“Twenty-four weeks into the Israeli debate about the proposed judicial reform plan that seeks to reshape the very nature and identity of the country, and amidst the most robust protest movement in Israel’s history, we are confronting two fears: Our first fear is that the larger judicial reform as initially proposed by this coalition will pass in whole or in part, endangering Israeli democracy and the vulnerable minorities who stand to suffer as a result of these changes. At stake is nothing less than the meaning of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and the power of its state institutions to preserve human rights and minority rights.

But our second fear is that some dangerous overreaches in aspects of the protest movement in Israel and America will cause irreparable damage to our society and to our people in the pursuit of justice. We fear for whether the State of Israel and the Jewish people can engage in these debates in ways that will not leave permanent scars; and whether the battle for democracy can be engaged in ways that are consistent with democratic values. Great debates can be a badge of honor to an evolving society, or they can take down the society in the process.”

Read the complete op-ed on Times of Israel