Demonstrating for Democracy: Israelis Are Ready!

By Asif Efrat

As the war subsides, the struggle for Israeli democracy is resuming with full force in an attempt to thwart a series of initiatives being promoted by the government: from splitting and weakening the office of the Attorney General, through closing media outlets or undermining their independence, to a law allowing draft evasion. In the previous round of the struggle for democracy in 2023, many Israelis took to the streets and flooded the country with an unprecedented wave of protest – a protest that largely succeeded in slowing down the judicial reform promoted by the government. But then came the war, leaving Israelis exhausted. Do they have the strength and determination to mobilize again for the struggle for democracy? Will they once again join hands and stand firm against the attempt to weaken the institutions, rights, and values that form the foundation of the democratic system?

The Institute for Liberty and Responsibility examined this question through a public opinion survey conducted on November 9-11 among a representative sample of 806 respondents (654 Jews and 152 Arabs). In this survey, we first asked: Did you support or oppose the demonstrations against the judicial reform in 2023? We found that about one-third of Israelis – 34% – now report that they supported the demonstrations against the reform, which was perceived as the government's attempt to take control of one of the pillars of Israeli democracy.

And what about resuming the struggle against the weakening of democracy today? According to our data, 44% of Israelis – almost half the public! – believe that demonstrations should be renewed against the threat to democracy. The significant support for resuming the demonstrations indicates that many in the public recognize the process of erosion of Israeli democracy, see the government as responsible for this process, and are determined to stop it. As expected, most opposition voters believe that the demonstrations should be renewed, but concern for the future of Israeli democracy is not limited to the opposition camp: even a small portion of coalition voters look with concern at the government's initiatives and believe the time has come to protest again.

Of course, principled support for demonstrations does not necessarily translate into active participation in them. Many people may identify with the purpose of a demonstration but, due to personal constraints or other reasons, choose not to participate. Therefore, we asked those who declared they support resuming the demonstrations against the government: Will you participate in them? Almost half of those in favor of resuming the demonstrations – 46% – said they would indeed take part in them. Let's translate this into numbers: approximately 1,300,000 Israelis are currently prepared to go out and demonstrate against a government seeking to undermine democracy! This is an enormous number of potential protesters who can generate the public pressure needed to halt the government's initiatives.

We then asked those who express support for holding the demonstrations but will not participate in them to explain: Why won't they demonstrate despite their principled support for the protests? Some people raised personal constraints: age difficulties or medical problems, lack of time, transportation difficulty in getting to the demonstration site, or employment in civil service. But there were those who raised other reasons for unwillingness to demonstrate: a sense of despair; lack of faith in the usefulness of the demonstrations and their impact ("I express my position at the ballot box, the demonstrations are not effective" or "the government doesn't really care about the demonstrations"); and fear of arrest or police violence. A considerable number of people noted that they, in general, do not participate in demonstrations or that they feel uncomfortable at such events.

Personal constraints can prevent people from attending a demonstration. But the darkening skies over Israeli democracy require us to set aside other considerations against demonstrating. There is no place for a sense of despair or "disconnect" from demonstrations when our democracy is crumbling before our eyes. The same applies to concerns about lack of effectiveness. The demonstrations against the reform in 2023, and with them the demonstrations during the war for the return of the hostages, clearly showed: mass protest creates pressure that may ultimately influence decision-makers and change political reality. At this time, it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to contribute to the defense of the democratic system, and demonstrations are an important tool in this struggle. Even if participation in demonstrations involves effort, it is a vital effort that we must make.

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Prof. Asif Efrat is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Liberty and Responsibility at Reichman University