Berlin, Aug. 20, (dpa/GNA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has backed Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s efforts to defuse the judicial reform planned by the right-wing religious government.
Scholz supports Herzog’s approach that a simple majority should not decide over a minority on this issue, according to comments made at the government’s Open House Day in Berlin on Sunday. The annual event allows ordinary citizens to put questions to their leaders.
Scholz said that part of democracy and the rule of law is “that you can perhaps be a minority for your whole life and still not be afraid.”
He said he hoped that democratic principles such as the separation of powers, the protection of minorities, the stability of the constitution and the broad-based composition of supreme courts would continue to be upheld in Israel in the future.
Israeli protestors have taken to the streets for more than half a year now in opposition to the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
On Saturday, more than 100,000 demonstrated in Tel Aviv, according to media reports.
At the end of July, the ruling coalition passed a controversial law as part of its push for judicial restructuring, which removes the Supreme Court’s ability to take action against “unreasonable” government decisions.
Critics classify the government’s actions as a threat to Israel’s democracy and warn that the country is in the process of turning into a dictatorship.
Netanyahu’s government, on the other hand, argues that the Supreme Court is too powerful in Israel and interferes too much in political issues.
In September, the Supreme Court will hear petitions against the law. If the court overturns it and the government does not accept it, Israel could face a state crisis.
GNA