The Israeli political system and its transformations

On Thursday, April 6, 2023, the Department of Political Science / Faculty of Law and Public Administration, in cooperation with the Ibrahim Abu-Lughud Institute of International Studies, organized a public lecture entitled: "The Israeli Political System and Its Transformations" presented by Khaldoun Barghouti, a researcher on Israeli affairs at the Research Center, and Prof. Walid Habbas, a researcher on Israeli affairs at the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies "Madar", the lecture and discussion was moderated by Dr. Basem Zubaidi, Professor of Political Science at Birzeit University

Barghouthi began by saying that the centrality of Benjamin Netanyahu’s personality is essential to understanding the current Israeli political scene, in terms of Netanyahu’s attempt to circumvent the scene through the process of judicial reforms so that he can immunize himself with the aim of canceling his trial following the charges against him. And added that Netanyahu's political and governmental behavior is changing in light of the "obsession with the trial" and the popular protests against the attempt at judicial reforms, years after he assumed the presidency of the Israeli government.

While Habbas said that he referred to the changes taking place in Israeli society and the political scene, which are changes in the quality of the ruling political elites. Religious Zionism has entered the political arena, competing with the secular and Ashkenazi elites who founded Israel. This new right stems from Biblical religious considerations in governance. Therefore, Israeli populism seeks judicial reforms, and the role of the judiciary is limited in matters of which it is accused, especially the Supreme Court, of "left leanings" and "tolerance towards minorities."