Prime Minsiter of Israel- Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: AFP
New Delhi: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may visit India by the end of this year, the country’s envoy Naor Gilon said on Sunday.
“We can expect the Prime Minister of Israel to visit India by the end of this year… India and Israel have wonderful ties in all fields, it is based on people to people element,” the Ambassador said.
Both the countries are also observing 30 years of diplomatic relations this year.
Gilon further said that both Israel and India have “good commercial relations, which have grown 40-fold in 30 years”.
The trip, which will also include stops in Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, is billed as an international trade mission. It comes as the Florida governor is gearing up for a likely presidential campaign launch.
DeSantis will be abroad from April 24 to April 28, starting in Japan and wrapping up in the United Kingdom.
The visit comes amid a rise in sectarian violence, and as tensions continue to build over Netanhayu’s efforts to pass legislation that would limit the power of his nation’s judiciary. The country’s longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu paused his attempt to push through those changes after backlash from the public and members of his own administration. Last week, he said he did not immediately plan to resume those efforts, but that has not stopped the monthslong public protests in the country.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that he believed there was still wide support for judicial reforms but disagreement over what exactly those should look like.
“Well, I think there’s a broad consensus that we have to make corrections in our judicial system,” he said. “There’s obviously a dramatic difference between the views of how, to what extent and so on. But I think they should not cloud the fact that we’re celebrating here a modern miracle, Israel’s 75th anniversary.”
The attempted judicial overhaul drew rebuke from international leaders, including President Joe Biden. Earlier this month, Biden said that he was “very concerned” about Israeli democracy, and that he hoped Netanyahu “walks away from” his plans to limit the independence and authority of the judiciary. On Sunday, Netanyahu said he didn’t think the judicial plans would impede his relationship with the U.S.
“I value the alliance with the United States. And I value the friendship I’ve had over 40 years with President Biden,” he said. “I don’t think anything will get in that way. But it’s an internal matter that we have to resolve.”
Netanyahu was a close ally of former President Donald Trump when he was in office, during which time Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv — a move seen as a slight to Palestinians living in the region.
Gary Fineout contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Speaking to Todd, Netanyahu said that even though he’s not resuming his efforts now, his goal remains the same, limiting judicial overreach and balancing the branches of government.
“We’re trying to bring it back into a proper balance,” he said.
Opponents of Netanyahu’s plan have said the proposed changes would undermine the nation’s basic freedoms. “It’s an attack on the very soul and nature of our democracy,“ former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said last month.
During the “Meet the Press” interview, Netanyahu criticized Todd for how he described his proposed reforms and Israel’s current political environment — and also took umbrage at Todd’s question linking the judicial plan to Netanyahu’s personal legal problems.
“Here’s another fib, another lie. It’s just not true. My own legal proceedings, which by the way are crumbling, all these charges against me have been crumbling,” Netanyahu said, adding: “My case is completely independent from this.”
The prime minister also said he still felt close to President Joe Biden (“a great friend of Israel”) despite Biden’s concerns about the proposed judicial reforms.
“Friends can have disagreements on occasion,” Netanyahu said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded that his son, Yair Netanyahu, to stop posting on social media, amid accusations that it is fueling tensions in Israel and exacerbating the dispute with the United States (US), local media reported.
A report by the Walla website stated that Yair Netanyahu, who usually tweets dozens of times a day, most of which are fierce attacks against his father’s enemies, has been absent from social media.
Netanyahu last tweet was on March 28, a day after the prime minister announced a freeze on the Judicial Reform Law and two days after the US State Department condemned his tweets.
The report said, quoting three right-wing sources close to the family, that Netanyahu and his wife Sarah told Yair that he was causing damage and asked him to “calm down” and keep a low profile, revealing that the demand sparked an intense conflict within the family.
As per Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Netanyahu vehemently denies his son’s involvement and influence in decision-making, and in the press conference he called this week he said, “It’s ironic, my son is an independent person with his own opinions. My son Yair has no influence over my decisions.”
At the beginning of the week, Yair Netanyahu was seen at Ben Gurion Airport, heading to the United States. According to information obtained by Walla News, he is expected to stay there for several months.
Yair Netanyahu is one of the most powerful and influential activists on social media affiliated with his father and the Likud party, but his extremist stances and statements fuel protests against the government and cause Netanyahu to be embarrassed and harmed.
On Tuesday night, Biden said Israel had gotten itself into “a difficult spot” and that he hoped Netanyahu “walks away from it.”
Netanyahu, however, released a rather defiant statement indicating he would press ahead with some form of judicial change and that Israel “makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.”
Underlying the fear inside the White House was a sense that the Netanyahu-led far-right coalition now governing the once-stable democracy in the Middle East has authoritarian leanings. Those concerns have deepened as Washington tries to hold together a democratic alliance against dictatorships in places including Russia, China and Iran, an archrival of Israel.
There are domestic considerations as well. The turmoil in Israel has given Biden a foreign policy headache right in the run-up to the 2024 presidential race. A longstanding public backer of Israel, Biden now heads a party in which a growing number of members are openly critical of the country.
Some of those Democrats say Biden needs to set aside his affection and go beyond rhetoric to pressure Israel on everything from safeguarding democracy to establishing a Palestinian state.
“Joe Biden has personally made clear repeatedly that there’s going to be no consequences, so why should Netanyahu change his behavior based on anything the United States says?” said Matt Duss, a leading progressive voice and Middle East analyst who has advised Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on foreign policy.
Despite Netanyahu’s push for the judicial overhaul, Israel was invited to participate in the summit, the second of which Biden has convened since taking office. But the Israeli leader was not expected to attend the leader-level meetings that Biden will helm on Wednesday, White House aides said. A person familiar with the issue said that Netanyahu was instead slated to speak on a panel during the week, but it was not clear if even that was finalized.
The White House tried to tamp down tensions with Israel on Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, said Netanyahu would at some point be invited to Washington, although a White House spokesperson said no meeting had been decided. Aides said that while they were encouraged Netanyahu paused his plan for the judiciary, they were still in “wait and see” mode about whether he would return to them in the next session of the Knesset. Allies do not expect Biden to be hurt politically by his handling of the matter.
“Where he has expressed differences with Israel — on West Bank settlements and on a judicial overhaul that could weaken Israel’s democratic foundations — he is on solid ground with the vast majority of Americans, and those in his party,” said Dan Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel under then-President Barack Obama. “I suspect any rival, from any side, would find this issue to be hardly worth taking on.”
Even before the judicial overhaul plan was introduced, the Biden administration had grown alarmed by Netanyahu’s coalition government, which includes several figures with racist, homophobic, misogynist and religiously extreme ideologies.
For Netanyahu, a veteran Israeli pol, it was a means of getting back into the prime minister’s office as he tries to evade corruption charges in Israel’s courts. But inside Biden world, it appeared to be more than just an alliance of convenience. Some of Netanyahu’s allies back legislation making it harder to remove him from office, and his statement Tuesday suggested he was worried that his coalition might fracture if he is seen as kowtowing to Washington.
Biden and Netanyahu have known each other for decades and share a personal warmth and familiarity. “Hey man, what’s going on?” is Biden’s standard greeting to Netanyahu, aides said.
But they also have had sharp differences.
Their ties were strained by Netanyahu’s 2015 speech to Congress in which he castigated the Iran nuclear deal worked on by the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president. And Biden has expressed private dismay that Netanyahu became such a fawning acolyte of ex-President Donald Trump and that Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines during Russia’s war on Ukraine.
White House aides arranged a call between the two men earlier this month with the hopes that Biden could nudge the prime minister toward abandoning his judicial overhaul.
Despite firm words from Biden, Netanyahu proceeded with the plan, rattling many American Jews concerned about Israel’s future. Administration officials, keenly aware of the importance of America’s security relationship with Israel, proceeded carefully, both publicly and privately warning Netanyahu that he should seek a compromise with those who oppose the overhaul.
Over the weekend, Netanyahu fired his defense minister for criticizing the judicial plan. The White House released a statement that echoed its past ones, reminding Netanyahu that “democratic societies are strengthened by checks and balances, and fundamental changes to a democratic system should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support.”
Yet the huge protests were what appeared to have forced Netanyahu to back down, at least temporarily.
Ahead of the Summit for Democracy, White House aides say that Netanyahu’s decision to relent on the judicial reform push was proof that Israel’s democracy was responsive and worked.
But the push itself still raises questions about the future of Israeli politics and injects more uncertainty into an already unstable region.
Israel is hardly the only country invited to the summit facing internal strife. India, for example, has seen serious democratic backsliding under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Poland, too, is facing questions about its democratic strength, as are countries such as Mexico and Brazil. The United States’ own democracy has been tested in the wake of the Trump presidency.
But the tension with Israel is the one with the most direct ties to Biden’s own political future as he eyes a re-election decision and possible rematch with Trump.
Biden has long been a traditionalist on U.S.-Israel relations. He has remained close to reflexively pro-Israel advocacy organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He has declined to return the U.S. Embassy to Tel Aviv after Trump relocated it to Jerusalem. And he has refused to impose conditions on the billions of dollars in U.S. security assistance the United States provides to Israel.
Those moves by the president — who has also received the backing of the more progressive pro-Israel advocacy group J Street — has run counter to the budding sentiment within the Democratic Party.
A growing number of liberal voices are critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians. And a Gallup poll released this month showed that Democrats’ sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49 percent versus 38 percent
These are shifts that could prove an annoyance to Biden on the campaign trail.
“At the end of the day, this issue is not a voting issue for 99.999 percent of people, right?” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street. “But I don’t think the majority of the Democratic Party is going to be okay if Israel takes steps that provoke tremendous outbreaks of violence and lots of people are getting hurt. I don’t think they’ll be okay as Israel undoes its judicial independence and the underpinnings of its democracy.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“There’s no plans for Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Washington. Israeli leaders have a long history, tradition of visiting Washington, and Prime Minister Netanyahu will likely take a visit at some point, but there’s nothing currently planned,” Dalton said.
After two days of protest, Netanyahu announced a delay in his judicial overhaul plan Monday, stating that he wanted to find a compromise with his political opponents. Over the weekend, Netanyahu also fired his defense minister for opposing the overhaul.
The White House on Monday said they welcomed Netanyahu’s announcement as an “opportunity to create additional time and space for compromise.”
“Compromise is precisely what we have been calling for. And we continue to strongly urge Israeli leaders to find a compromise as soon as possible,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.
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Jerusalem: Israel’s President Icon Monday appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately halt his controversial judicial overhaul, warning that the move has put the country’s security, economy and society under threat.
Herzog’s remarks came after Prime Minister Netanyahu sacked Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for opposing his judicial reforms, sparking widespread street protests.
The president also called on the government to put aside political considerations for the sake of the nation.
“Last night we witnessed very difficult scenes. I appeal to the Prime Minister, members of the Government, and members of the Coalition: there are harsh and painful feelings. The entire nation is rapt with deep worry,” Herzog said.
“Our security, economy, society all are under threat. The whole people of Israel are looking at you. The whole Jewish People are looking at you. The whole world is looking at you,” the ceremonial president in a statement.
“For the sake of the unity of the People of Israel, for the sake of the necessary responsibility, I call on you to halt the legislative process immediately,” he emphasised.
He urged all the leaders in power to place country’s citizens above all else.
“I appeal to the leaders of all Knesset factions, Coalition and Opposition alike, to place this country’s citizens above all else and to act with courage and responsibility without further delay. Wake up now! This is not a political moment; this is a moment for leadership and responsibility,” the president asserted.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Israel last night after Prime Minister Netanyahu fired Defence Minister Gallant after he said on Saturday evening that the judicial overhaul “poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state”.
Irked by the televised speech given by Gallant, the Prime Minister’s Office in a terse statement on Sunday evening said that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided, this evening (Sunday, 26 March 2023), to dismiss Defense Minister Yoav Gallant”.
The announcement led to spontaneous unprecedented outburst of anger against the prime minister.
An unconfirmed Channel 12 report said that 600,000-700,000 Israelis were demonstrating late on Sunday across the country, with protests reported from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Eilat in the south.
Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit large bonfires, while police scuffled with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in Jerusalem.
The unrest sparked by Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and the government’s efforts to cement political control over the appointment of judges has met with resistance not only in the streets of the country but also abroad with thousands of Jewish diaspora members protesting during Netanyahu’s visits to Italy, Germany and the UK.
The protests have alarmed business leaders, former security chiefs and drawn concern from Israel’s close allies, including the United States.
The country has also seen economic disruption with talk of “flight of capital” and hi-tech leaders and firms.
The head of the Histadrut labour federation was due to give a press conference later on Monday, amid growing calls for a strike following the firing of Gallant.
The Histadrut said that trade unionist Arnon Bar-David would give a “special” statement alongside business chiefs and union leaders, without detailing what he will announce.
Several Hebrew media reports said he was expected to declare a strike.
The National Student and Youth Council, representing high school and middle school students, declared a nationwide strike to start Monday morning.
The council has called for “halting the [overhaul] legislation and starting negotiations immediately”.
There were unconfirmed reports in the Hebrew media that Netanyahu is expected to make an announcement this morning. He has been holding meetings with political allies for most of the night.
There has been no formal confirmation on this.
As protests intensified accompanied by an unforeseen display of anger, some Likud ministers relented, beginning to show their willingness to compromise.
Culture Minister Micky Zohar, a Netanyahu confidant, said the party would support him if he decided to pause the judicial overhaul.
Protest organisers, mostly common people with no declared political affiliation, continued to push for further demonstrations on Monday.
Political analysts see the development as a “grassroots movement” beyond the control of any political formation. The opposition though has been fully supportive and participating in the protests.
Legislation, which many argue is aimed at establishing executive’s supremacy over judiciary, making it subservient to the government, is slated to come for the final readings this week in the Knesset.
With the government unrelenting and moving ahead with the “reforms”, the protests have also been peaking and the country seems somewhat paralysed.
Internal differences within Israeli society have also intensified recently with the country looking broadly divided in two large blocs over the question of judicial overhaul.
Though the current governing coalition has committed to several controversial legislation, the biggest debate revolves around its push to increase political control over the judiciary.
Three key proposals being discussed are a move to legislate an “override clause” by which the Knesset can reinstate any law invalidated by the Supreme Court, put judicial appointments under political control as opposed to the current hybrid political-professional-judicial appointments panel, and to split the role of the Attorney General as both the head of the state prosecution and the government’s legal adviser.
Analysts feel that the controversial steps proposed emanate from the desire to protect Netanyahu, who is facing trial in three different cases, but altogether it serves the interest of all those included in the coalition in some way addressing each party’s concerns.
Seen at the receiving end of international ire, including a rebuke from US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu has looked weak and perplexed but also hesitant to step back from the proposed “reforms” because of fear of backlash within his ruling Likud party.
Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.
In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted “we must all stand strong against refusal.”
Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets in protest after Netanyahu’s announcement, blocking Tel Aviv’s main artery, transforming the Ayalon highway into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags and lighting a large bonfire in the middle of the road.
Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence. Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon.
Inon Aizik, 27, said he came to demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem because “bad things are happening in this country,” referring to the judicial overhaul as “a quick legislative blitz.”
Netanyahu’s decision came less than a day after Gallant, a former senior general, called for a pause in the controversial legislation until after next month’s Independence Day holidays, citing the turmoil in the ranks of the military.
Gallant had voiced concerns that the divisions in society were hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded,” Gallant said.
While several other Likud members had indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his dismissal.
Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s public diplomacy minister, said that Netanyahu summoned Gallant to his office and told him “that he doesn’t have any faith in him anymore and therefore he is fired.”
Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that “the security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Gallant’s dismissal “harms national security and ignores warnings of all defense officials.”
Israel’s consul general in New York City, Assaf Zamir, resigned in protest.
Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced Sunday he was backing the prime minister.
Netanyahu’s government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would grant parliament the authority to override Supreme Court decisions with a basic majority and limit judicial review of laws.
Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
But critics say the constellation of laws will remove the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the largest demonstrations in the country’s 75-year history.
Leaders of Israel’s vibrant high-tech industry have said the changes will scare away investors, former top security officials have spoken out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, have voiced concerns.
In recent weeks discontent has even surged from within Israel’s army – the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks.
Israel’s military is facing a surge in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and concerns that archenemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear-weapons capability.
Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to heights unseen in years.
Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said, “Netanyahu can dismiss his defense minister, he cannot dismiss the warnings he heard from Gallant.”
Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so. It said he was not above the law.
“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters opposed to the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”
The prime minister responded saying the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court didn’t have grounds to intervene.
Netanyahu is barred by the country’s attorney general from directly dealing with his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu, is spearheading the overhaul.
But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled from the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement.
The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and toward a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
“We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies,” he said.
Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul.
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Jerusalem: Yielding to unprecedented protests, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday called upon the government to stop the controversial judicial overhaul legislation sticking his neck out amid Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence to go ahead with the suggested “reforms”.
“The security of the State of Israel is my life’s mission. Over the course of my entire adult life I have dealt with Israel’s security day in and day out. Clothed in the IDF’s (Israel Defence Forces) uniform, I have risked my life dozens of times for the State of Israel. And at this time, for the sake of our country, I am willing to take any risk and pay any price”, Gallant said in a televised speech.
“I declare loudly and publicly, for the sake of Israel’s security, for the sake of our sons and daughters the legislative process should be stopped”, he asserted, pointing to the visible diminishing morale of the army he could sense that is endangering Israel’s security and unity.
Thousands of soldiers, including in critical divisions of the army, had called to stop reporting for reserve duty amid the ongoing judicial overhaul process stressing that it poses a grave danger to Israel’s democracy and could turn it into a dictatorship.
Reluctant legislators in the ruling Likud party had so far shied away from expressing their opposition to the proposed “reforms”, which have led to massive unrest drawing hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets for three months now, fearing a backlash from party members and potential political costs associated with defying the party leader and its position.
However, Gallant’s defiant call seemed to galvanise other conscientious leaders in the party with three more, Yuli Edelstein, David Bitan and Avi Dichter, coming forward to demand to stall the process.
Edelstein, who is the chair of the Knesset’s (Israeli parliament) powerful Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, thanked Gallant for “joining the path I’ve been leading for weeks”.
“The majority of the people want and understand the need for changes in the judicial system, but this must be done with patience, dialogue, and broad discourse in order to reach a broad consensus,” he said in a statement.
If the four decide to vote against the proposals then the government will not have the majority required to pass the legislation.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis opposed to the government’s legislative blitz to curb the judiciary’s powers have been taking to the streets for 12 straight weeks.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposals to shake up the judiciary by severely curbing the High Court of Justice’s judicial review powers and the government’s efforts to cement political control over the appointment of judges have met with resistance not only in the streets of the country but also abroad with thousands of Jewish diaspora members protesting during Netanyahu’s visits to Italy, Germany and UK.
Speaking at the main rally Saturday evening in Tel Aviv, renowned historian Yuval Noah Harari said that the civil servants and military forces must obey the courts and not the government, should Israel end up in a constitutional crisis.
Holding Netanyahu responsible “for all that is happening”, Harari said that “you are not an emissary. You are definitely not an angel. After 2,000 years, we still remember the pharaoh. And we will remember you. There’ll be no streets, squares or airports named after you. But we will tell the story of the man who tried to enslave us and failed”.
“You are surrounded by people with no backbone. But we have backbones…We will not be slaves. Next year we will be free people,” he emphasised.
With legislations that many argue are aimed at establishing the executive’s supremacy over the judiciary, making it subservient to the government, slated to come for the final readings the coming week in the Knesset, the protests have also been peaking and the country seems somewhat paralysed.
Internal differences within Israeli society have also intensified recently with the country looking broadly divided into two large blocs over judicial overhaul.
Though the current governing coalition has committed to several controversial legislation, the biggest debate revolves around its push to increase political control over the judiciary.
Three key proposals being discussed are a move to legislate an “override clause” by which the Knesset can reinstate any law invalidated by the Supreme Court, put judicial appointments under political control as opposed to the current hybrid political-professional-judicial appointments panel, and split the role of the Attorney General as both the head of the state prosecution and the government’s legal adviser.
Analysts feel that the controversial steps proposed to emanate from the desire to protect Netanyahu, who is facing trial in three different cases, but altogether it serves the interest of all those included in the coalition in some way by addressing each party’s concerns.
Seen at the receiving end of international ire, including a rebuke from US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu has looked weak and perplexed but hesitant to step back from the proposed “reforms” because of fear of losing control of his ruling Likud party.
