Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Yariv Levin stated in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that the High Court of Justice is “an elitist bastion that too often overrules lawmakers chosen by the people.”
“No democracy can accept a situation that the government, the elected government that has a majority in the parliament, won’t be able to pass any bill and to do anything because there are protests, because there are some people that are against it,” Levin said.
"No democracy can accept a situation that the government, the elected government that has a majority in the parliament, won't be able to pass any bill and to do anything because there are protests, because there are some people that are against it."
Yariv Levin
Levin challenged the interviewer’s questions critiquing the current Israeli government, assuring that “the vast majority of the members of parliament that support this government stand firmly behind democratic and liberal principles.”
He further noted his belief that the High Court is above the government, the parliament, and the will of the people.
Interviewing the other side of the judicial reform conflict
CBS’s 60 Minutes also conducted an interview with Eyal Naveh, who leads the “Brothers and Sisters in Arms” group of IDF reservists that take part in the numerous weekly protests against the government’s planned judicial reform.
Numerous participants from the group noted their fears of the judicial reform coming into effect. They believe that Israel could become autocratic or a theocracy should the government pass laws that weaken the courts.
Naveh pointed out to 60 Minutes how the ultra-Orthodox parties plan to pass a law to exempt haredim from military service.
“My 15-year-old, in three years he will go to the army. I’m gonna not sleep, like, three years. And the other father, the ultra-Orthodox father, will sleep all the time,” he said.
The CBS report stated that IDF reservists, who pledged to stop showing up for duty as a result of the judicial reform’s passing, faced suggestions by Netanyahu’s allies to be tried or “even executed.”