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I Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
srael Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and his right-wing allies
in the Knesset are pushing a law that
would allow the Knesset to override
Supreme Court rulings. The members
of Israel’s legislative branch would just
have to reintroduce a proposal and give
it majority approval (61 votes).

This proposal is widely seen as
protection for Netanyahu against
corruption charges and a way to
expand the powers of the Rabbinical
Court in the Jewish state.

But more than a quarter of Israel’s
population is not Jewish, and more
than 20% of Israelis are Arab. Israel
may be the Jewish state, but it is also a
multicultural democracy.

In response to the Knesset’s proposal,
hundreds of thousands of Israelis have
taken to the streets in protest in recent
months. Israel President Isaac Herzog
has voiced his opposition.

Some of Israel’s biggest tech compa-
nies, like the software company
Riskifi ed and the cybersecurity fi rm Wiz,
announced plans to divest from the
country. Jewish New York Times colum-
nist Thomas Friedman, a longtime
documenter of Israel, called this “the
biggest internal clash” since Israel’s
founding after World War II. He also
wrote, in the same March 7 column,
that for American Jewish leaders, “To
stay silent about this fi ght is to become
Lehigh University Hillel Co-President Zach Weiser said it’s important
to support Israel even when you do not agree with the actions of its
government. Courtesy of Zach Weiser
Local College Students Comment on
Israel Situation
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MARCH 16, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
irrelevant.” But what about the next genera-
tion of Jewish leaders? The Jewish
Exponent tried to fi nd some on
campuses in the region to hear what
they think. No one expressed support
for Netanyahu and the Knesset’s
proposal. But a sampling of student
leaders said that, even if the proposal
passes into law, they would continue
to support Israel.

“I can compare it to any other
organization I support, even the U.S. I
defi nitely don’t agree with everything
the United States does as a govern-
ment. It doesn’t mean I want to have
a coup and leave the U.S. and not
support it anymore,” said Zach Weiser,
a Lehigh University sophomore and
the co-president of the school’s Hillel
chapter. “I don’t think it’s fair to hold
another country to that standard
that we wouldn’t even hold our own
country to.”
Miriam Alster/Flash90 via JTA
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