Religious Zionist Party chairman and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded on Saturday night to former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, who blasted the judicial reforms announced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin in a series of media interviews.
"The law and justice reform, which was at the center of the election campaign and won the trust of the people, will return Israeli democracy to its glory before the judicial revolution that Barak carried out in a violent unilateral coup without permission and without authority and without any consultation with the people or its elected officials, and it will be carried out with God's help," said Smotrich.
"The irresponsibility of retired judge Barak, who is threatening a civil war tonight, should cause sleepless nights for anyone who cares about democracy and the unity of the people. Judge Barak, you should apologize and retract your dangerous statements. You have caused enough damage to the State of Israel and we are fixing that now. Do not add insult to injury."
MK Moshe Saada (Likud) responded to Barak as well, saying, "In case you wondered why the reform of the judicial system is so necessary, you are invited to watch Aharon Barak's interviews from today. Such smugness, inability to accept criticism, arrogance and above all - also incitement. We are turning Israel from a self-replicating judicial oligarchy into a true democracy in which the people are the sovereign, and we will also increase trust in the judicial system."
Levin responded to the claims made by Barak on Saturday night, telling Kan 11 News, "He brought a tragedy upon Israel, and his ways contradict democracy. According to him, the judges trump the nation's elected officials who are supposed to reflect what the public wants. Where was Barak when the court took authority and trampled democracy? His suggestions for dialogue are just a way to waste time.”
"We all know how the courts look, the red tape. We all experienced the unbearable bureaucracy, which no government figure wants to take responsibility for and do something about because they receive a desist order and some other order from the court," added Levin.
Barak, in his interview with Kan 11 News, said, "Minister Levin collected all the bad proposals that were made over the years and connected them together into some kind of chain that is suffocating Israeli democracy.”
He added that "there is no greater evil than this as a constitutional revolution, the most parallel thing to this is a revolution of tanks."
1 comment:
Barak spent his career trying to turn Israel into a non-Jewish secular socialist country and vigorously fought any attempt to bring some kind of oversight to the Court. How dare the unwashed masses do antyhing other than blindly obey?
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