Former Prime Minister Olmert Wants ‘War’ To Stop Judicial Reform

Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister, demanded on Monday that the movement of opposition to the government’s proposed judicial reform go on to the next phase, one fueled by violent confrontation.

“We must advance to the next step, the stage of the war since talks do not fight a war, Israel National News quotes him as saying, “War is waged in face-to-face combat, head-to-head and hand-to-hand, and that is what will happen here.

“It’s encouraging to see 100,000 people, but they won’t be the ones who start the actual battle. He continued that true conflict will breach these barriers and turn into a genuine war.

Tuesday saw the Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announce that it has reported Olmert for his “dangerous incitement” to the police.

Olmert’s remarks followed criticism of the Israeli government by Yair Lapid, the head of the Israeli opposition, at a large protest against the reform plan held outside the Knesset on Monday.

According to Lapid, “millions of Israelis are watching us, observing how a corrupt, radical government intends to obliterate the nation at record speed.” They are shaking in the same way that tyrants had always trembled when they realized they were up against people who weren’t willing to give up. We’ll battle until we succeed in the streets, he continued.

These declarations followed Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai’s warning of “bloodshed.”

“This is a summary of world history. By using democratic tools, nations can turn into dictatorships. Only through bloodshed do countries re-establish democracy, he claimed.

The first item in the government’s judicial reform package was sent for its first reading in the full plenum by the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee earlier on Monday. This is likely to happen next week.

The proposed legislation, which would change Basic Law: Judiciary, would grant the government authority over the Judicial Selection Committee by designating five of the panel’s nine members as its members, with the appointment of judges simply requiring a simple majority.

While supporters have cited the U.S. as an example, opponents of this particular reform claim that it would give the coalition too much power.

Senate, which frequently follows partisan lines when approving Supreme Court justices by a simple majority.

Members of the coalition were shouted down by opposition politicians before the committee vote, with some of them needing to be physically restrained. A large number of lawmakers were expelled from the gathering.

Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, and Justice Minister Yariv Levin invited members of the opposition to a meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Monday night to discuss the government’s plan for judicial reform.

Lapid turned down the invitation and stated that he would only agree to speak if the proposed law was put on hold.

Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister, compared President Isaac Herzog’s efforts to negotiate between the coalition and opposition over the government’s proposed judicial reform earlier this month to the West’s appeasement of Nazi Germany.

Neville Chamberlain, the former British prime minister best known for negotiating the Munich Agreement, which gave Adolf Hitler permission to annexe portions of then-Czechoslovakia in exchange for a “peace in our time” that never materialized and instead fueled the Nazi death machine, was depicted with Herzog’s head superimposed on his body. Barak posted the image on social media.

Following a request for his murder by another anti-government protest leader, Prime Minister Netanyahu sharply blasted the “increasing tsunami” of threats against him and other leaders.

Threats against elected officials and I appeared to have passed all lines, but this is not the case, according to Netanyahu, who said, “We have now heard and seen an explicit threat to murder the prime minister of Israel.”