Ben Shapiro Defends Netanyahu: 'Israeli courts are a self-selected dictatorship'

Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro defended the Netanyahu government’s plans to reform the Israeli judicial system, and excoriated media coverage of the proposed reforms.

In a segment on The Daily Wire, Shapiro called the Israeli judiciary a “dictatorship,” and argued in favor of the reforms proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud).

“Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire from the Left for pursuing a plan to democratize the Supreme Court of Israel,” Shapiro said.

“The media are so hypocritical about this stuff…particularly in the United States. The media in the United States keeps saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is some sort of fascist, that the newly-elected Knesset majority in Israel is some sort of fascist organization for seeking to…change the procedures for Supreme Court’s nominees… so that they are nominated by the Knesset or nominated by the Prime Minister and then confirmed by the Knesset, which sounds very much like the American system.”

Shapiro highlighted Israel’s lack of a written constitution, arguing that the Israeli Supreme Court’s judicial activism without a constitution offers the court unlimited power to effectively legislate from the bench.

“Also, they want to make sure that because Israel has no constitution, the Supreme Court can’t make up some constitution and declare itself dictator. And somehow, this makes Israel more fascist. It is ridiculous.”

“You have to understand exactly how the Israeli judiciary works. It is essentially a self-selected dictatorship. The way that Israel selects its judiciary is absurd.”

“There’s no constitution in Israel,” Shapiro explained. “In the United States, the Supreme Court says ‘We are speaking in the name of the Constitution, we are striking down an unconstitutional piece of legislation.’ Israel’s Supreme Court says the same thing, but there is no constitution in Israel, so they’re basically just saying, ‘Whatever we don’t like, we can strike down.’”

“Not just that, the Knesset never gave that power to the Supreme Court and, the way that the Supreme Court is selected in Israel is absurd.”

“In the United States, the way it works is the president picks somebody for the Supreme Court. That person goes through an advice and consent process from the Senate, and then is confirmed.”

“In Israel, the way Supreme Court judges are selected is they are appointed by the president of Israel, who again, is not the Prime Minister, from a list submitted by three current Supreme Court judges. They pick their own successors.”