The Netanyahu government’s legislative push before the October elections will extend political control over Israel’s judiciary, military, and media.

In the course of the past two weeks, as it approached the end of its legislative session, the right-wing-dominated Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed or at least advanced a series of laws that, if not struck down, will undermine the very essence of Israeli democracy. The legislation targets the nonpartisan attorney general, a key part of the Israeli system of checks and balances. Other legislation, if upheld, would give the government far more control over the media.

Finally, and of great concern to the majority of Israelis, the Knesset has passed a law that would exempt nearly 70,000 religious academy, or yeshiva, students from military service, thereby exacerbating the massive strain on an already overstretched and worn-out Israel Defense Force (IDF)

Ever since he returned to office in 2023, with the threat of imprisonment for corruption hanging over him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spared no effort to gut the power of the Supreme Court, which, in the absence of a codified Israeli constitution, can overrule any act of Parliament on the basis of what it terms “reasonableness.” Wielding its unconstrained powers, the court has frequently restricted the freedom of West Bank settlers to seize land from Palestinians; has ruled against any legislation that would permit the ultra-Orthodox to evade military service, and has overridden the government’s attempt to dismiss the attorney general.

Netanyahu’s survival as prime minister—and his ability to avoid a possible jail sentence— depends on maintaining his coalition of both the right-wing parties that support settlement expansion and the ultra-Orthodox parties that not only demand exemption for yeshiva students but also seek more government benefits for their community. It is the Israeli Supreme Court and the attorney general who stand in the way of Netanyahu’s efforts to satisfy his partners.

The Knesset passed a law in 2025 to take effect after Israel’s October 2026 parliamentary election that would give politicians on the Judicial Selection Committee control over Supreme Court appointments. The committee currently consists of three Supreme Court justices, two lower court justices, two representatives of the Israeli Bar Association, and four politicians, three of whom are from the governing coalition. Since appointing a justice requires seven votes, no group currently can force the appointment of a given candidate; the new legislation would almost certainly result in the appointment of justices who support the governing coalition.

In seeking to terminate the independence of the attorney general, Netanyahu’s supporters have passed legislation that, like the legislation affecting the Supreme Court, politicizes the office. The current system calls for the cabinet to appoint the attorney general to a six-year term on the recommendation of an independent committee led by a retired Supreme Court Justice. The Knesset’s last-minute legislation also stipulates that beginning in January 2027, the government will have the power to appoint and dismiss the attorney general. The legislation also permits government ministers to reject the attorney general’s rulings; those rulings currently are legally binding. A politicized attorney general’s office would be far less likely to pursue the long-standing bribery case against the prime minister

The new communications law would have, among other things, eliminated minimum journalistic standards; created a new regulator over which the government would hold increased appointment power; and expanded government control over the allocation of state advertising funds. However, the Supreme Court immediately froze several elements of the law that were set to take effect, and would have strengthened the government’s ability to influence the upcoming elections.

Finally, while the Knesset’s legislation regarding yeshiva students nominally does not exempt all of them from military service, it does so in practice. To begin with, in the next seven months, draft dodgers will not be arrested, investigated, or prevented from leaving the country. Moreover, the Netanyahu government plans to extend the law’s duration should the prime minister return to office. 

The military has opposed such legislation ever since it was first mooted. It supported the Supreme Court’s decision to strike it down in its original form. The latest version not only restores the exemptions, but creates a committee of three senior military officers who would determine the legitimacy of those who claim to be yeshiva students.

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of the general staff and a Netanyahu appointee, reiterated the military’s opposition to the exemptions, noting that the legislation actually “provide[s] an incentive to not report for military service, as, due to it, there will be an exemption from prosecution and criminal proceedings…Such a process will create a deep rift with those in the service arm, who have carried the burden of combat for some two and a half years.”

He also pointed out that the so-called evaluation committee was impractical, and that “placing this complicated, controversy-riddled task on the IDF in the coming months will be a heavy organizational burden, and will divert critical command attention from operational missions.”

Neither the court’s objections, nor those of the attorney general, nor those of his own chief of staff carried any weight with Netanyahu. While the Supreme Court is likely to continue to strike down much of the new legislation, some ministers are asserting that the government defies the court’s rulings.

It is clear, therefore, that unless a new government led by a different prime minister takes over after the October elections, Israel will no longer be a genuine democracy. Instead, should Netanyahu once again successfully manage to cobble together yet another coalition of religious and nationalist extremists, the Jewish state will transmogrify into what a former Hungarian prime minister described as an “illiberal democracy.”

About the Author: Dov Zakheim

Dov S. Zakheim is a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the US Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of defense from 1985 to 1987.

The post How the Knesset Just Sent Israel Down the Road of ‘Illiberal Democracy’ appeared first on The National Interest.