Netanyahu faces huge climbdown or chaos

With his sacked defence minister and the president of Israel and President Biden calling for him to stop hurling the country imto chaos with his wild anti-judges legislation, Binyamin Netanyahu has reached a point where he will surely have to back down. Big time. But if he does and shelves or scraps the planned legislation to neuter the Israeli supreme court, will he survive politically? The problem for Netanyahu is that he faces corruption charges from way back and this is at the front of his mind as he tries to try to immasculate the judges. He is digging himself into a hole from which there will be no means of extraction. He has been leader of Israel for so long, off and on, that the country has become synonymous with his style of tough politics, both at home and abroad. But his coalition bedfellows are much much more extreme than he is and they are the driving force behind the confrontation that has caused such massive disruption throughout Israel. Washington will be worried for a number of reasons. Israel is an important ally. Sharing the same democratic values is part of that partnership. But with this proposed legislation, Netanyahu's government is giving itself greater power and ensuring weaker accountability. Israel is a tiny country and right now its towns and cities are packed with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. They say they are fighting for democracy. Supressing the protesters will not only lead to increased violence but will also damage Israel's reputation and image around the world. Israel's enemies will be watching with pleasure.