Justice minister defends law hobbling Supreme Court

Justice Minister Shaked deflects the harsh criticism leveled at an initiative that would limit the court’s ability to strike down laws on constitutional grounds.

She says that those who oppose the law are too quick to predict the demise of Israel’s democratic character.

“Every week there’s someone proclaiming the end of Israeli democracy, sometimes because of a government process, and sometimes because of some legislation,” she says at the same gathering where the Supreme Court’s president called the bill an “assault on the judicial branch.”

“The inflation in announcements of the death of democracy has become absurd,” Shaked says. “I regret to disappoint the eulogizers, but go outside and take a look — Israeli democracy is alive and thriving and kicking and stronger than any of its critics and eulogizers.”