Rivlin: Judaism with democracy is the great challenge

President Reuven Rivlin, at a swearing-in ceremony for over a dozen judges on Monday, instructed the new jurists to embrace both Jewish and democratic ideals in their rulings. His comments were a hint at his open opposition to a government-sponsored constitutional bill that has been deemed undemocratic by its critics.

“Democracy and Judaism, Judaism and democracy in one expression,” Rivlin said at the ceremony held at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. “That is the great challenge that is always before us, and is before you right now.”

Fifteen judges and two senior court notaries were sworn in at the event, which was also attended by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, another critic of the bill.

Livni emphasized the importance of the appointment process for judges, saying that it meant more to her than the controversial “Jewish state” bills that have threatened to tear apart the coalition.

“One of the MKs who proposed one of these bills said to me that he is prepared to give up on the various nation-state bills if I just give him the Judicial Selection Committee,” Livni said. “The Judicial Selection Committee I won’t give to them.”

The “Jewish state” bill, which has been proposed in various forms and which would enshrine Israel’s character as a Jewish state in its Basic Laws, its de facto constitution, has come under harsh criticism from Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, as well as opposition lawmakers, and has generated some concern in the international community.

Rivlin and his predecessor Shimon Peres have come out against the legislation.

During Monday’s swearing-in ceremony, Supreme Court President Asher Grunis condemned the publication of photoshopped pictures of Rivlin, Livni and Lapid dressed in Nazi uniforms, apparently as a protest against their objection to the bills.

“These pictures again remind us of the violence that spreads in Israeli society and the many dangers in accepting this kind of deplorable phenomenon,” Grunis said, a reference to a placard that depicted prime minister Yitzhak Rabin as a Nazi shortly before his assassination in 1995. That poster was seen as part of a general anti-Rabin atmosphere at the time that many said led to his killing.

“This kind of behavior must be rooted out and condemned from every platform,” Grunis continued.

Critics say the “Jewish state” bills are undemocratic to Israel’s Arab and other minority populations. A stormy cabinet meeting on the bills at the beginning of last week saw Livni accuse Netanyahu of backing the legislation in order to try and pry apart the coalition so that he can call elections.