Nadene Goldfoot
"Under the new coalition’s proposal, a simple majority of the Knesset could overrule the nation’s Supreme Court and run roughshod over individual rights, including on matters such as speech and press freedoms, equal rights for minorities and voting rights. The Knesset could even go as far as to declare that the laws it passes are unreviewable by the judiciary, a move that calls to mind Richard Nixon’s infamous phrase “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is courting disaster by trying to claim that same power, imperiling Israel’s alliances around the world, its security in the region, its economy at home and the very democracy upon which the country was built."
The written agreements between the parties that formed the governing coalition unequivocally stated that judicial reform would take precedence over any other matter, and be supported by all coalition parties.
Yariv Gideon Levin (Hebrew: יָרִיב גִּדְעוֹן לֵוִין, born 22 June 1969) is an Israeli lawyer and politician who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice.
Yariv Levin (Likud), born in Jerusalem, studied at Boyar High School in Jerusalem. During his national service, he joined the IDF Intelligence Corps as an Arabic translator, and later served as commander of an Arabic translation course. In 1995, he published a dictionary of economic terms translated between Hebrew-Arabic-English, Arabic-Hebrew-English, and English-Arabic-Hebrew.
Levin gained an LLB from the Hebrew University, and worked as a lawyer in the field of civil-commercial law. He married Yifat, daughter of former Knesset Member Ya'akov Shamai. They have three children and live in Modi'in
Levin's proposed changes to the judicial system sparked intense controversy, with some opposition leaders arguing that the plan amounts to an attempt at regime change and anti-government protests commencing shortly after the plan's unveiling. Levin fiercely defended the plan, frequently arguing that the supreme court's power to strike down legislation is un-democratic, having stated that "time after time, people who we didn’t elect decide for us". Levin holds strong views with respect to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He opposes the creation of a Palestinian State, and believes in the right of Jews to remain in all parts of the land of Israel.
Levin often criticizes the court system in Israel, claiming a small elite has taken over the system and tries to use it in order to define the values Israel lives by. That elite would not be anyone religious but quite the opposite.
Despite being affiliated as a Secular Jew himself, Levin criticized Reform Jews, especially those living in the United States, after the Israeli government's decision to expand the egalitarian section of the Western Wall.
Levin said that "Reform Jews in the United States are a dying world. Assimilation is taking place on a vast scale. They are not even tracking this properly in their communities. It is evidenced by the fact that a man who calls himself a Reform rabbi stands there with a priest and officiates at the wedding of the daughter of Hillary Clinton and no one condemns it, thereby legitimizing it."
History has shown what has happened to Jews in the Greek world. They assimilated, Hellenized; holding onto very little quickly. The same happened in Germany where the Reformmovement started. That's what Levin is fighting against, and how they would vote.
Rothman was born into a family that had immigrated to Israel from Cleveland in the United States in the early 20th century. He was educated at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh and served as a chaplain for the Combat Engineering Corps during his national service in the Israel Defense Forces. After earning an LLB at Bar-Ilan University he studied for a master's degree in public law at Tel Aviv University and Northwestern University. Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States and world.
He founded the Movement for Governability and Democracy in 2013. A critic of the corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, he has campaigned for legislation to allow the government to override the Supreme Court and supports immunity from prosecution for serving prime ministers.
Levin declared that the package would include laws:
limiting the power of the Supreme Court to strike down Knesset legislation,
limiting the power of the Supreme Court to review administrative acts,
increasing the influence of the executive and legislative branches on judicial appointments, and
overhauling the process for appointing government legal advisers and reducing their legal powers.
On Jan. 11, Levin published a draft bill that seeks to give effect to the first three suggested changes.
On Jan. 12, Rothman presented to his committee a draft bill that seeks to reform the status of government legal advisers (the fourth suggested change). On Jan. 18, Rothman put forward another draft bill containing his own proposals for addressing the remaining components of the Levin plan. Rothman’s bill is similar to Levin’s bill, although the former deviates from the latter on a number of issues.
The USA's The Supreme Court’s extreme right-wing majority is poised to roll back long-standing rights and laws said last year's report. This activism threatens public trust in the court and our democracy. As the Supreme Court nears the end of its term, it is poised to hand down a string of decisions that carry a deeply disturbing theme: the reversal of long-standing precedents and law that will claw back the rights of Americans in a way unseen in modern times. Much attention has appropriately been given to the stunning draft decision reported on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet in other cases, too, Americans will likely see significant retrenchments of their rights, including those to clean air, religious freedom, effective governance, and to live safe from the scourge of gun violence. Dobbs will not be an isolated case of overreach nor of attacks on cherished liberties. Instead, it offers a stark preview of the plans the court’s radical majority has for the future.
Seems that Americans need to look at their own house before jumping all over Israel's. Is there some sort of movement in the air to overhaul all Supreme Courts?
Israel is noted for its fair decisions, having the wisdom of Solomon. It's worrisome that its being given an overhaul at a time when there are so many opinions about how their democracy should be. This is a time when Netanyahu is having a problem with the court system as well, personal problems concerning his previous PM behavior brought to the forefront by the opposition, possibly as a political ploy. We'll have to wait and see what the next step shall be.
Update: 3/9/23 Jerusalem Post: Public attitudes toward the reform proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin correspond to political affiliation. A large majority of right-wing, ultra-Orthodox, and religious Israelis support it, and a large majority of centrist, left-wing, and Arab Israelis oppose it. Half the nation, drunk with political power, wants to wield it to the fullest extent.
Update: 3/9/23 from Debka file: https://www.debka.com/mivzak/first-report-three-injured-in-terrorist-shooting-attack-in-tel-aviv/
With Tel Aviv overrun by a massive anti-government demo, a terrorist shot and injured three people on the city’s popular Dizengoff Street Thursday night. One of the victims is in critical condition, the other two suffered medium injuries. The gunman is reported to be in police custody. Tel Aviv Mayor Huldai appealed to the demonstrators to clear the streets and let the security services do their job and investigate the incident.
Update: 3/9/2023: President Issac Herzog addressed the nation yesterday and said that judicial reform legislation being pushed through the Knesset are wrong, destructive, an affront to Israel's democratic values, and must be replaced. He said he had, over the past 10 weeks, met with all sides and can say that most disagreements have been resolved and that a resolution to the crisis was within reach. He added, "We cannot allow a small detail - no matter how vital, to lead the country to disaster. The time to stop this is now." from Israel AM 3/9/2023.
Update: 3/13/2023
250,000 Protesters took to the streets Saturday night to protest Israel’s Judicial Reforms. The question is, do they have any idea of what they are protesting against, or are they blindly following the agenda of the radical left. Last Thursday, A terrorist traveled to the heart of Tel Aviv and opened fire on a restaurant, injuring three Israelis.One is near death, 2nd hurt badly, 3rd not so bad. Update: 3/17/2023 Prime Minister Netanyahu met with German Chancellor Scholz and German President Frank-Water Steinmeier and discussed the threats posed by Iran as well as the sale of Arrow-3 defense systems to Germany. Scholz urged Netanyahu to accept the compromise proposal presented by Israel's President Herzog, regarding the judicial reforms. Netanyahu said that Israel will remain a liberal democracy, but that the President's proposal does not reflect the will of the majority of the people. Scholz also said that expansion of settlements does not contribute to peace in the Middle East and that Germany was working to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Update from IsraelAM, resource: [Some readers have asked about my views regarding the judicial reform process. I think Israel's judicial system has some major issues that need to be worked out. I also think some parts of the judicial reform package need to be compromised on by both sides because they likely are too drastic in their current form. The government's main argument in pushing ahead with the process to make the judicial reform law is that the voters gave them the mandate to do so by voting for them in the election. While it's true that democracy is based on majority rule, I think that faced with an issue that splits the country so drastically, the government needs to pause and try to come up with a compromise solution -- even if they do have enough votes to pass it as is. Israel is still a very young country, and the systems that govern it need to be developed more, in a thoughtful manner, with all sides participating in the process. It's time to work together to make Israel a better functioning democracy, and judicial reforms, based on compromise, is a good place to start.] |
Resource:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/05/opinion/michael-bloomberg-israel-netanyahu.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yariv_Levin
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