israelThe president on Sunday appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay a controversial plan to overhaul the country’s judicial system and instead seek a compromise with his political opponents.
President Isaac Herzog issued the appeal in a prime-time nationwide address a day before Netanyahu’s coalition took its first steps toward introducing the plan in parliament.
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The proposed reforms have triggered large-scale demonstrations and protests from broad sectors of Israeli society. Even President Joe Biden has indirectly criticized Israel, saying on Sunday that Israel’s democracy is built on consensus and an independent judiciary.
“I think, we all feel, that we are in a moment before a collision, even a violent collision, a barrel of explosives before detonation,” Herzog said.
Herzog’s work is largely formal. But the president is meant to serve as a moral compass and unifying force, and his words can carry a lot of weight in a deeply divided country.
There was no immediate reaction from Netanyahu.
Netanyahu and his supporters say the proposed changes are needed to rein in an overly powerful judiciary.
But his critics say the plan, which includes proposals to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court, would harm the country’s fragile system of democratic checks and balances. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, is motivated by a personal grudge against the legal system and has a deep conflict of interest. Netanyahu has said that he is the victim of a witch hunt.
“They want to destroy the system because the system was not good for them,” said Eliad Shraga, president of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. “This is a hostile takeover by a group of scoundrels.”
Shraaga’s movement plans a mass demonstration outside the Knesset, or parliament, on Monday, when Netanyahu’s coalition is expected to introduce the first legislation for its sweeping changes. Thousands of people are expected to participate in it.
Herzog urged Netanyahu to defer Monday’s vote and begin talks with his opponents, including the president of Israel’s Supreme Court. Noting that both sides have valid points, he offered a five-point plan as the basis for dialogue.
“An agreement can be reached,” Herzog said, offering to assist in negotiations.
“Which way you choose. Whichever way you choose, till the time we move towards a constructive and sustainable discourse and discard the deceitful, abusive and dismissive discourse,” he said.
Israeli media quoted Netanyahu’s justice minister, Yariv Levin, who has led the charge on the proposed overhaul, as saying he was open to talks but would not delay the legislation. However, Channel 12 TV quoted unnamed officials as saying that the government would delay the initial vote by a week.
Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid called Herzog’s suggestions a “reasonable framework”.
Netanyahu’s proposals call for a series of sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary.
On Monday a parliamentary committee is expected to approve legislation on a plan that would give lawmakers the power to appoint judges. Under the current system, appointments are made by a committee consisting of lawyers, lawmakers and judges.
A second proposal being introduced this week aims to take away the Supreme Court’s right to review “Basic Laws” – which act as a kind of constitution – that have been approved by parliament.
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Another proposal in the works would give Parliament the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions.
Critics say the package of changes will together undermine the independence of the judiciary and give absolute power to the country’s most right-wing government in history. He hopes the campaign will eventually result in the dismissal of criminal charges against Netanyahu.
The proposals have triggered unprecedented protests. Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities every Saturday night for the past six weeks.
Influential groups including high tech executives, retired military officers, former judges and attorney generals and national security advisors, and teachers and students have opposed the plan.
On Sunday, Biden weighed in on the debate, a rare foray into domestic Israeli affairs by a US president.
“The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, checks and balances on an independent judiciary,” Biden told the New York Times. “Building a consensus for fundamental changes is really important to make sure that people buy into them so that they can be sustained.”
Committee approval will send the legislation to the full parliament for the first of three votes of approval – a process expected to take several months.
But it shows the determination of Netanyahu and his allies to move forward in the face of deep divisions in Israeli society. Netanyahu has accused his opponents of inciting against him.
Critics say the plan is taking the country down an authoritarian path, similar to the democratic backsliding seen in Poland and Hungary.
Amir Fuchs, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem think tank Israel Democracy Institute, said the proposed legal overhaul could lead to a heavily politicized judiciary loyal to the prime minister losing its traditional oversight over the legislative branch.
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In short, the overhaul could open the way for the ruling party or coalition in government to pass any law it chose to uncheck, he warned.
“He will have full power. They will have the power to enact anything,” he said.