Supreme Court, Democracy
Rothman to Hayut: "In a democracy, you can say enraging things"
Knesset Constitutional Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman responds to the controversy over the caricature of Hayut standing over a dead soldier making the social media round, defending the right of citizens to freely express themselves.
After the Courts Administration appealed directly to the Shevi’i newsletter demanding it remove a caricature it published showing former Supreme Court President Esther Hayut standing over a dead soldier, demanding its removal on the grounds of it rising to the level of criminal incitement, Knesset Constitutional Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman responded, saying that “in a democracy, you’re also allowed to say enraging things.”
Rothman sharply criticized the Courts Administration, saying “there is no reason on earth that the legal adviser to the Courts Administration should start working as a critic of caricatures.”
Rothman added to this by doing a side-by-side comparison of the caricature alongside one showing MK Orit Struk dropping a bomb on leftists, with Rothman commenting that “those who think only their side may express themselves, be outrageous or enraging, is not a democrat and not a liberal.”
