As time passes, we are gradually discovering just how badly the driving forces behind the government’s planned judicial overhaul are afflicted by a warped view of what a democratic system of government actually should be.
Statements by ministers and lawmakers from Israel’s governing coalition reveal that the real intention behind the planned destruction of the judiciary is to create a government with no limits, a government that will have every conceivable power to harm minority rights while at the same time fortifying its position by neutralizing judicial review of its decisions.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the driving force behind the implementation of the legal overhaul, this week revealed another side of his appetite for undermining basic individual rights – this time, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In a speech at the Knesset, Levin opposed a bill by lawmaker Idan Roll of Yesh Atid that would have amended the law to prevent intimidation and harassment of journalists by explicitly protecting them. The bill was drafted in response to several recent cases in which journalists have been assaulted.
Levin said he opposes the bill because in his view, journalists at Israel’s major news outlets are nothing but “propagandists,” and “the situation is even worse than what exists in totalitarian states.” With this, he articulated not only his specific objection to the proposed amendment, but a much broader and more dangerous worldview that Israeli journalists have no right to any protection on account of the social role they play, because in his view, they aren’t playing this role the way they should.
The Supreme Court recognized the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of the press back in 1953 (the Kol Ha’am case). But Levin, simply because he is unhappy with the fact that journalists aren’t falling in line with his dangerous views, is undermining this recognition of the important role journalists play in Israel’s democracy.
Levin’s statement was yet another step in removing the masks from the faces of the driving forces behind the overhaul. They aren’t interested in reform or governability, but in creating fertile ground for violating individual rights, which are an inseparable part of any democratic system of government. Even worse, Levin is effectively inciting the public against journalists, and thereby endangering both their work and their personal security. Levin has consistently proven that he himself is a clear and present danger to Israeli democracy.
The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.