“In sovereign states, sovereign democracies, the elected representatives of the people make the decisions, and that is how it is going to be in Israel,” the Israeli prime minister said.
By World Israel News Staff
Speaking to host Mark Levin on Sunday on Fox News‘ ‘Life, Liberty & Levin,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the sovereign State of Israel will make its own decisions, based on the will of the Israeli people.”
“I’ve been elected six times democratically…for a total of 16 years, and in all those years I never commented on internal debates in other democracies. I have chosen not to do that,” Netanyahu said.
“Everybody has an opinion on Israel. They don’t have an opinion on the riots in France or the protests there or the debates that happen inside other countries.
“You have a major debate between the Supreme Court and the executive right now in America, and I really don’t care to comment about it. But if people choose to comment about ours. It’s OK. We’ll make our own decisions. In solid states, sovereign democracies, the elected representatives of the people make the decisions, and that is how it is going to be in Israel,” the prime minister stated.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden sent a warning to Israel through the media, telling the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman that if judicial reform is not passed with a wide consensus, there is a risk to the allies’ relationship.
“You are going to break something with Israel’s democracy and with your relationship with America’s democracy, and you may never be able to get it back,” Biden said in a message to Netanyahu through Friedman.
According to Biden, it is the “enduring protest movement” against the reform that is “demonstrating the vibrancy of Israel’s democracy.” Neither Friedman nor Biden noted that a majority of the country’s electorate freely elected a right-wing government that had campaigned partially on the promise of judicial reform.
In the interview with Netanyahu on Sunday, Levin noted that the massive ongoing protests across Israel, ostensibly against the planned judicial reforms that would allegedly bring about an end to democracy and turn Israel into a dictatorship, are really about overthrowing the Netanyahu government. To which Netanyahu responded that the opposition has “openly” stated that intent even before the November 2022 national election, which they lost.
Back in March, commenting on the countrywide demonstrations and “Days of Disruption,” Netanyahu said, “Only four months ago we held elections. The government I head received a clear mandate from the citizens of Israel. The fact that for two whole months our repeated calls for dialogue received no response from the opposition proves that what interests the opposition is not the judicial reforms, but the creation of anarchy and the overthrow of the elected government.”
The judicial reforms in fact are “strengthening democracy,” Netanyahu told Levin. “We’re bringing it back in line to where most democracies are. Where Israel was in its first five decades [before the overhaul by then-president of the Supreme Court Aharon Barak] and where it should be now in the coming decades…
“There is a balance there. We are trying to restore the balance. That is said to be the end of democracy, and this is just silly.”