THE Secretary General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement stated yesterday that the Israeli far-right cabinet’s insistence on pushing ahead with its controversial judicial overhaul plan, to silence the Israeli judiciary, has put the regime on the path to collapse.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks in a speech on Monday after Israel’s Knesset (parliament) approved a key part of the hugely unpopular plan that is spearheaded by the regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘Today, as some people say, has been the worst day in the history of the Zionist regime,’ Nasrallah said, adding: ‘This is what puts it on the path of collapse, fragmentation and disappearance, God willing.’
He noted that since 2000, when the resistance front defeated Israel for the second time after its first defeat in 1985, the notion of the regime’s invincibility started to change in the Arab world.
‘Therefore, Israeli settlers have been facing a cascade of crises since that time, and today, we see that it is on the path toward collapse,’ Nasrallah said.
The bill approved by the Israeli lawmakers prevents the regime’s Supreme Court from striking down the extremist cabinet’s decisions if it deems them to be ‘unreasonable.’ It is part of a broader scheme that Netanyahu announced in January as means of supposedly curbing what he called decades of undue political interference by judges.
Netanyahu’s opponents however, say the so-called reforms would hand over unbridled powers to the politicians. They also accuse Netanyahu, who is on trial on several counts of corruption charges, of trying to use the scheme to quash possible judgments against him.
The crisis resulting from the Israeli cabinet’s effort to have the Knesset ratify the scheme has prompted massive weekly protests and mass strikes across the occupied territories. Many protests have been violently attacked by the agencies of the Zionist state, creating for the first time a situation where Israeli workers can see that their enemy is at home – and it is the Zionist ruling class.
On Monday, the rallies raged on as the Knesset was debating the changes. Footage emerging from the demonstrations showed the Zionist regime’s forces dragging away Israeli protesters who had chained themselves to posts in the occupied city of Jerusalem and blocked the road outside the Knesset.
The developing crisis has shaken the Zionist military down to its core.
Thousands of volunteer reservists vowed not to report for duty if the cabinet continued with the plan, as it has. This has prompted warnings by some current and former military officials that Israel’s war readiness could be at risk, and it would be unable to fight another war on behalf of the imperialist powers.
Last Thursday, the former head of Israel’s so-called internal security service, Shin Bet, warned that the occupied territories are on the brink of ‘civil war’ as Netanyahu’s extremist cabinet presses ahead with its radical and destructive policies.
Ex-Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman set the alarm bells ringing as he expressed support for the Israeli military reservists who threatened to stop showing up for duty. Describing Netanyahu’s overhaul scheme as a ‘regime coup’, Argaman said: ‘I am certain that if the legislation passes, there will be those who say: “We will not be part of the security force of a dictatorship”. We’ll see people leaving; we’ll see a fraying.’
Pointing to the months-long protests against the so-called overhaul plan in the occupied territories, Argaman added: ‘Any legislation that does not have a broad consensus will lead…Israel to chaos … I am fearful for … Israel. I greatly fear that we are on the brink of civil war.’
Tel Aviv’s main share indices tumbled as much as 2.5 per cent following the vote in the Knesset, while the regime’s currency, the shekel, slid one per cent against the dollar.
Opposition leaders have pledged to challenge the bill, while the head of a major labour federation threatened to declare a general strike if Netanyahu’s cabinet pursues ‘unilateral’ measures.
Now is the time for the Palestinians to step up their struggle for one state, the Socialist State of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital and in which Arab and Jewish workers can live side by side in peace and harmony!
