> > View this email in your browser >> <https://us.list-manage.com/XaGAW9hzDib?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=9QVScE7nHSt_WQCD6gKu_7zyQD_gSzeAA_CJ4LK3KQH7IcPLbjQxo-mCrngU> >> >> <https://us.list-manage.com/1CJGobQPUU8?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=emAgQcYRwbKCXY5_NkDXLGjeT_P4Uc56UtNZ2SRQpNKc8sd4jnxA2NiyXx4H> >> SUPPORT >> US >> <https://us.list-manage.com/azNPqOXlhKt?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=9SglnsCBu-iEXJjqukLMlHPENPioQyXIgkkVV7wy0qbQ78pjaPJP28xvH5kL> >> >> August 18, 2026 >> [image: Amos Brison] >> <https://us.list-manage.com/cGX02ynzR3z?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=zlLWG4XA5VFBRi9njaYYOF_d9NQvzD_v8DC89J2fprOtYpojFUUYMBkT917q> >> Amos Brison >> Editor >> >> What four years of far-right rule has done to Israel >> >> What is the value of discussing threats to democratic institutions in a >> country that isn’t a democracy in the first place? >> >> I kept coming back to this question while preparing for my discussion >> with Noa Sattath, executive director of the Association for Civil Rights in >> Israel (ACRI) on The +972 Podcast. For the past four years, Benjamin >> Netanyahu and his far-right allies have waged an unprecedented assault on >> Israel’s courts, the attorney general, the media, and other institutions >> commonly described as the “gatekeepers” of Israeli democracy. And yet these >> same institutions have, for decades, played a direct role in maintaining >> Israeli apartheid and occupation. >> >> Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara became the face of institutional >> opposition to Netanyahu’s efforts to weaken the judiciary, while also >> advising the government’s security cabinet on international law amid the >> military’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, >> rejected a petition by the ACRI and other human rights groups challenging >> Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza. And nearly all of the >> mainstream Israeli media embraced and fueled the spirit of revenge that has >> gripped much of the Israeli public since October 7, while keeping >> Palestinian suffering off television and phone screens. >> >> As I was interviewing Sattath, I discovered that she shared much of this >> uneasiness. “We think it’s very hard to call a place where 5 million people >> don’t have a vote a democracy,” she told me. >> [image: What is the value of discussing threats to democratic >> institutions in a country that isn’t a democracy in the first place?] >> <https://us.list-manage.com/azP8s_bwxll?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=GLSGrfZD50T0IE0mZ8_FZ4fFOy56uJnoSgUAvUnta6pmPoA2ZzOM90SzbFek> >> >> >> Her position is not to pretend that these institutions are something they >> are not, but neither is it to abandon them. Even though the Supreme Court >> has repeatedly failed Palestinians, it remains an avenue through which >> rights organizations can occasionally force the state to change its >> policies and materially improve people’s lives. ACRI’s approach, as she put >> it, is to “protect the institutions that we have and then to expand them,” >> while remaining clear-eyed about how deeply flawed they are. >> >> Over the past few years, ACRI litigation helped shut down the notorious >> military detention center at Sde Teiman, where Palestinians from Gaza had >> been held amid reports of horrific abuse. It fought the Education Ministry >> until the Parents Circle–Families Forum, which brings together bereaved >> Israelis and Palestinians, was allowed back into Israeli schools. And its >> work helped restore transportation for children with disabilities in East >> Jerusalem, affecting some 15,000 families. >> >> None of these victories redeem the institutions through which they were >> achieved. They certainly do not transform Israel into a democracy — and >> there is a very real danger that such victories function as a fig leaf for >> a regime of apartheid and Jewish supremacy. But they do make the lives of >> actual people less unbearable. >> >> By the end of our conversation, I realized that the question is not >> whether Israel’s democratic institutions deserve to be defended. It is >> whether the limited restraints they place on state power, and the space >> they preserve for resistance to it, are worth fighting for. If abandoning >> them means both greater violence against the most vulnerable and fewer >> tools with which to oppose it, Sattath’s perspective becomes much harder to >> dismiss. >> >> I hope you enjoy my conversation with Noa Sattath, and subscribe to The >> +972 Podcast wherever you listen. >> [image: What four years of far-right rule has done to Israel] >> <https://us.list-manage.com/_8SdKzw4P9g?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=Jh0rcFJzs9LWRDxMlB43QF6VG4fl68Vxuvu2brBT7wClp7WpmZGkdjSVQxOU> >> >> <https://us.list-manage.com/bG9279YNOGP?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=P1Oiy18UGrKdIgh4jAW2CdugJOff-LJ704JL1ME1O-BxktqxYs9vxmtVgmmQ> >> [image: >> facebook.png] >> <https://us.list-manage.com/EsrWjbjfOBw?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=NLp7QuYmwCtIXJDg8IyLLj1iuVMnS3rQR-zLKHGj2LInxO9h6Hx8NE5IXpeR> >> [image: >> twitter.png] >> <https://us.list-manage.com/CDL_GlKWFsW?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=jZkLCs4hTPXozDIo8vNlvRz6cJKHEeQD_FjwjlnwIXWY5rFuiEL2hybVwMEz> >> [image: >> instagram.png] >> <https://us.list-manage.com/gf0D8r6XLcT?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=TIG6oa_6EfxAo67C8lvwQFHh4e1Ea6Zy7ftmfzNOwiR1Iy0TEU1BBGh2Q4gy> >> >> About >> <https://us.list-manage.com/17W0iM8lowZ?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=go-NhC3v_3KgvGUuuACiUJ731yxjF5NBdrIksnKBzwDx5Cv5K-WuXB4U2i_g> >> | Privacy Policy >> <https://us.list-manage.com/4wq3sLKy_cF?e=dab5c3fd19&c2id=a178d82195f59067694740f8593e3b60&m=4qJqeZu-iN1zp4ZpEOhDz8AmjC2k7nrilVUV1KF6NtFfp24ByVfT0XS_7bEN> >> | Unsubscribe >> <https://972mag.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=0bd5641159488ecfed79ba6ca&id=f1fe821d25&t=b&e=dab5c3fd19&c=6cdebac579> >> +972 Magazine is an independent, non-profit media initiative, supported >> largely by our readers. >> © 2026 +972 Magazine. 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