JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In his popular Daily Wire podcast, Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro defended the Netanyahu government’s plans to reform the Israeli judicial system, and slammed the negative media coverage of the proposed reforms.
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Shapiro termed the Israeli judiciary a “dictatorship,” and argued in favor of the reforms proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud).
“Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire from the Left for pursuing a plan to democratize the Supreme Court of Israel,” Shapiro said.
“The media are so hypocritical about this stuff…particularly in the United States. The media in the United States keeps saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is some sort of fascist, that the newly-elected Knesset majority in Israel is some sort of fascist organization for seeking to…change the procedures for Supreme Court’s nominees… so that they are nominated by the Knesset or nominated by the Prime Minister and then confirmed by the Knesset, which sounds very much like the American system.”
.@benshapiro defends @netanyahu on the Israeli Supreme Court reform.
“People are looking for an excuse to yell at Netanyahu and call him a fascist… these people are protesting nonsense.” pic.twitter.com/LwojczZc9d
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) January 23, 2023
Shapiro explained that in the absence of a constitution, the Israeli courts can effectively take control of the legislative arm, thus neutering the democratically elected Knesset.
He added that “Also, they [the government] want to make sure that because Israel has no constitution, the Supreme Court can’t make up some constitution and declare itself dictator. And somehow, this makes Israel more fascist. It is ridiculous.”
“You have to understand exactly how the Israeli judiciary works. It is essentially a self-selected dictatorship. The way that Israel selects its judiciary is absurd.”
“There’s no constitution in Israel,” Shapiro explained. “In the United States, the Supreme Court says ‘We are speaking in the name of the Constitution, we are striking down an unconstitutional piece of legislation.’ Israel’s Supreme Court says the same thing, but there is no constitution in Israel, so they’re basically just saying, ‘Whatever we don’t like, we can strike down.’”
“Not just that, the Knesset never gave that power to the Supreme Court and, the way that the Supreme Court is selected in Israel is absurd.”
“In the United States, the way it works is the president picks somebody for the Supreme Court. That person goes through an advice and consent process from the Senate, and then is confirmed.”
“In Israel, the way Supreme Court judges are selected is that they are appointed by the president of Israel, who again, is not the Prime Minister, from a list submitted by three current Supreme Court judges. They pick their own successors.”
He’s right. By the way nypost wrote yesterday how soros is destroying everything decent
Ben Shapiro is 100% correct. But, unfortunately, the comments section reflexively attacks everything he says. Usually by distorting his words. This time it will be interesting to watch what happens. Most commenters here have been critical of the Israeli Supreme Court and have taken Netanyahu’s side in this spat. Now that Shapiro opined, will commenters change their minds and suddenly support the Court just to spite Shapiro?
To give the legislature the power to overturn a ruling of the Supreme Court by simple majority is to impose a dictatorship of the majority. Who will protect minority rights? In the US, the idea is that the court is there to act independently and protect minority rights from being destroyed by a elected majority. Just because a majority of people want something, it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.
Anyone who has studied law and American history knows that Shapiro is absolutely correct the only reason there are people who disagree is that liberal are either ignorant or malevolent Judges are like any public servant if they are not answerable to society they will be corrupt period
Ben Shapiro lives in the US. Israeli politics are not his business.
Shapiro will always take a Right Wing view whether it is correct or not. Bibi and his crew are a bunch of thugs and criminals, Democracy in its true meaning is the last thing on their mind. “Stay out of jail” is what they are thinking.