The Israeli government will refuse to advance the most controversial point of the reform of the judiciary, a bill that would give the parliament (Knesset) the power to overturn the decisions of the Supreme Court will not be adopted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
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“This (paragraph) is not there… I am attentive to public opinion and what I think is acceptable,” Netanyahu said, commenting on the repeal of a bill that would allow Parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority.
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Such a compromise is unlikely to convince the opposition to support a revision of the country’s judiciary and stop mass protests, but the rejection of the most significant part of judicial reform could split the ruling coalition, in which right-wing and ultra-religious parties play a significant role demanding changes to the judiciary.
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Netanyahu also said he would revisit another controversial bill that would give the ruling coalition more power to appoint judges, but he added that the final version of that bill had not yet been finalized.
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The prime minister stated that negotiations on a compromise with the opposition under the auspices of the president, which have been ongoing for several months, have not led to any breakthrough results, so the government will continue to promote judicial reform, but without these controversial points.
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Massive spontaneous protests in Israel against the government’s judicial reform have been going on for 25 weeks. Opponents of judicial reform fear that it will limit the influence of the Supreme Court on the process of passing basic laws, allow parliamentarians to challenge decisions of this court and give the government control over the procedure for appointing judges. The reform was opposed, in particular, by many representatives of business, the investment community and the start-up industry.
