Israel’s President warned on Sunday that the country faced an “historic constitutional crisis” over a contested judicial reform plan, and said he was mediating between the relevant parties.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now in his sixth term, wants to rein in the Supreme Court, which members of his religious-nationalist coalition accuse of overreach and elitism.
Opponents of the plan, who held nationwide protests on Saturday, say it would cripple judicial independence, foster corruption, set back minority rights and deprive Israel’s courts of credibility that helps fend off war-crimes charges abroad.
“We are in the grips of a profound disagreement that is tearing our nation apart. This conflict worries me deeply, as it worries many across Israel and the [Jewish] Diaspora,” President Isaac Herzog said in a statement.
Herzog, whose post lacks executive powers and is designed to unify an often fractious Israeli society, said he was “working full time, by every means, making nonstop efforts with the relevant parties, with the aim of creating wide-reaching, attentive, and respectful discussion and dialogue”.
“I am now focused on…two critical roles that I believe I bear as president at this hour: averting a historic constitutional crisis and stopping the continued rift within our nation.”
Read the article by Dan Williams in Sight Magazine.