Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a softening of his hard-right government’s judicial overhaul plan, an apparent bid to calm more than two months of nationwide protests and misgivings voiced by Western allies.
The announcement followed a call on Netanyahu by United States President Joe Biden to seek compromise and consensus in the constitutional crisis.
But it was scorned by the centre-left political opposition and stepped-up demonstrations loomed.
The already-shaken shekel slipped another 0.4 per cent versus the US dollar.
Tel Aviv shares were 0.3 per cent lower.
Some MPs in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition cast the revisions as “capitulation”.
Wielding a parliamentary majority, Mr Netanyahu had looked set to ratify the package of reforms by the Knesset’s recess on April 2.
But most will now be shelved until it reconvenes on April 30, he and partners in the religious-nationalist coalition said.
The legislation still slated for ratification in the next two weeks would shake up Israel’s method of selecting judges – an issue at the heart of the controversy, with critics accusing Mr Netanyahu of trying to curb the independence of the courts.
The veteran premier – under trial on corruption charges he denies – insists he seeks balance among branches of government.
In Sunday’s phone conversation, Mr Biden said he would support a compromise on the judicial overhaul and encouraged checks and balances and building broad agreement, according to the White House.
Read the article by Dan Williams in The New Daily and The Canberra Times.