Israelis love nothing more than an argument. Give us a constitutional dispute, a Supreme Court ruling, or a disagreement over the powers of the Attorney General, and suddenly millions of amateur lawyers emerge overnight. Social media fills with detailed legal analyses, television studios become makeshift courts, and everyone is convinced they understand every clause, precedent, and legal doctrine involved that until yesterday, they had never heard of.

The reality is that most Israelis have no idea about the finer points of constitutional law. And that’s perfectly okay as most of us are not lawyers, nor should we pretend to be. Legal arguments do matter, but they are not where the real battle is being fought. In fact, obsessing over legal technicalities risks missing the much bigger story unfolding before our eyes. Despite what many commentators insist, Israel is not facing a legal crisis. Nor, strictly speaking, is it facing a constitutional crisis, particularly given that Israel doesn’t have a constitution which, of course, is part of the problem.

Former Chief Justice Aharon Barak ruled that Israel’s Basic Laws should be treated as a de facto constitution, fundamentally changing the relationship between the judiciary and the political system. Whether that constitutional revolution was justified, and whether future governments have the authority to reshape those Basic Laws, is an important debate. But that is a discussion for another day. The real story unfolding before us is much simpler.

Israel is witnessing a political battle between three........

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