An Israeli minister tells Blinken that the country does not need "lessons in democracy" from the US

MADRID, 31 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of National Missions of Israel, Orit Strock, has transferred to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that the country does not need "lessons of democracy", after the veiled criticism of some proposals of the new government, led by the Likud and integrated by various far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

"Dear Mr. Blinken. I understand that you decided to give our prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) a lesson in democracy," said Strock, of the far-right Religious Zionism, through a message on his account on the social network Twitter.

"Democracy is, above all, the duty of a country to determine its path according to the vote of its citizens, all having the same weight and without foreign participation", he pointed out, before indicating that the anti-government demonstrations, "no matter how legitimate whatever, they are not the equivalent of a vote".

During his meeting with Netanyahu, Blinken placed special emphasis on the "shared values" between the two countries, including Washington's "support" for "basic democratic principles and institutions, respect for Human Rights, equal justice for all and the rights of minorities".

In this sense, he stressed that the United States and Israel have strengthened their democracies over the years by "maintaining established standards, speaking frankly and respectfully, as friends, when there is agreement and when there is disagreement."

For his part, the former prime minister and leader of the opposition Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, has supported Blinken's words and has stressed that during his meeting with the US Secretary of State, "mainly" the "shared values, the principles of democracy and the preservation of democratic institutions".

"The time has come for Netanyahu, with all his weakness, to at least put Strock in his place," he tweeted. "The US 'foreign involvement' he talks about includes $38 billion in aid, funding for Iron Dome batteries, Apache helicopters and F-35 jets that could attack Iran," he said.

The government coalition is pushing for a reshuffle of the justice apparatus that would increase government control over the judiciary, sparking a wave of criticism from the opposition and weekly demonstrations to protest the plans of Netanyahu and his allies.