the recent Israeli election.”

It is also the motivator behind the unprecedetedly angry demonstrations in Israel against the current government. It is not judicial reform that is at stake. That’s but a symbol, though, to be sure, an intrinsically critical issue. As it happens, we too think that a simple majority should not be able to overturn an Israel Supreme Court ruling. But we shall not let this and related judicial matters becloud the big picture: Demography has changed Israel.

The ultimate irony is this: It is the future majority in Israel, not those who oppose it, who face the biggest challenge. The obligation to preserve the unity of the Jewish people falls primarily on those in charge.

Copyright © 2023 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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