Israel PM Netanyahu says judicial reform is ‘minor correction’

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, July 27, said that his plan to reform the judicial system was a ‘minor correction’ to an ‘activist’ court, in reference to the Supreme Court.

Netanyahu said in a statement to ABC that the judicial amendments “are described as the end of Israeli democracy. I think that is absurd and everyone will realize that when the dust settles,” AFP reported.

Netanyahu claimed that he listened to the advice of the US President, Joe Biden, to try to reach a broad consensus on the judicial reform scheme, and said, “I took the advice. I implemented it as slowly as possible.”

Netanyahu had pushed a series of bills that would limit the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court, sparking a wave of protests that have been going on for more than 29 weeks in Israel.

Israel’s Knesset on Monday, July 24, approved the first major legislation in Netanyahu’s broader plan to “reform the country’s judiciary,” sparking mass protests on the Israeli street.

The new law removes the ability of the court system to overturn “unreasonable” decisions by the government.

Critics of Netanyahu’s plan say it pushes Israel away from democracy and toward authoritarian rule, while its supporters say it takes back some power from unelected judges.