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by Dion J. Pierre
People take part in a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government’s judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel July 29, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A leading American Orthodox group on Wednesday issued a statement denouncing US officials’ criticisms of judicial reform legislation recently passed in Israel.
“Whatever the merits or shortcomings of that plan, American lawmakers and other government officials, while they are entitled to their opinions, should not be seeking to use their positions of power to meddle in the internal affairs of another sovereign democratic state,” said Agudath Israel of America, a nonprofit founded in 1922 to serve as an umbrella organization for Orthodox Jews.
The group, which neither endorsed nor criticized the legislation, continued, “What form, if any, judicial reform in Israel should take is a matter for Israelis to determine, through Israel’s vibrant democratic process. The United States would rightly resent another nation’s attempts to influence our own internal political affairs. Members of Congress and other American officials should ponder that, and leave Israeli issues to Israelis.”
Agudath Israel’s statement comes amid a clamorous debate in the US over the future of Israel’s democracy in light of last month’s passing of a bill that abolished the “reasonableness” standard used by the Israeli Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of the nation’s laws.
While the organization did not mention any US officials by name, their denouncement appears to be a rebuke of the Biden administration’s saying last Monday that “the vote…took place with the slimmest possible majority” as well as comments made by various US Jewish civil rights groups — such as the Anti-Defamation League, which expressed being “deeply disappointed” — and lawmakers.
On Thursday, Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Annie Kuster (D-NH) introduced a resolution calling on the US Congress to denounce “actions that undermine Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state.” In the past, Schakowsky has opposed the US Department of State’s use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is used by over 40 countries and widely considered as the best in the world for identifying and fighting antisemitism.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
