>> HE'S NOT A TROTSKY-ITE. HUGE REVEAL. >>> TURNING TO ISRAEL. DESPITE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ENGAGED IN MASS PROTESTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND IN JERUSALEM SPECIFICALLY, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SUCCESSFULLY PASSED AN OVERHAUL OF THE COUNTRY'S SUPREME COURT YESTERDAY. NBC NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT RAF SANCHEZ HAS THE LATEST. >> Reporter: THE STREETS OF ISRAEL ERUPTING INTO CHAOS. PROTESTERS BLOCKING MAJOR ROADS, CHAINING THEMSELVES TOGETHER IN FRONT OF THE COUNTRY'S PARLIAMENT. A LAST-DITCH EFFORT BY OPPONENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT'S CONTROVERSIAL PLAN TO WEAKEN THE SUPREME COURT. BUT IT WASN'T ENOUGH. ISRAELI POLICE ARE USING WATER CANNONS TO CLEAR THE ROADS. THEY'RE TRACKING DOWN HARD, BUT THE PROTESTERS SAY THEY'LL STAY ON THE STREETS. THREE INJURIES WITH A CAR RAMMING. THE OVERHAUL PASSING 64-5. THE CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS GOVERNMENT VOTING FOR IT, WHILE OPPOSITION LAWMAKERS WALKED OUT IN PROTEST. THE PLAN TAKES AWAY THE SUPREME COURT'S POWER TO NULLIFY SOME GOVERNMENT DECISIONS. NETANYAHU ALLIES SAY LIBERAL JUDGES HAD BEEN INCORRECTLY OVERTURNING ACTIONS OF THE CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY. NETANYAHU SAYING, "FULFILLING THE WILL OF THE VOTERS IS NOT THE END OF DEMOCRACY. IT'S THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY." BUT OPPONENTS OF THE PLAN SAY THEY'RE AFRAID FOR THEIR COUNTRY. >> I'M WORRIED ABOUT MY FUTURE, MY CHILDREN'S FUTURE. >> Reporter: THESE MILITARY RESERVISTS SAY THEY'LL NO LONGER SERVE IN PROTEST OF THE NEW LAW. SOME OF THEM VETERANS OF NETANYAHU'S OLD COMMANDO COMMUNITY. >> I THINK HE IS THE FIRST DICTATOR OF ISRAEL. >> DAVID REMNICK, IN YOUR PIECE, "IN ISRAEL, A GLIMPSE OF A TRUMPIAN FUTURE." YOU WRITE, DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR? A CYNICAL AND SELF-ADMIRING POLITICIAN FINDS HIMSELF CONFRONTING THE LEGAL CONSCIENCE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS OWN MISDEEDS. TO DEFEND HIMSELF OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS ACTS, HE DOESN'T HIRE LAWYERS, HE TRIES TO STAY IN POWER. AND TO OBTAIN POWER, HE IS WILLING TO DEEPEN AND INFLAME THE WORST TRIBAL CONFLICTS THIS HIS COUNTRY. HE'S WILLING TO UNDERMINE THE RULE OF LAW. TO FIND COMMON CAUSE WITH THE HATEFUL VOICES IN SOCIETY AND PLACE THEM BY HIS SIDE. THE EAGERNESS TO PUT SELF-BEFORE COUNTRY, OF COURSE, IS THE COMMON THREAD BETWEEN TWO PROFOUNDLY UNPRINCIPLED POLITICIANS, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AND DONALD TRUMP. WRITES DAVID REMNICK IN "THE NEW YORKER." DAVID, IF YOU CAN SPEAK TO JUST HOW EXTRAORDINARY THIS MOMENT IN ISRAEL IS AND WHY IT IS AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY, AND I THINK YOU LAY OUT WELL THE PARALLEL BETWEEN THE TWO LEADERS. >> YEAH, IN ITS 75 YEAR HISTORY AS A STATE, ISRAEL HAS FACED NO SHORTAGE OF CRISES, PARTICULARLY IN CONFLICT WITH THE PALESTINIANS AND MANY WARS OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME. YET, YESTERDAY, I WAS GETTING CALLS FROM FRIENDS IN ISRAEL TELLING ME THIS IS THE WORST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF THE STATE. BECAUSE IN THEIR VIEW, AND OBVIOUSLY THIS IS THE LIBERAL VIEW, ONE-HALF OF SOCIETY'S VIEW, THAT THE CONSTITUTION -- THERE IS NO CONSTITUTION IN ISRAEL, BUT DEMOCRATIC NORMS ARE BEING UNDERMINED. TRIBALISM IS BEING DEEPENED. THE BALANCES OF POWER, WHICH EXIST ONLY MINIMALLY IN ISRAEL, ARE BEING ERODED BY THIS ACT. AND THIS ACT IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP IN A FURTHER EROSION OF A DEMOCRATIC ISRAEL. NOW, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A FULLY DEMOCRATIC ISRAEL WITHOUT RESOLVING, IN MY VIEW, THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION, BUT ALL DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES HAVE LINGERING CRISES, TOO. CERTAINLY WE DO. BUT TO SEE SOCIETY DIVIDED TO THIS DEGREE, TO SEE HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ON THE STREET, NOT JUST ONCE OR TWICE BUT FOR THE LAST 29 WEEKS, TO SEE MILITARY RESERVISTS, INCLUDING AIR FORCE PILOTS WHO ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE PROTECTORS, THE GRANTORS OF ISRAEL'S EXISTENCE, SAY THEY WILL REFUSE TO SERVE IS A CRISIS LIKE WE'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN ISRAEL. >> DAVID, YOU WRITE ABOUT HOW THIS MOMENT IS DIFFERENT FROM OVER A DECADE AGO IN 2012 WHEN NETANYAHU CAMPAIGNED ON PRESERVING THE RULE OF LAW. CERTAINLY, POLITICIANS CHANGE THEIR TUNE FREQUENTLY WHEN THEY ACTUALLY ARE IN POWER VERSUS CAMPAIGNING, BUT CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THIS MOMENT OVER A DECADE LATER, THE CHARGES NETANYAHU FACES AND HOW THAT IS IMPACTING WHAT HE DOES WITH HIS POWER? >> WELL, ALL POLITICIANS SOONER OR LATER LIE. I DO THINK NETANYAHU ABUSES THE PRIVILEGE. HE DOES IT WITH SUCH FREQUENCY, IT IS ALMOST COMICAL AT THIS POINT. YOU REMEMBER HIS SPEECH AT THE UNIVERSITY WHEN HE SAID HE'D RESOLVE THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION, THAT THERE WILL BE A PALESTINIAN STATE EVEN. THAT WAS PREPOSTEROUS AND A GESTURE TO THE AMERICANS AT THAT TIME. IN 2012, HE CAME IN FRONT OF THE COUNTRY AND GAVE AN IMPORTANT ADDRESS AND SAID HE WOULD REJECT ANY NOTION OF UNDERMINING THE AUTHORITY OF THE SUPREME COURT OR THE COURT SYSTEM ITSELF. NOW, HERE HE IS. SO YOU ASKED ABOUT THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM. COMPARED TO THE CHARGES AGAINST TRUMP, THEY ARE MODEST, BUT THEY ARE CHARGES, REAL CRIMINAL CHARGES OF CORRUPTION, ACCEPTING FAVORS FROM SUPPORTERS, MATERIAL FAVORS IF SUPPORTERS FOR POLITICAL PREFERENCE. THEY'RE REAL CHARGES. HIS POLITICAL CALCULATION, IF THIS GOES THROUGH, AND IT HAS NOW, THIS CHANGE IN THE LAW AND THE WAY THINGS ARE DONE IN ISRAEL, IT HELPS HIM STAY IN POWER. HE HAS PROVED OVER -- HE HAS BEEN THE PRIME MINISTER LONGER THAN ANYONE, LONGER THAN BEN-GURION, IN THE HISTORY OF THE STATE. HE HAS PROVED HIS FIRST PRIORITY IS ALWAYS THAT, AND HE'LL SEE TO THE DESIRES OF THE TRIBE THAT KEEPS HIM IN OFFICE. RIGHT NOW, ISRAEL HAS THE MOST RADICAL, THE MOST EXTREMIST GOVERNMENT IN ITS HISTORY, AND NETANYAHU HAS ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE, TO HIS ADVANTAGE, PART OF THEIR IDEALOGICAL DRIVE. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. >> THE PIECE IS "IN ISRAEL, A GLIMPSE OF A TRUMPIAN FUTURE." YOU C
