Several social democratic party leaders in Europe signed a joint statement on Thursday condemning the Israeli government’s recently passed judicial overhaul legislation, and expressed support for the pro-democracy demonstrators.
The statement was signed by parties from Hungary, France, Spain, Holland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Czechia and Poland, amongst others. It described the law passed on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition that now bars Israel’s Supreme Court from deeming certain government decisions or appointments as unreasonable, as “weaken[ing] Israeli democracy.”
“The massive public opposition to the legislation over many months is inspiring,” the statements read. “Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are fighting for democracy in their country.”
The statement concluded by pledging solidarity with the Israeli Labor Party and pro-democracy protesters. “We will take concrete steps to express our concerns to the Israeli government through bilateral and multilateral channels,” said the statement.
Concurrently, Israeli Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli spoke with the U.K. Labor Party leader, Keir Starmer. According to a source privy to the conversation, Starmer expressed his support for the Israeli pro-democracy protesters.
The two also spoke about strengthening ties and future cooperation to advance their policies.
“In the past several days I’ve been receiving calls of support from social democratic leaders around the world. Good friends of Israel are very worried about the judicial coup taking place in [Israel],” Michaeli said.
“[I’m talking about] fellow parties, and social democrats, around the world with whom we are in continuous contact in the Labor Party offer help and knowledge and above all solidarity with the liberal movements in Israel. As the leader of the Labor Party, I see enormous importance in strengthening ties with the democratic movements in the world for the sake of a liberal and democratic Israel.”
Thursday’s letter follows statements issued by the European Union, France, the United Kingdom and Germany which join the criticism from the Biden administration and senior American legislators over the advancement of the legislation. The U.S. administration on several occasions stressed its desire to see a compromise based on broad consensus in Israel, and this was mentioned again in the conversation on Tuesday between U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The U.S. administration is following, and concerned about, the crisis in the IDF and the possibility of deterioration in war preparedness.
Source : Haaretz