• Middle East More than 600 Israeli reservists stop serving in protest of judicial reform

Pressured on the one hand by the massive protests against the plan of judicial changes and the warnings about its disastrous effects on the economy, diplomacy and the Israeli army and on the other by his government partners and the bases on the right, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to find a formula that avoids an even greater crisis than his country is already suffering without jeopardizing his coalition than in a few countries. Days celebrates its third month of life.

Hence, Netanyahu's decision to delay the approval process of a large part of the laws of the plan is born, such as the one that removes from the Supreme Court (TS) the possibility of annulling basic laws or the one that grants Parliament the power to approve, with a majority of 61 of the 120 deputies, laws disqualified by the Supreme Court.

What is not postponed and is scheduled to be approved before the parliamentary recess at the beginning of April is the initiative-flag of the project announced in January by the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin: the majority of the government coalition in the selection of judges especially of the TS. The proposal has been watered down and must be approved on Tuesday in the Knesset Law Committee so that it can be submitted to the final votes next week. The new version establishes that the Government will be able to choose the first two judges of the Supreme Court in the legislature thanks to its majority in the committee while the following ones must be agreed between the Government, the opposition and the judges. The new commission will consist of 11 members and not the current nine: three Supreme Court judges, three ministers, three members of the coalition and two representatives of the opposition. Likewise, the criterion of "seniority" in the appointment of the president of the highest judicial instance would be annulled, giving the coalition a fundamental role in his election.

"It is a law that returns the balance in the commission of election of judges and annuls the undemocratic situation in which judges appoint judges," justifies Levin, who declared that the Supreme Court now has no reason to intervene in the coming months to annul the moderate law "that took into account the comments presented." But the Minister of Justice went further and warned that in such a case he will not accept the sentence of the highest judicial instance, advancing a scenario of frontal and constitutional clash between the Government and the judiciary.

The rejection of the opposition

Opposition parties have rejected the new proposal, saying it continues to give the government control of the appointment of judges, thus breaking judicial independence and separation of powers. "This is a new lie to the Israelis as they continue to propose hostile and dangerous control of politicians without any ethics over the judicial system," denounces opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid. He adds: "Your plan will not bring greater diversity in the judicial system but will make it a branch of the Likud committee." "Smoothing? It is a more powerful version of what happened in Poland and Hungary," Labour leader Merav Michaeli added.

But not everyone in Netanyahu's party supports the new proposal, considering that it deviates from the original announced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin in early January. In the Likud, there is a division between the "hawks" in the judicial field who have long wanted to end what they call "dictatorship of the Supreme" and who ask "not to give in to the pressures of the demonstrations and the left" and the more moderate ones who support consensual reforms and advise their leader a pause before the serious crisis that the country is going through where the protests are increasingly massive and tense.

As on many occasions in his long political career, Netanyahu is faced with a dilemma. If he heeds the increasingly strong and widespread economic warnings, fears of a crisis of confidence in the military and the recrimination of US President Joe Biden, he should freeze and agree to reform. If he listens to his partners in his ultra-conservative government, including in his own party, he should go ahead with the plan of changes. In the first case, it would avoid an unprecedented crisis at all levels. In the second case, it would ensure the continuity of his coalition.

According to various sources, another reason for Netanyahu's decision to put the brakes on reform is the warning of Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who warned him to resign if the reform is not consensual. The reason is the increasing number of reservists who warn not to do voluntary service if what they consider "laws that will change democracy for a dictatorship" are applied. In fact, several hundred no longer show up since Sunday. The army also fears that the protest will also come from regular-duty soldiers. Everything indicates that Galant's warning was leaked by Netanyahu to promote in his party and coalition the softening and postponement of judicial reform.

The leaders of the demonstrations, which have been leading hundreds of thousands of people in dozens of Israeli cities for more than two months, have rejected the new proposal of the Government assuring that it continues to threaten democracy and have confirmed new protests this Thursday and next Saturday.

According to The Trust Project criteria

Learn more