The Israeli parliament, Knessett, passed a controversial bill on Thursday, which will allow more voters to gain more opinions from the selection of judges, a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reform.
In the United States, elected leaders play a role in every stage of federal judge's choice, from nominations by the president to confirmation by the Senate. Many state and local judges are directly elected by the people.
However, in many other democracies, judges are selected by committees, usually with legal experts involved. In Israel, the judges themselves join the committee. This means that the judiciary has great power over its own choices.
Netanyahu's conservative party, Likud, sought to correct what was perceived as judicial leftist bias by opening up the selection process to members of the Knesset, which are usually more conservative.
This idea is one of several judicial reforms originally proposed by the Netanyahu government in early 2023. His enemy launched a protest that lasted several months, and subsequent debates split the Israeli people.
Many blame these departments for not predicting the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023. Palestinian terrorist groups had planned an attack long ago, but they may have believed that the attack would be more successful due to international recognition that Israel was weakened by an internal cleavage.
The Netanyahu government passed one reform in mid-2023, ending its ability to override the fundamental law that serves as the quasi-constitutional law of the Supreme Court of Israel and provides the judiciary's own authority, but the court overturned the law.
The government postponed further reforms due to political divisions. It seemed willing to shelve reforms indefinitely since October 7th, but as the intensity of the war effort has subsided, they have taken them again in recent months.
Netanyahu defended his government from the allegations by opposition parties that his judicial reforms are a threat to democracy, noting that reforms are more and less democratic, by suppressing the power of judges.
The Netanyahu government is also fighting the Attorney General over the scope of her authority, including her ability to review and reverse the government's decisions and appointments.
Netanyahu's cabinet voted earlier this week to fire the Attorney General. He also fired the head of the Israeli Security Bureau known as Singh Bett or Shabac.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News; Breitbart News Sunday Sirius XM Patriot will be available Sundays from 7pm to 10pm (4pm to 7pm). He is the author of Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Daysyou can pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author Trump's Virtue: Lessons and Legacy of President Donald TrumpIt is now available on Audible. He is the winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpollak.
