Benjamin Netanyahu press conference – Haim Zach (GPO) May 2023
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu continues to, for some reason, make promises about his government’s controversial judicial reform plans only to the American press, and in English. This time it was Bloomberg News with whom he chose to speak, claiming that his government will be satisfied now with only changing the way new Supreme Court justices in Israel are selected and nothing more.
So, what did Benjamin Netanyahu say this time?
Well, he spoke about his government’s plans for ending the current system of selecting Supreme Court justices by which a majority of the people on the selections committee are unelected officials like representatives of Israel’s Bar Association. His government wants to change the law so that the sitting government will be able to select a majority of the committee’s members whenever it meets to select new judges.
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“The composition of the committee that elects judges… that’s basically what’s left,” Benjamin Netanyahu told Bloomberg, implying that all of his plans to end judicial review by giving the Knesset the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings with an absolute majority vote have been shelved, among others.
In saying why he has changed his mind and will scrap the central parts of his judicial reform plan Netanyahu said, “Because other things, I think, we should not legislate.” But he did not specify what those “other things” are.
During the interview, Benjamin Netanyahu once again made the disingenuous claim that he “chose” to suspend his government’s plans on judicial reform in the spring and agreed to enter into talks with the opposition about it a compromise for it, making it seem like he did so on his own volition. But the suspension only came after the country began to come apart, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog took the unusual step of asking for a pause and offered to personally mediate such talks.
And the pause also only happened after Netanyahu’s own Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for one, but was then “fired” by the Prime Minister for saying so. Netanyahu eventually “unfired” Gallant.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments came after a day after news broke that Jewish-American billionaire Arthur Dantchik is no longer on board with the judicial reforms. In a statement released to Israel’s Calcalist, the billionaire said he would no longer be giving his financial support to The Kohelet Policy Forum, a political organization that supports the policies of Netanyahu’s government.
They also came as Israel’s Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether the “Recusal Law” passed earlier this year should stand. That law prohibits the Supreme Court from ordering the removal of a Prime Minister for any reason and says that only the Knesset can do so with a majority vote and then only for reasons of health. Opponents say this law was passed just to protect Benjamin Netanyahu from being removed from office should he be convicted on one of the many corruption charges for which he is currently on trial.
Massive protests have rocked Israel since January when Justice Minister Yariv Levin revealed the government’s plans to alter the nature of Israel’s judicial system. The government’s judicial reform plan would greatly curtail the power of Israel’s Supreme Court to nullify legislation passed by the Knesset and also limit the authority of Israel’s attorney general. The opposition charges this would harm Israel’s democracy, eroding foreign confidence in the country and hurting its economy. And this is why the country is now on the brink of what some are describing as the biggest societal clash in Israel’s history.
