The proposed judicial curns in Israel means discriminate against Arabs, women, LGBTQ people and secular people….reports Asian Lite News
Writer is a historian, philosopher and author Yuval Noah Harari in an article in Financial Times has warned that Israeli democracy is fighting for its life due to the ‘drastic’ changes Benjamin Netanyahu government plans for the judiciary.
“Israel lacks a constitution, an upper house in the parliament, a federal structure or any other check on government except one — the Supreme Court. The Netanyahu government plans to pass the first in a series of laws that will neutralise the Supreme Court. If it succeeds, it will gain unlimited power,” warned Harari.
Echoeing concerns, US President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to rush increasingly “divisive” judicial reforms, given the other challenges facing the US ally.
In a statement first published by news site Axios by the White House, Biden said, “It doesn’t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this – the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus. From the perspective of Israel’s friends in the United States, it looks like the current judicial reform proposal is becoming more divisive, not less.”
The proposed judicial curns in Israel means discriminate against Arabs, women, LGBTQ people and secular people. “Once the Supreme Court is out of the way, nothing will remain to stop them. In such a situation, the government could also rig future elections, for example by banning Arab parties from participating — a step previously proposed by coalition members,” said Harari.
Some 20 legislators have lined up to speak against the bill, which would limit Supreme Court judges’ ability to strike down government decisions they deem “unreasonable.”
During the debate, referring to the widespread judicial reform protests taking place, Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chair Simcha Rothman said: “The current situation is not democracy, and not the rule of law,” Jerusalem Post reported.
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid said: “We didn’t march to declare war, but to prevent one. To tell the government, if you still have any sense of fairness, stop this.”
The government is arguing that the bill will enhance democracy, while the opposition termed it to be slide toward authoritarianism.
The grassroots movement has staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Israel since the 1980s, with weekly protests occurring for 28 consecutive weeks following the announcement of the overhaul plan by the ruling coalition in January.
Issuing a stern warning, Harari said, “The establishment of a dictatorship in Israel would have grave consequences not only for Israeli citizens. The ruling coalition is led by messianic zealots who believe in an ideology of Jewish supremacy. This calls to annex the occupied Palestinian territories to Israel without never underestimate human stupidity.”
The Netanyahu government is also facing dissent from within with former chiefs of the Israeli army, air force and security services have publicly called on soldiers to stop serving.
“For decades the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned the world about the dangers posed by a fundamentalist regime with nuclear capabilities. Now Netanyahu is establishing exactly such a regime in Israel. This could set fire to the entire Middle East, with consequences that will reverberate far beyond the region. It would be incredibly stupid of Israel to do something like that, but as we learnt from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we should This could set fire to the Middle East, with consequences that extend far beyond the region to see BlackRock and other financial institutions come under pressure,” said Harari.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that a consortium of businesses announced late Sunday that some of their members wouldn’t open on Monday in protest at the government’s plans, leading to big mall chains and some gas stations sealing their doors.
The dramatic events were being watched closely in Washington, from where the Biden administration has frequently spoken out against Netanyahu’s government and its overhaul plan. In a statement to the news site Axios late Sunday, Biden warned against pushing ahead with the legal changes that were sparking so much division.