In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, US President Joe Biden urged a “compromise” over controversial plans to reform Israel’s judiciary. On Wednesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog presented such a compromise proposal. But Netanyahu’s government immediately said it would not support that new plan.
Israeli protesters have been taking to the streets for weeks out of dissatisfaction with the planned legal reforms. Netanyahu’s government wants parliament to have more say over the justice system. The Supreme Court would actually become less powerful. Opponents see the reforms as a threat to the separation of powers in the country, but according to the prime minister, they are necessary “to restore the balance between powers”.
According to Herzog’s compromise plan, the position of the Israeli parliament and government will be strengthened, but at the same time the independence of the country’s judiciary must be guaranteed.
Democratic core values
Biden said to Netanyahu, according to a White House statement, that democratic societies are strengthened by sincere controls. And that “fundamental change should be pursued with the widest possible popular support”. The reforms in Israel must comply with core democratic values, according to Biden. It is the first time that the US president has spoken out on the issue.
Netanyahu, in turn, promised Biden that Israel will remain a “strong and vibrant democracy.”
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