OPINION:
Over the last century and a half, the Hebrew word “chutzpah” has become an integral part of the American vernacular. This colorful word has a variety of meanings, but most significantly, it denotes audacity, laced with a strongly negative connotation. Chutzpah is audacity buttressed by hypocrisy.
Many descriptions of chutzpah exist, but the most common is of the young man who, having murdered both of his parents, throws himself on the mercy of the court on the grounds that he is an orphan.
Chutzpah is draped with a kind of infuriating cynicism. Usually, those familiar with the word will ascribe it to an act of unmitigated gall.
With the abundance of definitions, we hardly needed a new one. However, we have just been given one.
The left-wing establishment, which has for some time now set its sights on demonizing Israel, has found a new vehicle with which to castigate the only democracy in the Middle East. And it is doing so with unparalleled cynicism.
Israel, a nation in which political opinions are as numerous as its population, is in the throes of a vigorous debate regarding the role of its supreme court.
Finally, after four elections in the space of just two years, Israelis gave a parliamentary majority to a right-wing coalition headed by longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister, in keeping with the tendencies of his coalition, determined that the role of the Israeli Supreme Court needed to be altered.
Israel does not have a constitution. It was originally intended that the state would have such a constitution, but divergent opinions among the citizenry made it impossible to reach a consensus.
As a consequence, Israel’s legal system functions on the basis of a set of so-called basic laws that define the contours of its governing arrangement.
Over the last several decades, the Israeli Supreme Court, which was initially intended as a final arbiter of criminal and civil matters, has steadily developed into the ultimate arbiter of the “constitutionality” of laws passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Increasingly, its decisions have thwarted the legislative decisions of the Knesset, thus often flouting the will of the elected representatives.
Mr. Netanyahu and his coalition therefore determined to institute some changes that would make the high court less able to overturn any law with which its self-perpetuating members disagreed. Relying upon its parliamentary majority, Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party and its allies have proposed some significant changes that would make the Israeli Supreme Court more like our own Supreme Court.
Not surprisingly, left-wing groups sprang into action and began demonstrating in opposition to the proposed reforms. These demonstrations have been carried out in the long tradition of dissent in Israel.
It did not take long, however, for American Democrats to jump on the bandwagon of opposition to the Israeli Supreme Court reforms. In a thinly veiled effort to placate the radical progressives of the Democratic Party, who are fundamentally opposed to the very existence of Israel, a number of Democrats have seized upon this dispute in the name of preserving Israeli democracy as a means of hammering Israel and providing succor to “the Squad” and its supporters.
President Biden, with his usual eloquence and clarity, castigated Israel’s duly elected government for attempting to institute reforms it had actually promised during its electoral campaign.
He has accused the democratically elected Netanyahu government of being “extreme,” echoing his accusations against supporters of former President Donald Trump. But there was particular irony to Mr. Biden’s opposition.
After all, it was Mr. Biden who, fearful that the U.S. Supreme Court might issue rulings with which he disagreed, repeatedly threatened to increase the number of justices so that he could pack the court with justices favorable to his point of view. He even convened a commission to study methods for increasing the size of the Supreme Court and publicly ruminated about methods for doing so.
Other Democrats have also not hesitated to assail the Supreme Court and call for reforms. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer notoriously threatened certain members of the Supreme Court if they issued a decision with which he disagrees.
He famously suggested that the Supreme Court would reap the “whirlwind” if it chose to overturn Roe v. Wade. Democrats did not seem particularly disturbed by these threats.
Of course, the most significant statement made by the president in his continuing attacks on the Supreme Court occurred when the court issued its decision against the use of race as a factor in college admissions. Mr. Biden, in response to a reporter’s question, described the Supreme Court as “not normal,” thereby suggesting that the court is in line for reform to make it “normal.”
There is profound irony in watching the Democrats flail against the Supreme Court but voice endless objections to a duly elected government in Israel seeking to institute reforms to its own supreme court. The hypocrisy transcends mere irony and is elevated to a new form of chutzpah — supreme chutzpah, if you will.
Instead of relying on the old story of the young murderer, when defining chutzpah we can now call to mind the comportment of the Democratic Party and Mr. Biden, in castigating a democratically elected foreign government for seeking to do precisely what the elected members of that government have been advocating for a number of years.
Unfortunately, in light of the endless cynicism from Mr. Biden and his allies, it seems likely that we can look forward to plenty more examples of chutzpah as we enter our presidential election season.
• Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington office of a national law firm. His book, “Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights During the French Revolution,” was published by HUC Press last year.
