Significant drop in public trust in government institutions and politicians; tension between Jews and Arabs is most serious point of friction; most Israelis are proud of being Israeli
With the contentious Regulations Bill scheduled to be discussed at a special Knesset committee, the Israel Democracy Institute's 'Forum of Former Ministers' harshly criticized the proposal, stating that it "retroactively overturns a Supreme Court rulings, enables the stealing of land from its owners, violates Israeli law and accepted international legal norms and customs, and is an affront to the very concept of justice."
IDI weighed in today on the letter of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Miriam Naor, who reacted negatively to the Justice Ministry's announcement that it intends to change the procedure by which new judges to Israel's Supreme Court are appointed.
The Israel Democracy Institute’s Dr. Amir Fuchs came out against the statement by Minister Naftali Bennett that Elor Azaria should be immediately pardoned, even if convicted by the military court. Azaria shot a terrorist who came at soldiers with a knife, after the terrorist was disarmed. Fuchs said that Bennett’s proposal is unadvisable.
Despite the many changes that have been made to the bill, largely due to the opposition of many coalition MKs that did not want to harm human rights organizations, the bill is still not a good one, it will not improve transparency, and it has no precedent in the Western World.
Sixty-two percent of Israelis expect Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to win the U.S. election, according to the latest Peace Index, published Wednesday by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University.
The Israel Democracy Institute praises Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who at the Israel Bar Association conference in Tel Aviv on Aug. 31 railed against overregulation and over-legislation.
The Israel Democracy Institute’s Dr. Gilad Malach, head of the program on Ultra-Orthodox Society in Israel, today came out against a decision made by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri in coordination with the Civil Service Commission to recognize Rabbinical studies as an academic degree in order to allow Haredim to participate in local tenders.
Sixty-nine percent of Jewish Israelis believe it is good for the IDF to espouse a pluralist and open value system, including accepting “others,” such as members of the LGBT community.
Head of IDI’s Religion and State Program: ‘It should be forbidden to appoint rabbis to senior posts who copy-and-paste laws from Biblical times and apply them to today’
In advance of Wednesday’s discussion in the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee on the Mikveh Bill, the head of IDI’s Religion and State program, Yair Sheleg, sent a policy paper to committee MKs asking them to vote against the bill. He said the bill unacceptably discriminates, something which is known to its sponsors and clear in the bill’s explanatory notes. The legislation was presented by its sponsors in reaction to a Supreme Court ruling that public ritual baths could be used by the wider public, including for non-Orthodox conversions.