On Independence Day Israel is ripping itself apart

As Israel celebrated the 75th anniversary of its independence a year ago, it seemed to many, including this newspaper, that the most immediate threats to its prosperity, stability and security came from within. A new government, in which far-right and religious nationalist parties held sway, had launched a radical constitutional overhaul, aimed at dramatically weakening the independent Supreme Court. The proposed reforms brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis out on the streets in bitter protests against what they saw as the dangerous erosion of their country’s democratic foundations.