Letters to the Editor: Israel’s conscience is its protesters, not Netanyahu’s despotic government

To the editor: The Israel that I have loved, supported and defended from its very inception is now represented by the hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the streets protesting the would-be despot serving as prime minister and his bigoted far-right pals in the Knesset. (“Tensions ease after Netanyahu postpones judicial overhaul, but deadlock remains,” March 28)

Benjamin Netanyahu and his American brother from another mother will do anything to stay in power, up to and including destruction of democracy and the ethics on which it is based.

Netanyahu has vowed to return to his ugly plan to rob the Supreme Court of its powers after Passover. I hope the protesters will return to the streets in even bigger numbers.

Barbara H. Bergen, Los Angeles

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To the editor: All this hand-wringing over what Israel is going to do and what it’s not going to do is just noise now. Many commentators and reporters are pandering to the worst-case scenario.

Israel has always had a strong democracy with a mix of left and right in every one of their governments over the past 75 years. Let’s wait until something, anything actually happens in regard to the judicial reforms before going wild.

All we have now are sky-is-falling mantras, using a supposed crisis to take another shot at the Jewish state. Real life, as it occurs, will paint a different picture.

Allan Kandel, Los Angeles

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To the editor: A letter writer claimed that democracy in Israel is enhanced by the ability of the Knesset to overturn decisions of a “non-elected judiciary.” Democracy is much more than having an elected parliament decide all legal and political matters.

Elections take place even in places like Hungary and China. Such “elections” really do not count. In China, the head of state was recently “re-elected” by a unanimous vote of the nearly 3,000 delegates to the People’s Congress.

Democratic norms allow for judicial bodies to make final decisions on major questions of policy, thus allowing our ultra-conservative Supreme Court to throw out a half-century of precedent and strike down the constitutional right to an abortion.

Donald L. Singer, Cardiff, Calif.