The writer is a professor at George Mason University and the author of ‘Democratic Drain: Global Migration and the Struggle for Democracy’’
Before the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants on October 7 2023, Iran’s then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had asserted that Israel would not survive the next 25 years. He was not telegraphing the murderous assault from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. He was anticipating something much slower and less visible: the steady departure of Israeli citizens disenchanted with their country’s political trajectory.
The remarks came after months of protests against reforms to Israel’s judiciary proposed by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The laws would have undermined the Supreme Court’s power to check government excesses while giving politicians greater sway over judicial appointments. The proposals sparked fury and mass demonstrations across Israel for months.