(JNS) Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a shot at foreign interventions into Israeli democracy as his government pushes ahead with controversial judicial reforms.
The plans being pursued by Netanyahu and his right-wing government include a decision last week to trim Supreme Court powers to overrule government actions. However, the plans have opened a deep divide in Israeli society, triggering weeks of protests.
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly called on Netanyahu to seek a broad consensus before forging ahead with the judicial reform effort
Addressing criticism led by the US, the Israeli Prime Minister told Fox News on Sunday: “I’ve been elected six times democratically for a total of 16 years, and in all those years I never commented on internal debates in other democracies. I have chosen not to do that.”
After being questioned by host Mark Levin, he went on to say: “Everyone has an opinion on Israel.
“They don’t have an opinion on the riots in France or the debates that happen inside other countries.”
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Aerial view of protesters waving national flags and deploying banners on Saturday in Tel Aviv (Photo: Getty)
He added: “You have a major debate between the Supreme Court and the executive right now in America, and I really don’t care to comment about it.
“People choose to comment about ours. It’s OK. We’ll make our own decisions. In sovereign states, sovereign democracies, the elected representatives of the people make the decisions, and that is how it is going to be in Israel.
“Given the range of threats and challenges confronting Israel right now, it doesn’t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this—the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus.”
Netanyahu also denied that the reform push was weakening Israel's democracy, as its opponents claim, stating that it was in fact “strengthening democracy.”
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Protesters lift flags and placards as they march on Saturday in Tel Aviv (Photo: Getty)
He said: “We’re bringing it back in line to where most democracies are. Where Israel was in its first five decades and where it should be now in the coming decades.”
Israel's 15 Supreme Court justices, led by Chief Justice Esther Hayut, are “respectable people," he said, adding, "I don’t have anything bad to say about them as individuals.”
However, he continued, it was not fair that unelected judges should get to decide on issues instead of the people, while also pointing out that the pendulum can’t swing too far the other way, that judicial review is necessary.
He concluded: “There is a balance. We are trying to restore the balance. That is said to be the end of democracy, and this is just silly.”
