Former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak this evening (Saturday) sharply criticized Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and the revolution he is planning in the judicial system.
In interviews he gave to the main editions of Channels 11, 12 and 13, Barak said that Levin "gathered all the bad proposals collected over the years and connected them together into some kind of chain that is strangling Israeli democracy."
The result obtained as a result, according to him, is "the cancellation of judicial review in Israel".
Barak added: "You have no greater evil than this as a constitutional revolution. The most parallel thing is a revolution of tanks."
Strong criticism.
Aharon Barak, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
According to Barak, "the one who will be harmed first and foremost is each and every individual - their rights, their human dignity, their life, their body, their property, their personal freedom, their movement, their day-to-day life."
"This reform is a chain - a chain of poison beads. If this chain goes around our necks and is fully implemented - this is the beginning of the destruction of the third house," said Barak.
"This will be a Turkish democracy. We don't have a formal constitution, but there are basic laws that the declaration of independence recognized."
A resounding reform.
Netanyahu and Levin, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Barak's words come against the background of the reform announced by Minister Levin, according to which the Knesset will enact a superseding clause with a majority of 61 members of the Knesset, which will allow the coalition to re-pass laws that will be invalidated by the High Court. In addition, the reform states that the composition of the Committee for the Selection of Judges will change, the High Court will only be able to invalidate laws With a majority of 12 judges out of 15 and will not be able to discuss fundamental laws, the use of the reason of reasonableness will be canceled and the ombudsmen in the government ministries will become positions of trust for the minister.
Aharon Barak with Binyamin Netanyahu, in the old days, photo: Amos Ben Gershom - PM
Barak said that he does not regret that he supported reaching a plea deal with Netanyahu, and revealed that Netanyahu asked him to speak with then-Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit: "I was in favor of a plea deal, and that was not a mistake, I am still in favor today. But from the moment an indictment was filed against him Instead of being the defender of the system, he became the destroyer of the system."
In response to the question of whether Netanyahu was ready to admit fraud and breach of trust, Barak replied "Yes, the court will rule on the defamation. The idea was that at the base of the plea deal - he (Netanyahu) would retire from political life."
According to him, "He was very close to the deal, suddenly he got cold feet and went back."
Barak also said that if the parties had reached a plea deal, Levin's reform would not have started.
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