The leftist anarchists are very depressed lately. What haven't they done to damage the Israeli economy?
They have badmouthed Israel all over the world. They have declared that Israel is becoming a dictatorship and whoever invests in it will lose his money. They have tried to get the international credit-rating companies to lower Israel's credit. They have told everyone to send their money away. They even got into the White House to enlist Joe Biden for their cause.
On the day after the Reasonableness law passed, things looked good for them. The Tel Aviv stock exchange (TASE) fell, the shekel fell and it looked like their predictions of catastrophe were coming true.
But sooner than not, things changed. Investors realized that there is no direct connection between business and this sort of politics. Those who invest in China and Thailand or Singapore — countries that do not excel in their democratic governments — have no reason not to invest in Israel, as long as it is stable. So the Tel Aviv bourse recovered.
Writing in De Mercure, analyst Gur Megiddo admitted that the economic tsunami that the opponents of the reform predicted and hoped for, had not materialized which gave a tailwind to the government in its reform efforts. Megiddo wrote, "In recent weeks it seemed that the White House is prepared to do a lot to prevent the judicial revolution. Even the faithful journalist close to Biden, Thomas Friedman, promised that the relationship with Israel would be `reevaluated.' In some studios they even speculated that they might use the `doomsday weapon' — cutting or stopping American security support for Israel. But at the moment of truth, all of this mountain of prediction did not even give birth to a mouse. The first stage of the judicial reform was complete, and the White House just issued a statement saying that the legislation was `saddening.'
"Some expected that the collapse of the stock market, or the shekel, or Israel's credit rating would force the government onto the right path. Those predictions were not totally off, just exaggerated in their expected effects. The TASE did fall one day, though it recovered the next. Moody's published a tough assessment of the situation, but left the credit rating unchanged. The sad truth is that the connection between economic growth and democratic institutions is not as strong as we would like to think. Just think about countries like china, or Saudi Arabia, or Singapore. There is no lack of flourishing dictatorships.
"The main consequence of the reform, if it is completed, will not be felt for many years. It will be felt when doctors and scientists start to leave, one by one and quietly, looking for the good life someplace else. Or when new startups start to incorporate in Delaware, or in any place that is not Israel... But by the time this happens it will be too late. We cannot count on outside pressures saving Israel. We have to do it ourselves."
Megiddo closes with an appeal to the High court. "The struggle is not yet over. There will be court suits against the law of reasonableness. It may be the last change of Chayut to fix things."
It is pretty clear that their conception of democracy is the way it has been happening: The government deliberates, the Knesset decides, and then the Court does whatever it feels like doing.
