Status: 03/20/2023 11:54 am
For eleven weeks, tens of thousands in Israel have been protesting once morest the controversial judicial reform. Now US President Biden is also taking a stand. In a phone call, he called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to compromise.
The restructuring of the judiciary sought by Israel’s ultra-right government has been the subject of international criticism for weeks. Now US President Joe Biden has spoken for the first time.
In a telephone call, the US President called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to compromise on the controversial judicial reform – and offered his help.
Democratic principles as a trademark
Democratic principles have always been and must remain the hallmark of US-Israeli relations, Biden said, according to the White House.
Biden also pointed out that “democratic societies are strengthened by real checks and balances” and that “important changes should be made with the greatest possible public support”.
Netanyahu’s office said the PM had assured Biden that Israel was and will remain a strong and vibrant democracy.
Government submits weakened draft
The leaders of the coalition parties have now announced that they will slow down the pace of their controversial judicial reform. They presented a somewhat weakened bill.
According to media reports, the government should be able to choose two judges of the Supreme Court itself. Unlike in a previous draft, however, other appointments by the then 11-member body must be approved by at least one opposition member and at least one judge. However, the government would still have a narrow majority in the committee in the new proposal.
The draft is to be passed in the second and third reading by the beginning of April. Further parts of the planned judicial reform are to be postponed to the period following the one-month break in meetings.
Criticism of new draft law
According to the Haaretz newspaper, organizers of the protest movement in Israel said the change was “a declaration of war by the Israeli government once morest the people and Israeli democracy.” Opposition leader Jair Lapid said the government’s proposal was a “hostile political takeover of the justice system”. In this way, the judges’ selection committee becomes a “committee for appointing cronies”.
People in Israel have been protesting once morest the planned reform for weeks. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets on Saturday alone.
Scholz sees reform with “great concern”
During a visit to Netanyahu in Berlin last Thursday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “very concerned” regarding the judicial reform in Israel. The German-Israeli Society (DIG) is also divided over the reform plans. Democracy includes the limitation of political power by law. The coalition’s draft legislation called that into question.
The reform planned by the Israeli government provides more power for parliament and less rule-of-law control by the independent judiciary. Netanyahu and his ultra-religious and far-right coalition partners argue that the judiciary in Israel currently has too much power.
Critics fear that the separation of powers will be abolished and that democracy in Israel will be undermined. They also accuse Netanyahu of proposing legislative changes aimed, among other things, at protecting him from impeachment. Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption.
