Netanyahu plays down protests in Israel, says his election was biggest demonstration

The Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, minimized this Sunday (15) the protests of the previous day that brought together 80 thousand critics to the reform of the Supreme Court of the country presented by the government.

In a meeting with his ministers, Bibi –as the prime minister is known– said that the biggest popular manifestation is the elections and that, therefore, his management has legitimacy to move forward with the proposal.

“Two months ago there was a huge demonstration, the mother of them all. Millions of people took to the streets to vote in the elections, and one of the main topics they voted on was the reform of the judicial system,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.

“Everyone who was at our election rallies, in city centers and neighborhoods, heard the voices that rose from the crowd,” he added. In last November’s elections, the alliance led by Bibi won the vast majority of votes and managed to elect 64 parliamentarians, out of a total of 120.

The bill under discussion provides for the creation of a committee to review appointments to the court and gives parliament the power to overturn decisions. Critics say the proposed reforms would undermine judicial independence, foster corruption, undermine minority rights and deprive Israel’s judicial system of the credibility that helps it avoid prosecutions of war crimes abroad. Among the opponents are the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general of the country.

For Netanyahu, however, the bill will restore Israeli confidence in the Supreme Court. Critics of the court, mostly on the right, accuse judges of increasingly invading the political sphere and overstepping their authority to pursue a left-wing agenda.

Also on Saturday, the far-right leader criticized the opposition for what he called “inflammatory slogans about civil war and state destruction”. “I must say that when we were in the opposition, we didn’t call for civil war and we didn’t talk about the destruction of the state, even when the government made decisions that we vehemently opposed. I hope the opposition leaders will do the same,” he said.

Yair Lapid, the centrist opposition leader, disputed Netanyahu’s assertion that the judicial reforms reflected the views of the majority of the electorate and said he would discuss the proposal only if it were approved by a supermajority. In addition, Lapid argues that the vote of 70 parliamentarians is necessary to annul Supreme Court decisions – Bibi proposes that the vote be based on a simple majority.

The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, in turn, tried this Sunday to calm government supporters and opponents. “We are in the grip of a profound disagreement that is tearing our nation apart. This conflict deeply concerns me, as it does many in Israel and the Jewish diaspora,” he said in a statement.

“I now focus on two critical roles I believe I have as president at this time: averting a historic constitutional crisis and stopping the ongoing division within our nation,” he added. It is uncertain, however, what Herzog can do to contain the discussions – in Israel the figure of the president is, in a certain way, symbolic with regard to the country’s public policies.

Research published on Sunday by the Israel Institute of Democracy noted a decline in public trust in the Supreme Court. The study revealed that 80% of Israelis on the left, 62% on the center and only 29% on the right trust the court.

The study also revealed that 55.6% of Israelis support the court having the ability to overturn laws passed by the Knesset parliament if they are undemocratic.