8 | APRIL 6 • 2023 

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 10

statement from Serling Institute

Serling Institute Supports 
Israeli Democracy
T

he Serling Institute 
for Jewish Studies 
and Modern Israel 
at Michigan State University 
supports Israel’s democracy 
and stands with those who 
were peacefully protesting 
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 
efforts to pass legislation that 
will eliminate the ability of the 
High Court to act as a check 
on the government. 
We stand with those many 
groups and individuals from 
Israeli civil society and state 
institutions who are calling for 
a stop to the judicial overhaul 
proposals. We stand with the 

several hundred thousand 
Israelis peacefully protesting 
for the past three months 
against the government’s 
efforts to weaken Israeli 
democracy. We stand with the 
leaders of Israeli universities 
and colleges who officially 
oppose “the continuation of 
the legislative process that 
undermines the foundations 
of Israeli democracy and 
endangers its continued 
existence.” 
We join with the 
Association of Israel 
Studies in “view[ing] with 
grave concern the recent 

developments in Israel, 
including the looming 
changes in the state’s political 
and legal system and the 
growing support for racism 
and incitement. As an 
academic association, we are 
committed to intellectual 
integrity and academic 
freedom — necessary 
foundations for any healthy 
and free society — and to the 
values of freedom, equality 
and pluralism, which must 
exclude any discrimination on 
the basis of religion, ethnicity 
or gender. We believe that 
all efforts should be made 

to ensure that the rights and 
responsibilities upon which 
freedom of expression and 
the free exchange of ideas 
are based, and the checks 
and balances that are the 
underpinning of democracy 
— the precondition for free 
academic discourse — will 
continue to flourish in the 
academic study of Israel, 
in Israeli society and in the 
Israeli body politic. 

The Michael and Elaine Serling Institute 

for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel 

recently celebrated the 30th anniver-

sary of the Jewish Studies Program 

at MSU.

opinion
A Miraculous Display 
of Civil Heroism
T

he throat chokes up 
with a mix of anxiety 
and pride. We’ve heard 
a lot about the anxiety. Here 
I’
d like to emphasize the pride: 
a people arose 
from its peace-
ful and relaxed 
day-to-day life 
and went out to 
fight for its spirit 
and its future. 
Without political 
organization, 
without personal interests, 
without qualms, crowds rallied 
to restore to the people what 
belongs to them: the ability to 
defend their freedom against a 
potentially predatory majority 
rule. 

In view of the danger that 
the Leviathan — the executive 
branch — will take over the 
judicial branch, Israeli citizens 
are forging an impenetrable 
defensive wall with their own 
bodies. The Israeli center 
understands that only it — you 
and I and every Israeli patri-
ot — can get the state and our 
society out of the emergency 
room into which it was thrown, 
battered and bloody. 
How much power there is in 
nonviolent civil disobedience! 
Hundreds of thousands have 
taken to our streets in the spirit 
of Gandhi and King, their only 
weapons flags, signs, mega-
phones and a general strike. 
Facing them is a responsible, 

mature, controlled police force 
that knows that its role in the 
national drama is limited and 
marginal. Not government-dis-
patched thugs, but rather keep-
ers of the public order, with 
good intentions. Even more 
reason to be proud. 
The transfer of Israeli society 
from the emergency room to a 
regular ward, and later to rehab, 

should be measured. A halt to 
the aggressive legislative effort 
must not be construed as the 
victory of half the people over 
the other half. Nor should it 
be regarded as a capitulation 
to military service refusal — 
even “gray refusal.
” The protest 
movement must rise above a 
Rothman-Levin maneuver that 
seeks to aggressively vanquish 

Israelis protest outside the Knesset government’s planned judicial 
overhaul, in Jerusalem on March 27, 2023 

Yedidia Stern
Times of 
Israel

ERIK MARMOR/FLASH90

