2023-07-22 17:15:13
Prime Minister Netanyahu is sticking to the controversial reform of his right-wing government. Thousands of reservists threaten to be refused service – and receive high-level support.
Blocked roads, water cannons in action, scrambles with police officers and increasingly harsh rhetoric from both sides of the conflict – Israel is not coming to rest in the dispute over the government’s planned judicial reform. On Monday, the right-wing religious government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to have the first element of the reform finally approved by parliament.
It did appear for a moment on Thursday that Netanyahu had decided otherwise: He announced a live television address for the same evening, a means he had already used a few months ago to announce a temporary halt to the reform. In this speech, however, he merely reaffirmed his government’s will to push through the first part of the reform, the abolition of the so-called adequacy standard. At the same time, he sharply criticized those opponents of reform who threatened to refuse their reserve service in protest against the plans. “What threatens democracy is the refusal to serve,” he said. “In a democracy, the military is subordinate to the government.”
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