Longtime Israel backers in US turn outraged critics — but Biden administration remains distant
WASHINGTON — With massive street protests, a mutiny by elite military reserve officers and outrage from diplomats, academics and former officials, Israel seems steeped in epic crisis.
Shock waves over radical plans by the new right-wing Israeli government are also cascading thunderously in the U.S., alienating Jewish Americans while raising questions about the Biden administration's ability — or willingness — to confront the troubles.
Israel's figurehead President Isaac Herzog warned bluntly of civil war.
"The abyss is within touching distance," Herzog said last week, making the bleak assessment after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a proposed compromise over his coalition's efforts to weaken the Israeli Supreme Court and national judiciary.
Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, wants to subjugate judges to politicians and make it easier for members of the Knesset, or parliament, to overturn court decisions. But the debate now goes much deeper than the judiciary to the essence of democracy itself, critics say.
"This is not just a political crisis; this is an
