Overhaul architect Levin tells pro-reform rally bill must pass, for democracy’s sake

Speaking to the Tel Aviv pro-government rally via video link from the Knesset, Justice Minister and judicial overhaul architect Yariv Levin declares that it is he and the coalition who are fighting for democracy, decrying IDF reservists who have declared they will stop performing reserve duty if the coalition’s bill to limit the courts’ use of the reasonableness doctrine is passed into law.

The minister, who has been the driving force behind the efforts to remake Israel’s judiciary and legal system, claims it is those refusing to serve in the IDF reserves due to the coalition’s radical legal reforms who are the ones threatening Israeli democracy, not the proponents of the overhaul program itself.

“We are facing one of the most important decisions the country has ever known. Will we be a democracy or will we become a country controlled by a group of officers led by Ehud Barak?” Levin said, referring to the former prime minister, who is a fervid opponent of the current government and the judicial overhaul.

“The merit that we have to take part in the defense of the State of Israel does not put any of us above the people or in place of the people. Refusal [to perform reserve duty] crosses a red line. Surrendering to refusal to serve, that is the real end of democracy,” declares the justice minister.

“We will continue to stand firmly on guard for democracy, on guard for the position of the Knesset and the government. On guard for the choice of the electorate. Passing the law will be the strongest and clearest evidence of this.”

“Our hand is stretched out for understandings,” he adds. But “understandings also require the opposition to make concessions… The situation whereby only one side holds the key roles in the judicial system, that situation will not continue.”