NEW YORK – In response to the wave of protests following the Knesset’s vote to pass the latest bill in the far-right government’s judiciary overhaul plan, T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization representing over 2,300 rabbis and cantors in the US and Canada, expressed its support and solidarity for protestors in Israel.
In a statement, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, said:
“The latest Knesset vote is one part of a sweeping package that seeks to dismantle Israeli democracy as we know it. Stripping the Supreme Court of their power to declare government actions ‘unreasonable’ would gut legal protections that could keep extremist government leaders from pushing their pro-occupation, anti-human rights agenda.
“Hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors have taken to the streets for the past several months to let Netanyahu and his cronies know that the people of Israel reject efforts to destroy Israeli democracy and the rights and freedoms it protects. The latest vote signals that Netanyahu’s government will continue its plans to carry out the dangerous judicial overhaul. But the swift reaction from protesting Israelis shows that the fierce opposition to this plan is stronger than ever.
“Right now, we are in the three-week mourning period leading up to Tisha B’Av, which marks the destruction of the First and Second Temple. The Talmud teaches that one reason for the destruction of Jerusalem is that the judges there judged according to the strictest definition of the law.. (Bava Metzia 30b). Rav Moshe Avigdor Amiel, the chief rabbi of pre-state Tel Aviv, explained this by referencing the Talmudic idea that mishpat, law, must be combined with shalom, peace. (Justice in the Jewish State 4:2) In other words, the role of judges is not merely to be strict interpreters of law, but also to serve the interests of society at large. Repealing the ‘reasonableness’ clause strips modern judges of this key responsibility, to the detriment of all.”
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.
