Re:Israeli business leaders reportedly agree to engage in ge...
by sam_goody on Monday March 27, 2023 @03:37AM
(#35323925)
Israel, like the States, have a Judicial branch that is a "separate estate" from their executive branch.
In Israel, the judges "rule" for life, get to appoint their successors with no outside oversight, and are openly highly political. They have openly biased rulings, such as (in the current fight) "pro-reform ministers may not speak publicly (as they have a vested interest), but anti-reform ministers and judges may (as they are defending the status quo)", and they constantly overreach, such as disqualifying the Parliament ("Knesset") speaker and causing elections (a few years ago).
The current fight was triggered by the AG (Attorney General) ruling that 1) The courts are investigating the Prime Minister for bribery and 2) A Prime Minister that is under investigation may not serve.
To counter that, the Parliament passed a ruling that the court may not disqualify the Prime Minister without the approval of at least half the Parliament.
Many are upset that someone who was not voted in should have the ability to, on a whim and without any proof, decide that he can disqualify the PM - who was elected by common vote.
They further want the Judges to have some sort of accountability, and believe that no "Democratic" system can have most of the power in the hands of judges that are not voted in. They are pushing for changes to how judges are appointed and what their jurisdiction includes.
On the other hand, Israel has a significant and vocal religious "right", that counters the vocal and significant "left". The courts have no checks on their power and are leftist, so the media and Colleges (which both have a "well known liberal bias") and some other large institutions, are not very happy with the concept of that bastion being sullied.
And, of course, they claim that are "saving democracy", though that is the last thing in the world they are doing.
Protests for and against the Judicial reform have been ongoing for weeks, with the Media reliably reporting the "against" protests and minimizing or ignoring the "for".
What is interesting is that in the U.S., SCOTUS has far less power than the Israeli courts, and et the media is calling to remove their powers in order to "save democracy", since the courts are to the right of the media, instead of to their left.
In Israel, the judges "rule" for life, get to appoint their successors with no outside oversight, and are openly highly political. They have openly biased rulings, such as (in the current fight) "pro-reform ministers may not speak publicly (as they have a vested interest), but anti-reform ministers and judges may (as they are defending the status quo)", and they constantly overreach, such as disqualifying the Parliament ("Knesset") speaker and causing elections (a few years ago).
The current fight was triggered by the AG (Attorney General) ruling that 1) The courts are investigating the Prime Minister for bribery and 2) A Prime Minister that is under investigation may not serve.
To counter that, the Parliament passed a ruling that the court may not disqualify the Prime Minister without the approval of at least half the Parliament.
Many are upset that someone who was not voted in should have the ability to, on a whim and without any proof, decide that he can disqualify the PM - who was elected by common vote.
They further want the Judges to have some sort of accountability, and believe that no "Democratic" system can have most of the power in the hands of judges that are not voted in. They are pushing for changes to how judges are appointed and what their jurisdiction includes.
On the other hand, Israel has a significant and vocal religious "right", that counters the vocal and significant "left". The courts have no checks on their power and are leftist, so the media and Colleges (which both have a "well known liberal bias") and some other large institutions, are not very happy with the concept of that bastion being sullied.
And, of course, they claim that are "saving democracy", though that is the last thing in the world they are doing.
Protests for and against the Judicial reform have been ongoing for weeks, with the Media reliably reporting the "against" protests and minimizing or ignoring the "for".
What is interesting is that in the U.S., SCOTUS has far less power than the Israeli courts, and et the media is calling to remove their powers in order to "save democracy", since the courts are to the right of the media, instead of to their left.