|
Post by pieter on Jul 28, 2023 1:00:53 GMT -7
www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/07/28/blue-state-blues-netanyahus-judicial-reform-is-a-win-for-democracy-everywhere/
The judicial reform that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu passed through the Knesset this week was the mildest change, barring Israel’s Supreme Court justices from making up their own ideas of “reasonable” government policy.
Yet it affirmed the fundamental principles of democracy, and set an example for other free nations to follow.
Netanyahu campaigned last year on judicial reform. And unlike many politicians, left and right, who ride popular enthusiasm but abandon their promises when faced with resistance, he followed through.
He showed a willingness to compromise, too, breaking up his reform package into separate proposals, and slowing down the legislative process to allow for talks. When the opposition balked, he did what his voters sent him there to do.
Moreover, Netanyahu faced incredible resistance. His opponents included not just the parliamentary minority parties, but also the media — local and international; the financial and high-tech elite; the barons of popular culture; and — shockingly — the Israeli military.
He stared them all down, not because he wants to be a dictator, but because he had a mandate from the voters, who are the only people Netanyahu fears, and should fear.
Netanyahu also stood up to global pressure. U.S. President Joe Biden isolated Netanyahu as if he were a tin pot tyrant, rather than a democratically-elected leader.
The Biden administration held out the promise of a White House meeting if Netanyahu slowed down the reforms, then reneged on that promise and put the pressure on again.
Global financial institutions also weighed in, warning that judicial reform risked Israel’s credit rating.
Netanyahu also had to face perhaps the most unforgiving enemy: his own body. The 73-year-old former special forces commander was hospitalized twice with dehydration and heart problems during the contentious debate, and came back on the morning of the vote with a newly-fitted pacemaker. He recovered enough to lead his fractious governing coalition to a final vote on the legislation after a debate that had lasted through the night.
That is what it takes to win as a conservative, or as any kind of anti-establishment politician, left or right.
You have to understand that what you are fighting for is right — in this case, the right of Israeli voters to control their own destiny, without sacrificing judicial independence. And you have to be willing to look past every kind of challenge — the smears, the threats, the attacks, the provocations, the constant media-manufactured crises.
The ongoing chaos in Israel is a preview of what lies ahead for the U.S. if Donald Trump returns to the White House, or if Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long-shot campaign manages to succeed.
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Jul 28, 2023 1:08:40 GMT -7
Karl/Folks,
For adversarial reasons, I posted these articles from the American far-right, syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website Breitbart founded in mid-2007 by American conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. I Pieter do not endorse the Far right opinions of this syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website, but posted these articles next to more liberal and progressive views of Yuval Noah Harari, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now and the Arte Documentary and the Dutch NOS article about the situation in Israel. I did my upmost best to show all sides and opinions towards the conflict. Also these whom are not mine and not of fellow Forum members or visitors who read these posts.
It is one of the few media that supports Netanyahu. Let the other side be heard as well! No politician or political leader should be judged without a fair hearing in which each party is given the opportunity to respond to the evidence against them.
Pieter
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Jul 28, 2023 7:11:26 GMT -7
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening: "Dear citizens of Israel, "I would like to begin with the most moving scene that I have witnessed in the past 24 hours. Last night, masses of Israelis came to demonstrate in favor of the reform and against the reform. On one side of the escalator in the Jerusalem train station stood the supporters, and in the opposite direction the opponents. These ascended and these descended. Everyone held flags, everyone shouted slogans, everyone was there from their heart. Then, despite the differences of opinion, when they were near each other, someone extended a hand to his fellow. First one, and then another and then another. They shook hands – not as enemies, not as people who hate each other, but as brothers. This is the people of Israel. This is our spirit. This is what we must aspire to always, and especially at this time. Today, we carried out a necessary democratic step, one designed to restore a measure of balance between the authorities, what we had here for 50 years. We passed the amendment to the reasonableness standard so that the elected government will be able to lead policy according to the will of the majority of the citizens of the state. In no way is carrying out the will of the voter 'the end of democracy.' It is the essence of democracy. Due to the importance of the issue, the coalition worked throughout to reach consensus with the opposition. This was not a given. In previous cases of sharp public disagreement, the governments did not extend a hand to opponents of their policies: Not for the first Oslo Accords, not for the later Oslo Accords, not to the expulsion from Gush Katif and not the agreements that transferred areas of the state and gas fields to Lebanon, in effect to Hezbollah. But we acted differently. Here, we agreed to halt the legislation; we stopped it for three continuous months. We agreed to significant changes to the original policy. I say with regret: None of our compromise proposals were accepted, not one. Even in the plenum today, as the voting was underway, until the last moment, we tried to reach agreement but the other side consistently refused. I remind you that until recently, senior opposition figures supported changing the reasonableness standard. Others even agreed to cancel it altogether. But even if there was no agreement on the measured amendment that was submitted, in no way did this justify disrupting the lives of – and causing suffering to – millions of citizens who were unable to get to work, the hospital or the airport due to blocked highways, delayed ambulances, fires, and blocking Ben-Gurion International Airport. And despite everything my friends, we continued to strive for dialogue and to reach agreement. We are not giving up on the chance of reaching broad agreement – and I tell you that it is possible. Already in the coming days, the coalition will turn to the opposition in order to advance a dialogue between us. We are prepared to discuss everything, immediately, and do so in the round of talks during the Knesset recess and reach a comprehensive agreement on everything and we will add more time should it be needed, until the end of November. That is more than enough time to reach agreement on everything. We have consensus. We all agree that Israel needs to remain a strong democracy, that it will continue to safeguard individual rights for all, that it will not become a state governed by Jewish religious law, that the court will continue to be independent and that no side will control it. I would like to reiterate that: No side must be allowed to control the court. This will not happen on our watch. Citizens of Israel, We all need to agree on something else: The IDF must remain outside any political controversy. We all know that the IDF relies on dedicated reservists who love this country. Calls for refusal to serve harm the security of every citizen of the state. No government can capitulate to refusal diktat and we will not give in to such diktat. I call on you – brother and sister reservists, leave IDF duty out of the political debate. We have one state, one home, one people. On the eve of the Ninth of Av, let us safeguard them together. I say to the leaders of the opposition: It is possible to continue to debate and argue but it is also possible to do something else: It is possible to reach consensus regarding what comes next. Let us reach agreement. This is my call to you, and I extend my hand and call for peace and mutual respect between us. A last word to our enemies: I know that you do not know what democracy is. Do not misunderstand this debate we are having. As always, we will stand shoulder to shoulder and together repel any threat to our dear country." This page was last updated on 25.07.2023
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Jul 28, 2023 7:17:47 GMT -7
Dear folks,
And despite these Breitbart and Netanyahu posts realise that Israel has no Constitution, no Bill of Rights and no Senate. There is no mechanism which controls the government, no Separations of Powers if this administration manages to get a majority vote for that new legislation package which limits the power of the high court which plays the role of the Senate in Israel. Controlling the administration and ‘congres’ (Knesset), and protecting the rights of minorities in Israel. The country in the present moment is dangerously divided and the atmosphere is tense. I have my connections and sources in Israel and the Netherlands. The situation is not good and never had the Jewish majority of Israel has been so divided. This is a reason for concern for the safety of Israel itself and the stability in the region. This is not only dangerous for Israeli Jews but for Israeli Arabs, Israeli Druze and Palestinians as well.
Pieter
|
|
|
Post by Jaga on Jul 29, 2023 12:21:49 GMT -7
Polish mass media compare protests in Israel with Polish protests against right wing government. They say that Israeli opposition is much more consistent and organized. Netanyahu was interviewed in CNN by Wolf Blitzer and he said that in Israel Courts are much more free than even in the US... He is negating the reality I think. This guy should go away.
|
|
|
Post by Jaga on Jul 29, 2023 12:23:38 GMT -7
Pieter, you are right about it. Netanyahu was mentioning that there is a lot of uncertainty in the decisions of the supreme court. They should work on some type of constitution, but not with Netanyahu.Dear folks,
And despite these Breitbart and Netanyahu posts realise that Israel has no Constitution, no Bill of Rights and no Senate. There is no mechanism which controls the government, no Separations of Powers if this administration manages to get a majority vote for that new legislation package which limits the power of the high court which plays the role of the Senate in Israel. Controlling the administration and ‘congres’ (Knesset), and protecting the rights of minorities in Israel. The country in the present moment is dangerously divided and the atmosphere is tense. I have my connections and sources in Israel and the Netherlands. The situation is not good and never had the Jewish majority of Israel has been so divided. This is a reason for concern for the safety of Israel itself and the stability in the region. This is not only dangerous for Israeli Jews but for Israeli Arabs, Israeli Druze and Palestinians as well.
Pieter
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Jul 29, 2023 12:48:36 GMT -7
Polish mass media compare protests in Israel with Polish protests against right wing government. They say that Israeli opposition is much more consistent and organized. Netanyahu was interviewed in CNN by Wolf Blitzer and he said that in Israel Courts are much more free than even in the US... He is negating the reality I think. This guy should go away. Jaga,
These is a direct link with Poland. There are similarities between both Administrations and between both Opposition movements and Protests. PolandSince 2017, a series of protests against judiciary reforms have occurred in Poland. Since Law and Justice took power in Poland in 2015, its influence rapidly extended to the judicial branch, through contended nominations that produced the 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis. The Law and Justice party argues that the reforms are needed to improve the efficiency of the judiciary, but the opposition, supported by a significant number of members of the judiciary, has been very critical of the reforms. The reforms have also been criticized by a number of international bodies. The European Commission invokes the Article 7 of the European Treaty against E.U. member Poland, denouncing recent judiciary reforms putting it under the political control of the ruling majority and citing "serious risk [to] the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers".The Polish judicial disciplinary panel law, approved by the Sejm on 20 December 2019. The bill empowers the Disciplinary Chamber at the Supreme Court of Poland to punish judges who engage in "political activity", including questioning the political independence of the panel. Punishment of judges may be a fine, reduction of salary, or termination from their position. The bill also changes the manner in which the head of the Supreme Court of Poland is appointed. Giving the government, in effect, the ability to control and sack judges the legislation violates EU judicial system legislation. Donald Tusk warned the bill might force Poland out of the EU. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Committee for the Defence of Democracy organized protests throughout Poland against the bill.In February 2020, former Constitutional Tribunal judges, including former Constitutional Tribunal presidents Andrzej Rzepliński (2010-2016), Marek Safjan [pl], Jerzy Stępień [pl], Bogdan Zdziennicki [pl], and Andrzej Zoll described the tribunal as having "virtually been abolished".
By 2020, fourteen out of the fifteen judges had been appointed to the Constitutional Tribunal by the Sejm since the return in power of PiS in 2015, which was seen by the former tribunal presidents and judges as one of the signs of a lack of checks and balances against PiS' domination of three branches of government power. IsraelSince early 2023, large-scale protests have been taking place across Israel in response to the ruling government's push for a wide-ranging judicial reform. If implemented, the reform would: change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee so that control over the appointment of judges is effectively given to the government; prevent the Supreme Court from ruling on the validity of a Basic Law; allow the Knesset to override the Supreme Court's interpretation of a Basic Law or nullification of a regular law; abolish the use of "unreasonableness" as grounds for review of administrative decisions; reclassify ministry legal advisers from independent authorities to politically selected counsel whose opinions are not binding; and allow ministers to reject the Attorney-General's advice in any matter.
The reform has been promoted by Justice Minister Yariv Levin with the backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of the other parties in the governing coalition, but is opposed by the opposition parties as well as by a majority of the Israeli public. The protests have been taking place in cities across the country since 7 January.BackgroundSince the political crisis beginning in 2018, multiple snap elections were held following unsuccessful attempts to form a governing coalition. The 2021 election was the first to have resulted in a successful government formation. The incumbent coalition, which held a one-seat majority, collapsed in June 2022 after a member defected. In the snap legislative election that followed, the incumbent government, led by Yair Lapid, was defeated by a coalition of right-wing parties, led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed a new government that took office on 29 December 2022.
On 4 January 2023, newly-appointed Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced plans to reform Israel's judiciary, including limiting the power of the Supreme Court and of the government's legal councillors and granting the governing coalition a majority on the committee that appoints judges. Following the announcement, several organisations, including Crime Minister and Omdim Beyachad [he] ("Standing Together"), announced their intention to organise protests in Tel Aviv on 7 January. On January 17, the Supreme Court ruled the recently appointed Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri was unfit for the post due to his criminal past with a recently-suspended prison sentence.Netanyahu, who was on trial for corruption-related charges before as well, was forced to withdraw him.
After Netanyahu announced a pause in the judicial legislation on 27 March, counter-protesters started organising their own demonstrations, with tens of thousands protesting in favour of the changes. Negotiations aimed at reaching a compromise collapsed in June, and the government resumed its plans to pass parts of the legislation; in response, the anti-reform movement ramped up its activities.
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Jul 29, 2023 22:57:42 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Jul 29, 2023 23:06:48 GMT -7
|
|