Israel Supreme Court Jerusalem (Wikipedia)
More than 500 Israeli academics on the faculties of institutions of higher learning around the world including Harvard, Yale, Cambridge and Oxford universities, signed an open letter in opposition to the controversial judicial reform plan proposed by the government of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The academics say that the judicial reforms, which Israel’s opposition charges will harm Israel’s democracy, are “unacceptable” and so they called their group “UnXeptable.”
“Israeli academic institutions are already experiencing a loss of funding and a ‘brain drain,’ due to the government’s assault on democracy and the politicization of research and education. These destructive processes will eventually lead to the decline of science and the higher education system in Israel,” wrote UnXeptable.
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The academics of UnXeptable called the Netanyahu government’s conduct destructive and scandalous and said that it is characterized by “concealment and distortion of facts, verbal abuse, dangerous incitement, and disregard of experts’ opinions.”
The group went on to accuse Netanyahu and his government of, “pursuing limitless power” which they said requires “relentless, uncompromising acts of protest and resistance.”
UnXeptable calls itself a grassroots movement and was launched by a group of Israelis residing in the San Francisco – Bay Area in support of a democratic Israel. The group also made a personal attack on Benjamin Netanyahu asserting that the foundations of Israeli democracy are being challenged by an “ultra-right-wing government led by a Prime Minister indicted for criminal bribery who decided to pass an overhaul judicial reform that will turn Israel from a vibrant liberal democracy into a dictatorship.”
“American Israelis and Israeli ex-pats will not stand idle. We want to support the ability of the Israeli people to recover from many years of divisiveness, culture of corruption, and fear-mongering used by PM Netanyahu and reinstate the values on which the country was established – social justice and democracy,” said UnXeptable.
Massive protests have rocked Israel since January when Justice Minister Yariv Levin revealed the government’s plans to alter the nature of Israel’s judicial system. The government’s judicial reform plan would greatly curtail the power of Israel’s Supreme Court to nullify legislation passed by the Knesset and also limit the authority of Israel’s attorney general. The opposition charges this would harm Israel’s democracy, eroding foreign confidence in the country and hurting its economy. And this is why the country is now on the brink of what some are describing as the biggest societal clash in Israel’s history.
But is not likely that the actions of UnXeptable will have any real effect on the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu and his ministers are dismissive of the opinions of academics and will be sure to point out that the group is comprised of expatriates who choose not to live in Israel.
