MK Simcha Rothman says those demonstrating against the judicial reform either “don’t know what they’re talking about or are just trying to deceive the public.”
Israel National News Jul 12, 2023, 4:47 AM
MK Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution Committee, told i24NEWS in an interview on Tuesday that those demonstrating against the judicial reform either “don’t know what they’re talking about or are just trying to deceive the public.”
The interview took place as protesters who are opposed to the government’s judicial overhaul held a “Day of Disruption”, with demonstrations taking place across the country. While police would not provide estimates on the number of protesters, JNS wrote that there appeared to be significantly fewer participants than in previous demonstrations held over the past few months.
The protests followed the Knesset’s passing in the first reading of the Reasonableness Standard Bill, which would block Israel’s courts from applying what is known as the “reasonableness standard” to decisions made by elected officials.
The reasonableness standard allows for subjective judicial review against government decisions that are deemed by the justices to be beyond the scope of what a reasonable authority would undertake.
“Every hearing in the committee is open to changes,” Rothman told i24NEWS when asked if he was open to revisions of the bill, which will now go to his committee where it will be prepared for its second and third readings.
“But before we talk about changes, we need to talk about what’s in the bill. The bill is quite simple, it’s trying to have the same standards that apply in the United States and any other [democratic] country,” he explained.
“Judges don’t make the decisions instead of an elected official. They can critique and apply scrutiny when there are issues of human rights… they can apply scrutiny to the procedure and due process. But they cannot decide that the minister is not reasonable enough to make a decision – that is an essential part of the separation of power,” said Rothman, who stressed, “It shouldn’t be controversial, because it’s not.”
When asked if the mass demonstrations have given him pause over how quickly the process is going, Rothman said they didn’t faze him.
“I think the people who talk about the process just don’t know what they’re talking about or are just trying to deceive the public. This bill is the same text that was voted [through] in January,” he told i24NEWS. “The US Constitution was debated for less time than this small change.”
“Thousands of people are blocking the roads illegally, it doesn’t matter that the law is moderate, it doesn’t matter that we invested in the process a lot, it doesn’t matter 64 Knesset members voted it [through]. They’re not protesting the bill, they’re protesting democracy, they don’t like the outcome of the elections,” Rothman charged.
It seems that, like in USA, the Israeli DoJ has caused the police and the courts to avoid actually convicting anyone of any misdemeanor connected to the ongoing so-called protests with the exception of those that cross the red line of attacking the police. This situation must be rectified immediately to avoid a further rise in the level of violence and the (left oriented) opposition which has enjoyed playing out their deep-rooted power positions needs to be brought down to size.