Labor chief warns US-style abortion rulings could come to Israel

Labor leader Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli warns that Israel could soon see measures similar to the US Supreme Court’s overturning the legal right to abortions.

According to Michaeli, one of the strongest feminist voices in Israeli politics, both Israel and the United States are facing “extreme and dangerous right-wing” politics.

Pointing to the US Supreme Court decision to invalidate the legal right to abortion, Michaeli says that a similar force is at play in Israel, where she says the right-wing blocks Israeli accession to the Istanbul Convention on violence against women and wants to change the Supreme Court.

The Istanbul Convention, an international treaty regarding domestic violence and violence against women, was initially on track to be signed by Israel, but right-wing organizations have fiercely fought the move in large part due to the requirements to take in women seeking asylum due to gender-based violence. The issue has stalled due to these efforts.

“If you think it’s different here, it’s not,” Michaeli says.