American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten faced criticism for saying Israel is close to losing its democracy amid protests over judicial reform.
Wide-spread protests are ongoing in Israel over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition moving forward with a bill to limit the power of the nation's Supreme Court by preventing it from blocking government decisions it deems unreasonable. The bill was given initial approval after many months of Netanyahu's government seeking to make several reforms to the court.
Opponents argue that Netanyahu is disrupting the checks and balances system and is attempting to seize more power for the right-wing parties in control of the government. Netanyahu's supporters believe the reforms are essential to take away some power from unelected judges.
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"Israel is on the precipice of losing it’s [sic] democracy… Protesters to grind Israel to a halt after blow to 'reasonableness standard,’" Weingarten tweeted Tuesday.
But American conservatives panned the union head for her take.
"You've already ruined public schools in America, please stay out of other countries," Washington Free Beacon contributor Noah Pollak tweeted at Weingarten. "Let's keep the blast radius of your work as small as possible."
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Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro called Weingarten "a ridiculous joke."
"So, by the way, is the idiotic notion that judges should be able to strike down laws on the basis that they violate some arbitrary standard of "reasonableness," Shapiro added.
"Ridiculous," the Heritage Foundation’s Nile Gardiner tweeted at Weingarten.
The superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District in New York, Joel Petlin, called her comment "shameful."
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"Israel is now on the precipice of regaining its democracy by ending the ridiculous *reasonableness standard* for judicial review," he tweeted. "That tool gave the court unlimited power over the elected Israeli government, far more than any power held by the US Supreme Court."
Demonstrators blocked major highways, leading to police arresting 42 people and using water cannons to clear the protesters on Tuesday.
Eurasia Group founder and president Ian Bremmer argued that the protests against Netanyahu's reform demonstrate democracy.
"[C]ounterpoint: months of peaceful protest forcing netanyahu to water down judicial reform shows extraordinary resilience of israel democracy," he tweeted in a reply to Weingarten.
Weingarten eventually limited who could reply to her tweet. In a subsequent tweet, Weingarten thanked President Biden "for standing up for democracy" in Israel, adding that "this Israeli government is extreme."
Weingarten did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
