Activists invade offices of think tank behind judicial overhaul
Women-led protest group barges into Kohelet Forum’s Jerusalem bureau with signs saying ‘There’s no God for racists’ and ‘Kohelet hates the poor’
Activists opposed to the government’s judicial overhaul on Sunday invaded the Jerusalem offices of the Kohelet Policy Forum, a think tank that has played a key role in formulating the contentious legislation.
The protesters from a women-led activist group called “Breaking Walls” barged into Kohelet’s offices with signs reading, “There’s no God for racists” and “Kohelet hates the poor.”
The activists said the conservative think tank “is advancing an agenda that hurts the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, public housing, and welfare.”
“People are living in poverty because of you and because of your policies,” the protesters told Kohelet employees, who told them to leave the office.
“You need to deal with the consequences of what you’re doing,” the activists said.
The protesters initially arrived at the Kohelet offices with a bouquet of flowers, saying they were bringing a delivery to the organization’s management. When a security guard opened the door they burst into the office and remained there until police removed them. Some of the protesters were taken in for questioning.
"המנכ"ל מאיר רובין אמר לחלק מאיתנו 'שמעתן על חוק דרומי? אתן על שטח פרטי מותר לי לירות בכן אם אני רוצה'", מספרת ספיר.
"הוא אמר זה הבית שלי, אתן נכנסתן לבית שלי".הפעילות מעידות שמנכ"ל פורום קהלת אמר את הדברים כשהוא נושא אקדח לגופו.
לעוד פרטים בכתבה:https://t.co/O5MBzklSBL
— Yossi Dorfman | יוסי דורפמן (@Yossi_Dorfman) April 2, 2023
“Some violent protesters broke into our offices, cursed us, pushed us, waved signs and put up stickers,” Meir Rubin, Kohelet’s executive director, told Channel 12.
Kohelet researchers played key roles in developing many of the government’s policies regarding the judiciary, with Justice Minister Yariv Levin citing Dr. Aviad Bakshi, the head of the institution’s legal department, as one of the scholars he consulted in drawing up the far-reaching proposals.
Critics have pointed to the group’s murky funding sources, noting the outsize influence dark money was wielding over Israeli public policy. American billionaires and other US groups have provided significant funding to Kohelet.
The organization has become a target for the anti-overhaul movement. The Brothers in Arms protest group barricaded Kohelet’s Jerusalem offices with sandbags and barbed wire last month, and anti-overhaul demonstrators have targeted appearances by the group’s leadership in the US in recent weeks.
Kohelet’s leadership itself has come out against certain parts of the overhaul. The head of the group, Prof. Moshe Koppel, has said the organization advised lawmakers to drop their pursuit of a law that would allow the Knesset to override High Court decisions to strike down legislation.
In February, Koppel published an article in the Makor Rishon newspaper saying that giving up the override clause in exchange for broad support for other parts of the legal shakeup would be “beneficial,” given the “understandable concern that it would be exploited, and the danger that it would contribute to escalating tensions between the branches of government.”
He also told students that the override clause was “a stupid idea,” given the “understandable concern that it would be exploited.”
Last month, Kohelet published a statement calling for the government to compromise on the overhaul and to consider discarding the override clause.
While it may not be pushing the override, the Kohelet Policy Forum has championed a bill to put key all judge appointments, including to the Supreme Court and its presidency, directly under coalition control.
Opponents of the overhaul and coalition negotiators have drawn a line in the sand on that bill, saying it will politicize the court, remove key checks on governmental power and cause grievous harm to Israel’s democratic character.
