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But today, we’re looking at U.S. President Joe Biden’s summit for democracy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rebuff of Biden’s rebuke on the proposed judiciary reform, and Italy’s planned ban on lab-grown food.
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Biden Opens Second Summit for Democracy
U.S. President Joe Biden opened his second summit for democracy Tuesday. He said world leaders are “turning the tide” on democratic backsliding.
“Today, we can say, with pride, democracies of the world are getting stronger, not weaker. Autocracies of the world are getting weaker, not stronger. That’s a direct result of all of us,” Biden said.
Biden also said that the United States would commit to spending $690 million on democracy programs.
Hungary and Turkey, both of which are seen as increasingly autocratic, were not invited to this year’s democracy summit, but Israel and India, both of which have been accused of significant democratic backsliding, were in attendance. Israel is in the throes of mass protests over proposed changes to its judiciary, while an Indian court recently sentenced Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi to prison for making a joke about people with the same last name as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the summit’s opening that Israel is a “robust democracy” and that “democracy means the will of the people as expressed by a majority, and it also means protection of civil rights, individual rights. It’s the balance between the two.”
According to the AFP, Israel, along with India, expressed reservations on parts of a set of principles—specifically, the part backing the International Criminal Court. India had additional reservations for a section on internet freedom.
What We’re Following Today
Netanyahu rejects U.S. call to drop judicial reform. After U.S. President Joe Biden, in an exceedingly rare rebuke of Israel, told reporters, “They cannot continue down this road,” Netanyahu countered that decisions regarding proposed judiciary reforms would “not [be] based on pressures from abroad.” This week, after mass protests and strikes, Netanyahu agreed to postpone—though not cancel—the controversial reforms, which its critics say would gut the independence and powers of the judiciary.
Italy plans to ban lab-grown food. The Italian government approved a draft bill banning lab-grown food. Italy’s biggest farmers’ association, Coldiretti, lobbied for the ban. The government has said the goal is to “safeguard our nation’s heritage.” Critics of the bill, however, which would need to be passed by both houses of parliament to be turned into law, say the government has “committed a new crime” by prohibiting an environmentally friendly technology.
Keep an Eye On
Allegations of months of leaks from Canada’s spy agency. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has reportedly been the source of leaks for months. The leaks suggest China has been conducting election interference across Canada. As the Guardian noted, it is as yet unclear whether the leaks are coming from the intelligence agency itself or others in government who have access to the documents.
New Zealand considers harsher laws against refugee boats. Under a legal change proposed in New Zealand, groups of asylum seekers arriving by sea could be detained without a warrant for up to 28 days. No such refugee boat has ever actually reached the country. The bill would also determine that groups of 30 or more who arrive by sea cannot obtain entry permits or visas that are available to others, including asylum seekers who come to the country by air.
Wednesday’s Most Read
•Russia’s War Has Wrecked Beijing’s Hopes of Keeping NATO Away by Blake Herzinger
•Ukraine Has Shifted Europe’s East-West Fault Line by Jack Detsch, Amy Mackinnon, and Robbie Gramer
•America’s Zero-Sum Economics Doesn’t Add Up by Adam Posen
Odds and Ends
Australian company makes mammoth meatball. Today we are bringing you not one but two items about food grown in a lab. Australian startup Vow used publicly available genetic information from a mammoth to make a meatball from the extinct mammal. The meatball was launched at a science museum in Amsterdam. Cultivated meat like this is made from animal cells, but doesn’t require killing livestock, and so is thought to be better for the environment.
That’s it for today.
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