100,000 Israelis protest against emulating NZ

The Guardian reports:

Upwards of 100,000 people gathered outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday in protest against an initial plenum vote on bills that would give politicians control over appointments to Israel’s supreme court, and limit its ability to overturn laws. Protesters blocked major roads across the country, and prevented some politicians from leaving their homes. …

Also among the proposals is a bill that would allow a simple parliamentary majority to override almost all supreme court rulings – a move that would give politicians unprecedented power in a country with no formal constitution or second legislative chamber that can perform other democratic checks and balances. The changes would probably help Netanyahu avoid prosecution in his ongoing corruption trial, in which he denies all charges.

The situation described above is meant to sound terrible, but it is in fact the situation in New Zealand. It is called parliamentary sovereignty.

I’m not against having judicial sovereignty (like in the US) so long as it comes from a written constitution which the people can change. But the worst of all worlds is where the judiciary simply decides they are in charge, and neither the people nor Parliament can over-ride them.