Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has announced a watered-down version of the controversial judicial reform it unveiled last January, sparking one of the largest political crises and protest movements in seven decades of Israel’s history. The proposal, agreed Monday evening by the executive branch of Netanyahu’s Likud coalition and the ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties, is to limit the government’s power to appoint Supreme Court judges (and to push that law forward next year). ). two weeks) and postpone the adoption of the rest of the legislative package to the next session of parliament, which starts at the end of April. The initiative comes with the local currency, the shekel, at its lowest level against the dollar (3.69) since 2019 and following a phone call between Netanyahu and United States President Joe Biden.
The judges of the Supreme Court are now chosen by a nine-member committee: three judges, two ministers, two deputies and two members of the Bar Association, which means that the government and the judges have to agree on the candidates. Netanyahu’s original coalition proposal increased the number of committee members to 11 and changed the composition so that the executive branch would have a 7-4 majority, so that the next government will not have a Supreme Court made up of judges like the previous one. The third judge’s decision should also count on the yes of at least one judge and an opposition deputy on the committee.
The bulk of the reform package, most of which has already passed the first of three readings in the Knesset (parliament), is already scheduled for the summer session of parliament, which begins on April 30, after nearly a month of inactivity. Jewish Passover.
The announcement comes after a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu in which they discussed the reform proposal. The White House statement showed that Biden expressed support for a consensus agreement based on some “key principles”: “Transformative change must have the broadest popular support,” the “authentic” systems of balance between the institutions of the powers “enhance democratic societies”. ”, and “democratic values have always been and must remain distinctive features of relations” between the two countries. said that “Israel was and will remain a strong and vibrant democracy” and that the conversation (half an hour) “revolved around the Iranian threat” and the recognition of Israel by more Arab countries, following the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020.
“Don’t buy the twist”
After announcing the initiative, the government assured that it “extended its hand to all those who are genuinely concerned about national unity and want to reach an agreement”. Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid has already rejected the new proposal, calling it a “blueprint for a hostile political takeover of the justice system”. According to Lapid, the Supreme Committee will continue to work on “electing close people” as the executive had planned “from day one,” he criticized on Twitter.
For her part, Labor leader Merav Mijaeli stressed the importance of “not believing in this turn of events”, standing firm in the protests and avoiding debate with the government over “a plan to crush Israeli democracy”. “The last thing they need right now is legitimacy,” he told national military radio. The protest movement remains strong (some 250,000 people gathered last Saturday the 11th) and Netanyahu’s plan (which would limit the independence of the judiciary) is drawing increasing international criticism.
On Wednesday, President Isaac Herzog, a mediator of political crises, called for the administration’s proposal to be withdrawn and presented an alternative (as a basis for dialogue) that excludes the most controversial and damaging separation of powers laws. . Netanyahu categorically rejected it, while five of the six opposition parties jointly announced their acceptance.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
