What is happening in Israel?

There is a lot of background noise about changes in Israel this week. Over 130,000 peple turned out to march against changes that are being pushed by the government. What is going on?

There is a proposed law by the new ruling coalition. This coalition is the most radical right-wing government they have ever had. I don't want to say "conservative" because this coalition is not "conservative" in the manner of preserving the status quo. But they want to expand the settlements in the occupied territories, officially repudiate the commitment to a 2 state solution, and to subject Arabs to a permanent second class citizenship so that they cannot vote and have no right to private land ownership.

How are they planning to do this? They are looking to gut the Supreme Court which has stood in their way. Here are their proposals.

1. It would allow the government, by a vote of 51% of the legislature (the Knesset) to overrule any Supreme Court law.
2. It would change the nominating committee to be run from the Knesset. Presently an independent board nominates Court Justices.
3. They would have the Supreme Court justices be removed by a simple majority of the Knesset. This means the ruling coalition can replace the entire slate of Supreme Court Justices at any time.

Why would Netanyahu go along with this?

1. These changes would let Netanyahu avoid prosecution. He has already been charged with crimes.

It means that America and Israel would no longer have shared values, the Poligrip of our relationship.