Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley blasted President Joe Biden Wednesday for interfering in Israeli domestic politics, saying the U.S. would never tolerate the same.
Haley was referring to Biden’s refusal to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, as he invited both of Netanyahu’s predecessors, in protest at the Israeli government’s ongoing judicial reforms.
The Biden administration has backed the opposition’s protests against the reforms. Critics on the Israeli right note that Biden appears to be trying to oust Netanyahu at a delicate time, as Iran is nearing a nuclear weapon.
Israel’s judiciary, referred to as a “juristocracy” by critics, has assumed vast powers in recent decades, including not only the power to overturn legislation but also the power to control the appointment of judges to the bench.
Because most of the judges are left-wing, and from Israel’s secular, European elite, many Israelis on the right and from Middle Eastern or African backgrounds have come to resent the court’s interference in government.
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