The PM recently quashed a bill to reform the judicial appointments process that could have paved the way to combating public distrust of Israeli courts and ensuring that democracy is preserved.
Shaken by the domestic and international uproar over the so-called boycott law, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to put his foot down over the next “anti-democratic” proposal. Unfortunately, he chose exactly the wrong bill to quash. For unlike the boycott law, which indeed had some undemocratic elements, a bill to change the way Supreme Court justices are appointed would have made Israel more democratic. And the court itself would have been one of the chief beneficiaries.
Shaken by the domestic and international uproar over the so-called boycott law, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to put his foot down over the next “anti-democratic” proposal. Unfortunately, he chose exactly the wrong bill to quash. For unlike the boycott law, which indeed had some undemocratic elements, a bill to change the way Supreme Court justices are appointed would have made Israel more democratic. And the court itself would have been one of the chief beneficiaries.
The bill, by Likud MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Yariv Levin, would have required potential appointees to attend a public hearing before the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which would then have the right to veto any candidate it deemed problematic. Opponents charged that this would undermine the court’s status, and thereby Israeli democracy itself, and Netanyahu quickly capitulated: He announced that he “unequivocally opposes the bill,” and that his government “will respect and defend the High Court.”
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