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Calling Netanyahu supporters “young, violent thugs,” Olmert says Israelis must “pay a price” for being in favor of the judicial overhaul.
By: Adina Katz – worldisraelnews.com
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert urged U.S. President Joe Biden to penalize Israel over legislation aimed at reforming the judicial system during an interview with a far-left Hebrew-language news channel.
Should the judicial overhaul advance, “I call on the United States to make a new assessment of relations with Israel, including everything that implies,” Olmert told web-based Democrat TV.
“Those who love the State of Israel must act against the government. We must be clear here.
“I know Biden, personally. We’ve had a good, personal relationship for years. There is no senator in the modern history of the United States who has a longer history of voting for Israel than Biden. Biden, if he loves Israel, must act against the government,” he said.
“He must formally announce that he’s re-evaluating the relationship with Israel,” Olmert stressed.
“This will gain the attention of Israel. It’s so the violent thugs who support Netanyahu will understand the price they’ll pay for the judicial coup.”
Olmert continued by saying that other global leaders should avoid maintaining cordial relations with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, effectively turning him into an international pariah.
“I call on world leaders not to meet with Netanyahu and to shun him,” he added.
Olmert has been one of the most vocal opponents to the judicial reform legislation, urging mass disruptions and civil disobedience aimed at halting the legislation. As for violence, in February, he called for “real war.”
After being convicted of corruption, fraud, and financial wrongdoing, Olmert served 16 months in an Israeli prison.
A bitter enemy of the premier, Olmert recently lost a defamation lawsuit and was ordered to pay some 100,000 shekels ($27,000) to the Netanyahu family after he called them “irreparably mentally ill” in a TV interview.
Concerning the contentious judicial reform issue, World Israel News also reported on Monday that Education Minister Yoav Kisch (Likud) said Sunday in an interview with Army Radio that the government will only move forward with parts of the judicial reform that are part of what he dubbed a public “consensus.”
“We made the responsible decision to only promote matters that have a consensus. We made major concessions,” he said, even though the Opposition last month “blew up” the negotiations that had taken place since March under the auspices of President Isaac Herzog.
“The coalition has given up on promoting the full reform and that includes the Override Clause with a 61-vote majority as well as changing the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee,” he cited as examples.
The Override Clause was meant to give final legislative say back to the Knesset by allowing the plenum to override Supreme Court decisions nixing laws that had been passed. Many critics of the clause have said that only a super-majority in the Knesset should be able to overcome that kind of judicial challenge and not just a simple majority of 61 of the 120 MKs.
The Likud did this even though this was “something our [coalition] partners wanted,” he said, seemingly referring to the ultra-Orthodox parties. The current law allowing most ultra-Orthodox to get out of army duty by declaring that “Torah study is their occupation” has expired and they are afraid that a Basic Law that has been floated to enshrine their privilege will be struck down by the courts.
