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How the Bible anticipated Israel’s fight over the judiciary
(JTA) — For those following the judicial reform crisis in Israel, this week’s Torah portion is almost too on the nose.
For months now, Israel has been convulsed by protests in response to a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “reform” Israel’s Supreme Court by stripping it of much of its powers of oversight and shifting the balance of power heavily in favor of the legislature. Defenders of the reform call it a corrective measure meant to rein in a high court that too often flouts the will of the democratically elected Knesset. Critics see it as an assault on democracy — particularly in removing the checks and balances that are the hallmarks of Western democracy — and even on biblical principles.
Many of those principles are found in Parashat Shoftim, part of a long section of legal instructions given by Moses to the people of Israel. Among other things, it sets up three seats of power: a king, a judiciary and a sort of proto-legislature.
Here’s what Moses says about the judiciary in the first words of the portion: “You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.”
The executive branch comes next. The people are given permission to set a king over themselves, “one chosen by your God.” Not exactly a democracy, but there is at least a presumption that the people can decide if they want a king in the first place.
The portion doesn’t explicitly describe what we would call a legislature or elected body of lawmakers, but various commentators say it is implied by the creation of a priestly class. Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman notes that the priests were “a legislature of sorts,” who could interpret old laws to derive new ones, much as the rabbis of the Talmud would derive new laws based on biblical precedents.
This is the three-legged stool described in Shoftim: an independent judiciary, a divinely sanctioned king and a class of lawmakers. And because the portion is keenly aware of the potential for the abuse of power, it immediately puts limitations on all three.
“You shall not judge unfairly,” the magistrates and officials are told. “You shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just.”
The king can’t keep a stable of horses, a harem of wives or a trove of silver and gold, all marks of privilege that suggest a ruler is out of touch with his people. And perhaps most importantly, he can’t sit on his throne without a copy of the Torah close by — a reminder that a king’s authority derives from somewhere beyond and higher than himself. The Torah also is the moral and legal foundation of the society, and accessible to all. “It is this Torah which reminds him that, even though he is a king with tremendous power over others, underneath his robes he is just a human being who struggles like every human being to gain and maintain control over himself,” writes Hadar’s Dena Weiss.
The priests too are constrained. Their whole tribe, Levi, is the only one not given a territory within Israel, and is essentially supported by a system of tithes imposed on the other tribes. This has always reminded me of the decision to put the U.S. capital in its own district: The founders worried that, if placed in one of the states, the federal government “might be insulted and its proceedings interrupted with impunity,” as James Madison put it.
Judaism, wrote the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “is an argument for the limitation, secularization and transformation of power.” The genius of this week’s portions lies in a sort of pragmatic cynicism: It understands how power corrupts, how easily judges might be swayed, how kings might put self-interest ahead of the will of the people, how lawmakers are vulnerable to special interests. It not only sets up a system of checks and balances, but reminds all of the stakeholders that they answer to a higher authority. The Torah calls it God. The American system invokes “the consent of the governed.” “Consequentialists” derive it from the “common good” or “moral values.”
You should probably be wary of relying on the Bible as a guide to contemporary politics. You can probably find evidence for any political idea or decision in its pages, and plenty of people have. And the fight over the judiciary is in part a fight to keep the state more secular and less religious.
But as a piece of political wisdom, Shoftim is hard to beat.
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The post How the Bible anticipated Israel’s fight over the judiciary appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.