Posted on 12/28/2022 5:37:53 PM PST by Nextrush
Incoming finance minister says he aims to promote free market, freedom of expression; Israel's new government isn't what you've heard, he argues
Far-right Religious Zionism chair Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that controversial reforms proposed by the incoming coalition only seek to make Israel more like the United States.
In a pitch seemingly aimed at the American public, the incoming finance minister said he has been vilified by US media, arguing portrayals of him as set on implementing Jewish religious law in Israel are mistaken...
In the op-ed, Smotrich justified planned judicial reforms that will limit the power of the judiciary as another attempt to imitate the US model.
"In the US, elected politicians appoint federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, making the bench at least indirectly responsive to the people. In Israel, sitting Supreme Court justices have veto power over new appointments to the court," he said.
"Our emphasis on judicial reform is meant to bring Israel closer to the American political model with some limited checks to ensure the judicial system respects the law. We seek to appoint judges in Israel in a process similar to America's."
Smotrich also said that a finance minister he planned to advance a free-market agenda and to crack down on Israeli labor unions.
"This includes removing the government price controls and import restrictions that have limited competition and kept consumer prices high, as well as regulatory reforms and a loosening of bureaucratic control over small businesses," he wrote.
On the issues of religion and state, the far-right lawmaker vowed that "the new government will never seek to impose anything on a citizen that goes against his or her beliefs."...
"This is no different from the rights the US Supreme Court recently affirmed in its Masterpiece Cakeshop...
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Smotrich is hated by the people who claim to be against "hate" and he wrote a piece to explain various issues including the notion of reforming Israel's judiciary so it's more like the judiciary in the USA.
If it isn’t broke, don’t try to fix it.
The Israeli judiciary certainly is broken and in need of reform.
It certainly makes sense to reform the judicial system.
To be fair, he says they want Israel’s method of selecting judges to be more like America’s. I think that for the Religious Zionists, there’s a pretty sharp limit on the extent to which they want their country to be more like America.
I see hope in this new government in Israel.
It is moving forward on a number of fronts while we stagnate here in the US with the Biden Excrement Festival.
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