In recent weeks, Israel's far-right Prime Minister Bibi "BombBomb" Netanyahu has been pushing what he calls "reforms" to Israel's judicial system, making it far less independent and subject to the whims of power politics. Critics view the proposed changes as actions that would solidify Netanyahu's grip on power, along with the extreme right coalition he leads. From Douglas Bloomfield in the Jerusalem Post:
"Netanyahu and his extremist coalition appear hellbent on rushing ahead, in defiance of public and international calls to slow it down and seek a national consensus. He and his Knesset allies appear prepared to sacrifice democracy in favor of power.
The prime minister insists his approach would make Israel more democratic, but the evidence points emphatically in the opposite direction.
Alon Pinkas, former Israeli consul-general in New York, said the Netanyahu proposal is 'a swift, brutal and illegitimate attempt to change the regime, curtail civil liberties, deny the Supreme Court its judicial-review powers, weaken checks and balances, destroy constitutional guardrails, and control the media and academia through constant harassment.'
For Netanyahu, it is also personal. These changes – reforms are a misnomer – are Netanyahu’s 'get out of jail free' card, thanks to provisions that would effectively quash the criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust for which he is currently on trial, and grant him future immunity."
Former attorney-general Avichai Mandelblit, who had indicted Netanyahu for these crimes, said in a recent interview that the prime minister’s motivation is to nullify his trial.
Tzipi Livni, a former justice minister and foreign minister, has said Netanyahu’s 'personal interest is to delegitimize the judicial system.'” (our emphasis)
Sound familiar? We noted last month that there's "a strong whiff of lawless Trumpism" in Netanyahu's move to undermine and control Israel's judiciary. That Bibi and the Malignant Loser would be in a race toward corrupt, self-serving autocracy isn't surprising. Netanyahu's cozy relationship with Russian war criminal Vladimir Putin is another indication that he's chosen autocracy over democracy in his grab for power. His attack on Israel's independent judiciary will be just the first step.
(photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
