Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed “silly’ objections leveled at Knesset’s passage of the first leg of his judicial reform plan, noting that the change was “minor” during an interview he gave to ABC that was published on Thursday.
“This minor correction is common to all democracies,” Netanyahu said.
He spoke just three days after the Knesset approved the reasonableness standard bill, which narrowed the supreme court’s powers to review government policies.
Opponents of the measure have warned that it is the first step in a judicial overhaul program that would transform the country into a dictatorship. The protests against the plan have rocked and divided the country since Netanyahu came into power at the end of December.
Netanyahu: Reasonableness law is a ‘minor correction’
Netanyahu told ABC that the bill and his plan strengthened Israeli democracy, by restoring a balance between the judicial branch and the legislature.
“It’s described as the end of Israeli democracy, I think that is silly,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen speaking at a memorial ceremony for Ze’ev Jabotinsky on Mount Herzl, in Jerusalem, on July 18, 2023. (credit: NOAM REVKIN FENTON/FLASH90)“We have the most activist judicial court on the planet,” Netanyahu said. It has “arrogated for itself power from the government from the executive and the legislative branches. We are trying to correct it,” he said.
“I want to bring the pendulum to the middle, I don’t want to bring the pendulum to the other side,” Netanyahu explained.
Imagine that in the US, the Supreme Court could nullify the decisions of the White House, he said, adding that the American people would never accept that.
Netanyahu also brushed aside criticism that the has rushed the legislation through. US President Joe Biden and US officials, including former US Ambassador Tom Nides and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have all asked him to slow down and use a consensus process.
This has been as “slow as you can go,” Netanyahu told ABC, noting that he has been in office for already seven months, and he had paused on the initiative for three months to seek consensus but that the opposition had refused to accept any compromises.
“I couldn’t get anything from the opposition, therefore, decided to proceed with this minor correction.. and I am still trying to proceed if not with a consensus with the opposition, then at least with something that has broad nonsenses with the public,” he said.
“I am more optimistic now than I was before, now that they see we are prepared to move without them, we have a majority, then maybe we will be able to move with them,” he said.
“I hope the opposition leaders show responsibility and come to the middle,” he said.
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