Global Courant
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin addresses the media on March 16, 2023 in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “doing great” after an unscheduled pacemaker implant and that he will attend a major vote on judicial reform on Monday that has boiled nationwide protests and fueled calls for compromise.
With the country mired in its worst domestic crisis in decades, President Isaac Herzog met Netanyahu in hospital on Sunday to treat him in hopes of closing the rifts between the religious-nationalist ruling coalition and opposition parties.
“This is an emergency situation. Agreement must be reached,” Herzog, who brokered the fruitless talks between March and June, said in a statement.
The Knesset, where Netanyahu has a comfortable majority, will hold the final reading on Monday of a bill limiting the Supreme Court’s powers to overturn some government decisions.
It would be the first reform passed into law in a package that critics fear seeks to curtail the independence of the judiciary, but which Netanyahu – who is on trial on corruption charges he denies – insists is necessary for balance between the branches of government.
The embattled 73-year-old leader was rushed to a hospital near Tel Aviv late Saturday after a heart monitor implanted a week earlier in what was described as a dehydration episode detected a “temporary arrhythmia,” his doctors said.
He was fitted with a pacemaker and was due to be discharged on Monday.
“As you can see, I’m doing great,” he said in a video statement that showed him sitting, smiling and dressed in a blazer.
“We continue our efforts to finalize the legislation, as well as efforts to do so through consensus, but I just want you to know that I will be joining my colleagues in the Knesset tomorrow morning.”
Lawmakers began debate on the bill on Sunday, which would amend a law that would allow the Supreme Court to overturn decisions by the government and ministers it deems “unreasonable.”
Poll results broadcast by national broadcaster Kan showed that 46% of Israelis opposed the amendment, compared to 35% in favor and 19% who had not yet made a decision.
The Histadrut labor federation proposed a scaled-down version of the bill. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said this could provide a basis for new compromise talks, but Netanyahu’s Likud party said it was too close to Lapid’s positions.
Rival Meetings
Tens of thousands of Israelis calling for the proposed judicial review to be scrapped lined the streets of Jerusalem with flags and beat drums under a scorching summer sun. Many pitched their tents in a park near the Knesset.
“We’re concerned, we’re scared, we’re angry. We’re angry that people are trying to change this country, trying to cause a democratic decline. But we’re also very, very hopeful,” said Tzivia Guggenheim, a 24-year-old college student.
Counter-demonstrators, meanwhile, gathered in Tel Aviv, where another 24-year-old student, Aviya Cohen, said she had come to send a message to the government she voted for.
“I am 100% for the judicial reform. I think my country needs it. I think we absolutely have to go through with it,” she said.
Netanyahu’s coalition is determined to push back against what it describes as overstepping by a Supreme Court that it says has become too politically interventionist.
Critics say Monday’s amendment was rushed through parliament and will open the door to abuses of power by removing one of the few effective checks on executive authority in a country without a formal written constitution.
The crisis has spread to the military, with protest leaders saying thousands of volunteer reservists would not report if the government goes ahead with the plans and former top executives warning that Israel’s readiness for war could be jeopardized.
Netanyahu has tossed the threat of insubordination as an attempt to undermine Israel’s elected government.
The military chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, wrote in an open letter that “dangerous rifts” form when politics influence the military.
“If we don’t have a strong and united defense force, if the best of Israel don’t serve… we will no longer be able to exist as a country in the region,” Halevi wrote.
The upheaval has contributed to tensions in relations with the US, as well as rising Israeli-Palestinian violence and progress in Iran’s nuclear program. Washington has urged Netanyahu to seek broad consensus on judicial reform.
Netanyahu’s health problems prompted his agency to postpone planned trips to Cyprus and Turkey, without immediately giving new dates.
