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Alarm over Israel's New Government Is Mistaken
(Wall Street Journal) Eugene Kontorovich - In the wake of the Israeli elections, one would think Itamar Ben-Gvir was the future prime minister, rather than the head of a second-tier party with 7 of 120 seats in the Knesset. Those saying Ben-Gvir's inclusion in the government is unacceptable were untroubled by the departing government, which included Ra'am, a party affiliated with Israel's Islamic Movement, which was founded by a convicted terrorist; or Meretz, with roots in an actual Stalinist party. Another theme in the dire forecasts for Israeli democracy are legal-system reforms that the new government may pursue. The measures would actually reinforce democracy and introduce checks and balances to a political system in which the Supreme Court has far more power than its American counterpart. The potential legal reforms would bring Israel closer to the American model. On the Palestinian issue, the departing government was the first to include an Arab party. Yet the Palestinians still refused to negotiate. After decades of rejections of statehood by the Palestinian Authority, it shouldn't be surprising if Israel stops holding its breath and applies its civil law to the areas within its jurisdiction under the Oslo Accords. The writer is a professor at George Mason University Law School and a scholar at the Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem.