On September 12, Israel’s Supreme Court heard arguments for and against petitions from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Movement for Quality Government, and other public watchdog NGOs. The petitioners asked the court to strike down a Basic Law enacted by the Knesset in July that prohibited judicial review of decisions of government officials on the grounds of reasonableness. “Reasonableness” is a British common law doctrine inherited from the Mandate era and incorporated into Israeli jurisprudence.

The case was so momentous that, for the first time ever, all 15 justices sat as a single panel.

art by Shoshke ©

In early August, four Israeli academics affiliated with North American universities initiated a petition entitled “The Elephant in the Room” (full text below) calling on leaders of North American Jewry – foundation leaders, scholars, rabbis, educators – to:

1. Support the Israeli protest movement, yet call on it to embrace equality for Jews and Palestinians within the Green Line and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

2. Support human rights organizations which defend Palestinians and provide real-time information on the lived reality of occupation and apartheid.

3. Commit to overhaul educational norms and curricula for Jewish children and youth in order to provide a more honest appraisal of Israel’s past and present.

4. Demand from elected leaders in the United States that they help end the occupation, restrict American military aid from being used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and end Israeli impunity in the UN and other international organizations.