Israel is currently experiencing severe political tensions, the worst since its independence, which has severely polarized the population and has the potential to boil over and turn violent. The tensions erupted after the newly appointed justice minister, Yariv Levin, a vocal critic of the Supreme Court, unveiled the newly created government “reform” of the judicial system. If passed, the plan will give the government-- the most ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox in the nation’s history--a total control over the appointment of judges, including Supreme Court justices, which will severely limit the Supreme Court ability to strike down self-determining legislation. The plan will also allow the 120-seat parliament (Knesset) to pass laws that the supreme court has annulled as unconstitutional by override the supreme court decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes.