The proposed overhaul of Israel's court system
has raised concerns from the UN's human rights chief, who fears that it will
"dramatically impair" the judiciary's ability to safeguard human
rights and the rule of law.
The religious-nationalist administration of
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing through measures in Israel's
parliament that they claim are necessary to tame activist judges who get
involved in politics.
The measures, which have generated widespread
demonstrations, could give the government more influence over selecting
justices and restrict the Supreme Court's capacity to overturn laws.
"Breaking from decades of established
practise, such a law would drastically undermine the judiciary's ability to
vindicate individual rights and to uphold the rule of law as an effective
institutional check on the executive and legislative power," claims Volker
Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He added that the changes would strengthen
political influence over the selection of judges.
The only democracy in the Middle East, Israel,
has been attacked more than any other country, according to Israel's Foreign
Minister Eli Cohen, who responded to Turk's comments by declaring, "We
will not accept moral preaching from those who ignore blatant human rights
violations in Syria, Iran, the Palestinian Authority, and Gaza.
Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva,
Meirav Eilon Shahar, asserted that Turk's earlier statement revealed bias.
Austria's Turk, who took over as High
Commissioner in October, urged Israel earlier this month to uphold
international human rights legislation after his office counted a
record-breaking 151 Palestinians killed by security forces in 2017.