Posted on 09/18/23
| News Source: JPost
Former Israeli defense officials warned US senators in the Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations that the judicial reform plan being promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government "harms Israel's national strength through the dismantling the IDF," in a letter on Monday, according to N12.
The letter, which was also sent to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein, accused Netanyahu of "leading acts aimed at harming the Israeli judicial system and the Supreme Court in a way that will nullify the independence of the Israeli judiciary and subordinate it to Netanyahu and his fellow politicians."
"These actions—led and promoted by Netanyahu—are transforming the State of Israel from a democracy based on the principles of our Declaration of Independence to an autocracy that harms Israel's national strength through the dismantling the IDF, its defense establishment, economy, financial stability, and risks the social fabric of the people and the State of Israel," wrote the defense officials.
The 51 signatories of the letter, which was sent as Netanyahu headed to the US for the UN General Assembly, include former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former prime minister, defense minister, and IDF chief of staff Ehud Barak, and dozens of other former leading officials in the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet, police, Defense Ministry, and National Security Council.
The signatories accused the prime minister of conducting the judicial reform in an attempt to stop the legal proceedings and the State Commission of Inquiry being carried out against him.