Israeli minister tells US envoy to ‘mind his business’ on judicial reforms

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli slammed U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides for saying that Israel should “pump the breaks” on its initiative.


Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Likud MK Amichai Chikli at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Dec. 28, 2022. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.

(February 19, 2023 / JNS) Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli rebuked U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides on Sunday, after the American envoy jumped into the debate over Jerusalem’s proposed judicial reform package.

“I say to the American ambassador, slam the breaks on yourself and mind your own business,” said Chikli regarding Nides’s call for the Israeli government to modify its initiative. “You’re not the sovereign here. We’d be happy to debate with you international or security affairs, but respect our democracy,” he added.

“The relationship with the United States is very important, but this intervention by Nides is very problematic,” said Chikli.

Chikli’s remarks came after Nides told former Obama administration official David Axelrod during a podcast interview that the Biden administration was demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “pump the brakes” on the judicial reforms.

“We’re telling the prime minister—as I tell my kids—‘pump the brakes, slow down, try to get a consensus, bring the parties together,’” said Nides. While the United States was not going to “dictate” to Israel how to conduct its internal affairs, Nides qualified that “the one thing that binds our countries together is a sense of democracy.”

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden weighed in on the showdown taking place in Israel over the government’s judicial reform plan.

In reply to a question from The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, Biden said that for any fundamental change to be sustainable, consensus was required.

“The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary,” he said. “Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained.”

Friedman interpreted that to mean that Biden was signaling to Netanyahu that the U.S.-Israeli relationship “has never truly rested on shared interests,” but has “always been built up from our shared values.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party last week slammed the Israeli government as “corrupt” and “extremist” at a demonstration against the judicial reforms held outside the Knesset.

“They hear our strength and our commitment. They pretend they don’t hear and that they’re not afraid—but they hear and are afraid…. They’re trembling as rulers have always trembled when they discovered that there were people facing them who were not ready to give up.

“We will fight in the streets, we’ll fight until we win,” said Lapid.

The same day, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said, “This is the history of the world. Countries become dictatorships through the use of democratic tools…. Countries do not become democratic again, except with bloodshed.”

For his part, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for the protest movement against the government to move to the next stage, one fueled by violent confrontation.

“What is needed is to move to the next stage, the stage of war, and war is not waged with speeches. War is waged in a face-to-face battle, head-to-head and hand-to-hand, and that is what will happen here,” he said in an interview with DemocraTV.

In response, Netanyahu urged on opposition leaders to stop leading Israel into chaos after a tempestuous Knesset committee meeting.

“I call on the leaders of the opposition: Stop this. Stop deliberately dragging the country into anarchy. Get over yourself. Show responsibility and leadership because you’re doing the exact opposite,” the prime minister said in a video posted to social media.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman subsequently called on leaders of the opposition to meet at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem to discuss the government’s judicial reform program.

Lapid rejected the overture, saying he would only agree to meet if the proposed legislation was paused.

The government’s plan includes changing the way judges are selected so that the Knesset members will have majority say on the Judicial Selection Committee; passing an “override clause,” a law that would give legislators the power to reverse, or “override,” the Supreme Court when it strikes down laws; abolishing the legal justification of “reasonableness” by which the court can cancel Knesset decisions; and empowering ministers to hire and fire their own legal advisers.

Netanyahu has described as “baseless” claims by critics that the proposals would mark the end of the country’s democracy, and vowed to implement the plan “responsibly.”

“The truth is that the balance between the branches of government has been violated over the past two decades,” said Netanyahu. “This unusual phenomenon does not exist anywhere else in the world—not in the United States, not in Western Europe and not during Israel’s first 50 years of existence.”

February 19, 2023 | 26 Comments »

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  1. As we teeter on the edge of thermonuclear world war, now, here’s a scriptural prophecy for our time 😀

    “…On one wall of the stair well a half-buried sign remained legible. Mustering his modest command of pre-Deluge English, he whispered the words haltingly: FALLOUT SURVIVAL SHELTER Maximum Occupancy: 15 Provision limitations, single occupant: 180 days; divide by actual number of occupants. Upon entering shelter, see that First Hatch is securely locked and sealed, that the intruder shields are electrified to repel contaminated persons attempting entry, that the warning lights are ON outside the enclosure. . . The rest was buried, but the first word was enough for Francis. He had never seen a “Fallout,” and he hoped he’d never see one. A consistent description of the monster had not survived, but Francis had heard the legends. He crossed himself and backed away from the hole. Tradition told that the Beatus Leibowitz himself had encountered a Fallout, and had been possessed by it for many months before the exorcism which accompanied his Baptism drove the fiend away. Brother Francis visualized a Fallout as half-salamander, because, according to tradition, the thing was born in the Flame Deluge, and as half-incubus who despoiled virgins in their sleep, for, were not the monsters of the world still called “children of the Fallout”? That the demon was capable of inflicting all the woes which descended upon Job was recorded fact, if not an article of creed. The novice stared at the sign in dismay. Its meaning was plain enough. He had unwittingly broken into the abode (deserted, he prayed) of not just one, but fifteen of the dreadful beings! He groped for his phial of holy water. “

    “…It seemed to be English, of a sort, but half an hour passed before he deciphered most of the message: CARL– Must grab plane for [undecipherable] in twenty minutes. For God’s sake, keep Em there till we know if we’re at war. Please! try to get her on the alternate list for the shelter. Can’t get her a seat my plane. Don’t tell her why I sent her over with this box of junk, but try to keep her there till we know [undecipherable] at worst, one of the alternates not show. I.E.L. P.S. I put the seal on the lock and put TOP SECRET on the lid just to keep Em from looking inside. First tool box I happened to grab. Shove it in my locker or something’….Again he felt the thrill of discovery. It was clearly a blueprint!…

    ‘First he examined the jotted notes. They were scrawled by the same hand that had written the note glued to the lid, and the penmanship was no less abominable. Pound pastrami, said one note, can kraut, six bagels– bring home for Emma. Another reminded: Remember– pick up Form 1040, Uncle Revenue. Another was only a column of figures with a circled total from which a second amount was subtracted and finally a percentage taken, followed by the word damn! Brother Francis checked the figures; he could find no fault with the abominable penman’s arithmetic, at least, although he could deduce nothing about what the quantities might represent. Memo, he handled with special reverence, because its title was suggestive of “Memorabilia.” Before opening it, he crossed himself and murmured the Blessing of Texts…

    ‘…Of the larger folded papers, one was tightly rolled as well, and it began to fall apart when he tried to unroll it; he could make out the words RACING FORM, but nothing more. After returning it to the box for later restorative work, he turned to the second folded document; its creases were so brittle that he dared inspect only a little of it, by parting the folds slightly and peering between them. A diagram, it seemed, but– a diagram of white lines on dark paper! Again he felt the thrill of discovery. It was clearly a blueprint!–

    ‘… Again it was affirmed!– the contents of the shelter came from the twilight period of the Age of Enlightenment. An important discovery indeed…

    “…His eye traveled down the list until it encountered: “CIRCUIT DESIGN BY: Leibowitz, I. E.”

    “”Beate Leibowitz, ora pro me!” whispered Brother Francis. His hands were trembling so violently that they threatened to ruin the brittle documents. He had uncovered relics of the Saint.“

    From A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. 1959. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz
    ‘

  2. @Michael Your reading of psalm 89 reminds me of the story of the promising opera singer who upon having just been told by a famous vocal coach, “You have a voice like an angel but you sing like a pig,” exclaimed joyfully to his manager on the way out, “Did you hear what he said? He said I have a voice like an angel!” 😀

  3. @Michael

    39 But Thou hast cast off and rejected, Thou hast been wroth with Thine anointed.
    ? ??????????, ??????? ?????????; ?????????? ??????? ???????. 40 Thou hast abhorred the covenant of Thy servant; Thou hast profaned his crown even to the ground.
    ?? ?????????? ???-???????????; ???????? ?????????? ????????. 41 Thou hast broken down all his fences; Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.
    ?? ?????????, ????-??????? ??????; ????? ????????, ???????????. 42 All that pass by the way spoil him; he is become a taunt to his neighbours.
    ?? ??????????, ?????? ??????; ????????????, ????-?????????. 43 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries; Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
    ?? ???-????????, ???? ????????; ????? ??????????, ?????????????. 44 Yea, Thou turnest back the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
    ?? ??????????? ??????????; ?????????, ??????? ???????????. 45 Thou hast made his brightness to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.
    ?? ???????????, ????? ?????????; ????????? ?????? ???????? ?????. 46 The days of his youth hast Thou shortened; Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah

    47 How long, O LORD, wilt Thou hide Thyself for ever? How long shall Thy wrath burn like fire?

    50 Where are Thy former mercies, O Lord, which Thou didst swear unto David in Thy faithfulness?

    51 Remember, Lord, the taunt of Thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom [the taunt of] so many peoples;

    52 Wherewith Thine enemies have taunted, O LORD, wherewith they have taunted the footsteps of Thine anointed

    https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2689.htm

  4. Edgar,

    MICHAEL-
    That Psalm 35 that you just quoted sounds off-kilter. How could G-D need to swear that he will not lie. It imputes a kind of anthropomorphism to our Creator.

    Parse it out yourself:

    36 Once have I sworn by My holiness: Surely I will not be false unto David;

    https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2689.htm

    Perhaps you don’t know “G-D” as well as you think you do!

  6. SEBASTIEN-

    The ibformation in the Torah was written many hundreds of years later,. According to experts they were collated by Ezra. and are mosdtly mentioned in Chronicles which was written very late. So most likely it was After the return from Babylon.

    You must know that of the hundreds of thousands who were removed to Babylon only about 40,000 returned, and found only shambles awaiting them.. They only had Jerusalem and a small area surrounding it. Times were VERY tough beyond imagination. So perhaps those psalms were actually written then, either to cheer them up or to bewail their fate, very close to the dating of Chronicles from which we know about them.

    Concerning Ethan , it was common to assign a known name, to make an obscure ccmposition more highly regarded.

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  7. “Some scholars claim that this psalm was written after the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. However, this claim is inconsistent with the dating of Ethan to the time of Solomon. More likely is that it was written on behalf of the king (David or Solomon) during a time of trouble.”

    Looked up Ezrahite and one definition was a citizen of Judah. So could it be from the tensions that led to the split with the Northern kingdom of Israel after Solomon’s two sons divided the kingdom?

    I know. It’s about Judicial reform. 😀

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  8. @Edgar Pity they didn’t come up with a musical notation to record the tune.

    Wondered what he was complaing about and found this

    “Babylon. However, this claim is inconsistent with the dating of Ethan to the time of Solomon. More likely is that it was written on behalf of the king (David or Solomon) during a time of trouble.”
    https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Psa…
    Psalm 89 – Wikipedia

  10. MICHAEL-

    That Psalm 35 that you just quoted sounds off-kilter. How could G-D need to swear that he will not lie. It imputes a kind of anthropomorphism to our Creator.

    This cannot be. Therefore the psalm sounds “‘fishy”. Or if accurate, it shows a very primitive concept of the Deity by an ultra-famous King. However, since they were not written down at that time but only collected piecemeal about 5-600 years later,, (perhaps even composed then)…….. ..

    They were .”attributed” to David because the Davidic text says he “danced before the Lord”..(and somewhere maybe “sang” before the Lord) We also read that he played the harp (or lyre), in other words a musician who likely played ad lib., , The only external evidence that a king named David ever existed are an inscription or two, like the Mesha Stele.. ………

    )Had lots of gigs, Like Sebastien -and even myself….

    At least we how that he didn’t “Play The Ukulele As The Ship Went Down…!!!

    SO who knows??? .

  11. MICHAEL-

    Allow me to cut in for just one comment. You say one must quote “original texts”.

    Tell me sir, where does one find original texts. I assume you mean Biblical and early historical texts.

    To the best of my knowledge there are none, if one doesn’t include items like “The Moabite Stone”, and the ramblings of Rameses 2.. These are most generally vainglory and boasting of highly exaggerated events.

    Of course you know that successive Pharoes used to have the names of predecessors chiseled away and replaced with their own. This has been shown to be fact, time and again.

    And let us not forget “interpolation”..that cure-all regimen where the ends justify the means. And that those “means” were virtually always fraud and lies, matching the “ends”..

    There is only one item I suggest may be original and as truthful as was possible in those primitive times. And that is “The Papyrus Ipuwer”.

  12. @Michael

    Of course, we both had to deal with religious schtick as adults, mainly on visits to the family;

    Not me.

  13. Hi, Sebastien

    Is it because I didn’t have a religious upbringing or a Christian upbringing that quotes like that one are utterly unintelligible to me? … To be fair, I also experience this when I try to read many articles by rabbis.

    It’s not my upbringing, which was essentially secular, like yours. I think its essentially a language problem: We all use the same words, but different lexicons. You and I probably had very similar educations: From sixth grade through to my MS in Chemistry, I was enrolled in secular schools. Of course, we both had to deal with religious schtick as adults, mainly on visits to the family; but our daily communication has been with a common, highly irreligious, culture.

    What was difficult about what I said? We were both talking about “truth” and “lies”; then at some point, things that were crystal clear to me seemed confusing to you. We live in a country, which seems to consist of two groups of people, both insisting that the other group is brainwashed by inveterate liars. I think that’s an honest, all-too-real assessment of the matter. Please try to separate that when reading what I write.

    We could exchange the non-communication of the masses for years on end, and both come up empty. If you want to talk about objective reality, though, you need a source that is ancient and resistant to change. Even Christian and Rabbinical traditions do not qualify: You need to consult original texts, translated simply but accurately so we all can at least parse through them.

    The meaning of life is not the number “42” (from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”). Our understanding of it began perhaps a few days after we were conceived, when our neurons could begin to communicate with one another — perhaps even before then. Even so, our lives were formed before then, when our essential physical components were intelligently crafted in an orchestrated, deliberate process that has been going on since at least as far back as the “Big Bang” — and for all we know, “before” that.

    The Bible talks about all these things, beginning in Genesis 1:1 — detailing the Big “Bang” itself (not actually an explosion, but what scientists have called “serene” — howbeit, taking place in a matter of fentoseconds), and a a discrete sequence of events following it — from its initial chaotic (extremely high energy) state, through the separation of particles and coalescing of celestial bodies, to plate tectonics and the formation of continents, etc.

    The above accurately describes our PHYSICAL reality, in a treatise recorded thousands of years before the invention of telescopes and cyclotrons. These are interesting subjects to some, and tedious to investigate to others; yet there are other matters of much greater interest to an enquiring mind, namely, WHY all this has happened, and BY WHOM has it all been orchestrated. Those things need to be grasped, in order to even approach actual “truth”.

    That’s a deep subject. At the moment, though, I must digress by going downstairs for breakfast.

    Shalom shalom 🙂

  14. @Michael Is it because I didn’t have a religious upbringing or a Christian upbringing that quotes like that one are utterly unintelligible to me? I have wondered this. I mean I speak English. I understand the literal meaning of the sentences but I really don’t see how they relate to anything. And yet you and other Christians I have conversed with relate them with such conviction as if their meaning to you should be obvious to anyone. To be fair, I also experience this when I try to read many articles by rabbis.

  15. BTW Sebastien,

    I notice that I left us with a riddle on my last post, saying that “God promised eternal life before the world began”. I think the answer lies here:

    Psalms 89:
    [35] Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
    [36] His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.
    [37] It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

    God swore with His own holiness as His witness. Since His holiness existed before the world began, so did the promise that this holiness bore witness to.

  16. Sebastien, Perhaps this is a better link:

    https://www.startrek.com/watch_ytclip/Q99bm85ReoKI

    @Michael So could we be spinning our wheels, pissing in the wind, talking to ourselves while the real news is going on unreported behind the scenes or could it be that the putative reporters of news are engaging in propaganda to shape it, or could it be that the left hand is not talking to the right hand, or some combination?

    Of course! all of the above are likely. That’s why I rely on prayer and the Bible in times like these.

    Titus1
    [2] In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began

    Did you hear the explosion?

  18. @Michael So could we be spinning our wheels, pissing in the wind, talking to ourselves while the real news is going on unreported behind the scenes or could it be that the putative reporters of news are engaging in propaganda to shape it, or could it be that the left hand is not talking to the right hand, or some combination?

    Or could it be Jews finally taking a page out of the PLO/KGB’s taquiyya playbook?

    satire: Star Trek “Liar’s Paradox”

  22. Good advice!! The US is a declining world power whose very survival is questionable at best. If it continues to poke proverbial fingers in the eyes of the world’s top powers of Russia and China obviously they will not allow it to continue to exist. Surely our leadership class has figured this out and are willing to die rather than give up their position. I’m not willing to sacrifice my loved ones in an unwinnable war against Russia in Ukraine. To make matters even worse the evil Zelensky and his Azov Brigade who are leading the fight shouldn’t be supported.

  24. Bravo to Chikli! I encourage him to say it again, and say it to Nides directly. This is the frank dialogue which is needed to divest the US of any and all participation in bringing Israel to a state of undemocratic norms as now exists in Nides own homeland. If this political tool knew or valued any aspect of democratic values, he would check himself into the army brig at Guatanamo and request that they lose the key which might ever release him.

    Also, while he stands lecturing about the shared values of democracy, let us never forget that Nides stands as an appointee who was himself appointed to his current position by none other than the Selectee-in-Chief, who likely did not even select himself into the White House. Indeed, there is no shared sense of democracy to be found in this political peon of the real authority in America today, which lies within the Deep State of the forever beurocrats who have been the bane of any and all stability in the middle east, and more specifically within Israel. Let us see an end to their chicanery in co-opting any control over the fate of the Israeli people as they have provided a great deal too much chaos and blood shed with their fatuous tinkerings, which might only be remedied by their sustained silence upon, at a minimum, those subjects which only affect the Israeli people, themselves.

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  25. And this goes for sovereignty, terrorism, and settlements, as well. Time to make a stand and eliminate Muslim terror from Israel by any means, the Jew-hating world be damned.

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