Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will move ahead “this week” with a bitterly contested overhaul of Israel’s judiciary, after compromise talks with opposition politicians faltered.
Netanyahu’s government, widely regarded as the most rightwing in Israeli history, put its planned reforms on ice in March after weeks of mass protests escalated into a general strike, bringing parts of the Israeli economy to a brief standstill.
In the months since, government and opposition officials had been attempting to find a compromise in talks mediated by President Isaac Herzog. But those negotiations unravelled last week, and Netanyahu said on Sunday that the government would now return to the topic.
“We will meet this week and begin the practical steps, in a measured and responsible manner, but in accordance with the mandate we received [from voters in last year’s election] to make corrections to the judicial system,” the prime minister said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu’s words drew swift condemnation from opposition leaders, who warned that if the government attempted to revive the overhaul without consultations, the protests would escalate again. At their peak, the demonstrations drew hundreds of thousands of Israelis on to the streets.
“[Netanyahu] will find that he is the prime minister of less than half of the people of Israel, with less than half of the economy, less than half of the security [establishment] and less than half of the [parliament],” Yair Lapid, head of the largest opposition party, Yesh Atid, wrote on Twitter.
Advocates of the judicial changes — which would give the government and its allies greater control over the appointment of judges and limit the ability of Israel’s top court to strike down legislation — argue they are needed to rein in an overly activist judiciary that has allegedly pushed a broadly leftwing agenda.
But critics, who include security officials, former central bank governors, tech executives, senior bankers, and the political opposition, see the proposals as a power grab that would undermine checks and balances, pave the way for the infringement of minority rights and damage the economy.
Lapid and Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party, said last week that they were freezing the compromise talks on the overhaul. They accused Netanyahu’s government of trying to engineer the postponement of a vote to select two lawmakers to serve on the body that appoints judges, the future of which is at the heart of the battle over the judiciary.
The attempt to torpedo the vote failed after at least four members of the government rebelled and backed an opposition candidate for the committee. But a second lawmaker was not chosen, meaning that the panel cannot meet. This prompted the opposition to announce its freeze.
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