Is Israel’s Supreme Court Going to Tear the Country Apart?

Episode 3 of Israel Update: Mike and Gadi discuss judicial reform and the assassination of Hamas’s West Bank chief, Saleh al-Arouri

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January 04, 2024

Israel Update

Israel Update is a video podcast hosted by Israeli historian and political commentator Gadi Taub and Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. The show offers news from the ground as well as an unparalleled insider perspective on the war.

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The world of Israeli jurisprudence is so surreal that you have to pinch yourself to believe what you see. This week, the country’s Supreme Court first struck down a constitutional amendment, then declared judicial authority to remove a sitting prime minister. Michael Doran and Gadi Taub explain what the judges are up to, and what the consequences may be. Because apart from judicial theory, these decisions have political implications for the war: they threaten to throw Israel back into the controversies about judicial reform that tore the country apart before October 7.

Meanwhile the war may be widening in the north following the assassination of Hamas’s West Bank chief, Saleh al-Arouri. The hit was carried out in Beirut and is widely attributed to Israel.

If the assassination was done by Israel, it might be a message not just to Hamas and Hezbollah, but also to the United States, which is trying to retrain Israel on the northern front.

And finally: Mike and Gadi’s picks for the dumbest takes on the news.

WATCH THE EPISODE HERE:

Gadi Taub is an author, historian, and op-ed columnist. He is co-host of Tablet’s Israel Update podcast.

Michael Doran is Director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.

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