The old Israel – the Israel that had season tickets to the Philharmonic and opera; that spawned Nobel laureates, award-winning writers and internationally acclaimed artistes; that slotted seamlessly into Davos and other soirees of the global elite – that old Israel is now flexing its withered and arthritic muscles in anticipation of yet another, probably its ultimate, existential battle.

Bibi Netanyahu and his gang of nihilists have declared war on Israeli democracy – nothing short of “a coup d’état”, according to former attorney-general and Supreme Court judge, Meni Mazuz – and these tired, old warriors are erecting the barricades to repel them.

At issue is the government’s so-called judicial reform plan, which would, according to its many critics, remove both the legislature (known as the Knesset) and the executive from the oversight of the justice system.

If the plan were to be passed, laws passed by the Knesset would no longer be subject to review by the Supreme Court and cabinet ministers would not be bound by the rulings of their legal advisers. The slim majority of the current coalition - like that of many of its predecessors - would suffice to pass any and every law, however morally repugnant.

The revolt of the old-timers is a magnificent sight – or it would be, were it not for a fog of hypocrisy so thick it bamboozles the mind.

Bear in mind that these eminent jurists, academics, former politicians and newspaper proprietors are the same people who told us – who ruled from the bench on many occasions – that Jewish supremacy and democracy are compatible.

The same people who insisted that the foundational description of Israel as “Jewish and democratic” (cf. David Ben-Gurion’s independence address in May 1948) was in no way a contradiction in terms, but rather yet another example of Jewish genius.

Perhaps the goyim don’t have the bandwidth to fathom the concept that democracy tolerates religious exceptionalism and brutal suppression of the other, but it’s peanuts for the Jewish mind. Just watch and learn.

Perhaps the greatest irony of the current brouhaha is that it is the reactionary Benjamin Netanyahu who has, at long last, given the lie to Israel’s cherished self-delusion that we can have our cake and eat it; Bibi who has finally confirmed what the few have been saying all along.

A state in which one section of the population (religious, ethnic, colour-based or whatever) hogs all the sovereignty and most of the rights cannot be democratic. It’s as simple as that, notwithstanding dozens of Israeli Supreme Court rulings to the contrary.

Bibi, to his credit, understands that – and he has chosen to ditch the pretence of democracy. Jewish supremacy in the land of Israel takes precedence.

“Their real goal is to crush Israeli democracy,” former justice Mazuz said on Sunday night at a public forum, “to damage the checks and balances on which democracy is based, resulting in a violation of human rights.”

That argument would be a lot more persuasive had Mazuz’s own court not rubber-stamped the occupation of Palestine on numerous occasions and concurred with the violation of Palestinian human rights for decades.

But then tolerance of such ambiguity seems to be another feature of the subtlety of the Jewish mind.

The ways in which Jewish dominion undermines democracy are legion. Just one recent example should suffice to illustrate that point.

Opponents of the government’s policies have been holding mass Saturday night protests in Tel Aviv for the past few weeks. Ahead of last weekend’s gathering, the organizers of the demonstrations – democrats all – announced that it would begin with one-minute’s silence in memory of the seven Jews (West Bank settlers) killed in a massacre last Thursday.

The organizers neglected to mention (it’s difficult to remember everything) the nine Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank the day before – an incident that almost certainly triggered the retaliatory attack in the Jewish settlement.

Should true democrats not mourn the deaths of all those caught up in the endless violence, not only the Jews?

Meni Mazuz and the other defenders of Israeli democracy are still living in a never-never land of their own creation. They’re indulging in nostalgia for a “pure” Israel that may have existed in their own minds, but never in reality.

Only when Israelis drop the charade and accept that there never has been – and never could be – true democracy alongside occupation and discrimination, will Israel be able to finally begin building one.