Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would drop the most controversial part of his plan to remake the country’s court system, pushing ahead with legislation stripped of a provision that would have given the national legislature the power to overturn rulings by the Supreme Court.
“It’s out,” Mr Netanyahu said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that also touched on relations with the US, his decision not to supply weapons to Ukraine, and his concerns over the deepening ties between Russia and Iran.
Mr Netanyahu’s initial judicial-overhaul plan, which sparked large-scale unrest that paralysed the country earlier this year, was opposed by many secular and liberal Israelis who said they feared the measures would give the government too much power and lead to a rollback in civil liberties.
“I’m attentive to the public pulse, and to what I think will pass muster, ” said Mr Netanyahu, who has previously said he wouldn’t support an “unlimited override clause”.
Mr Netanyahu allowed lieutenants to advance the initial legislation, but he has taken control of the plan’s substance and messaging since he paused the effort in March after civil unrest.
The Prime Minister also said he would revise another controversial piece of the legislation, which would have given the ruling coalition more power to appoint judges, though he said he wasn’t sure yet what the new version would look like.
Read the article by Dov Lieber and Michael Amun in The Australian (from The Wall Street Journal).