Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said he was open to dialogue on his government’s proposals for a sweeping makeover of Israel’s judiciary, but also insisted that he will not slow efforts to pass them, as several dozen economists signed on to an “emergency letter” warning the judicial overhaul could severely harm the economy, joining hundreds who did so previously.
Netanyahu said that Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a member of his Likud party and the leading figure in the push to upend the justice system, was open to discussing his planned changes with opponents — “alongside the legislative process and without delaying it.”
“Up until now we haven’t heard any willingness by the other side for enacting change. Even the smallest change in the eyes of the critics is ‘the end of democracy,'” Netanyahu said in a meeting with a group of businesspeople, according to Likud.
While a smattering of coalition lawmakers have entertained the possibility of compromise — often in guarded, anonymous comments to the media — most have largely ignored calls by the opposition, President Isaac Herzog and others to negotiate over the contours of the overhaul plan.
“The fairy tales about ‘dialogue’ don’t convince anyone when they come from a criminal defendant held hostage by younger and more determined [coalition] partners,” opposition leader Yair Lapid tweeted in response to Netanyahu’s remarks, referring to the premier’s ongoing trial on graft charges.
“We won’t stop going out to demonstrate against the shattering of democracy in Israel,” Lapid added.
As presented by Levin, the coalition’s proposals would severely restrict the High Court’s capacity to strike down laws and government decisions, with an “override clause” enabling the Knesset to re-legislate struck-down laws with a bare majority of 61; give the government complete control over the selection of judges; prevent the court from using a test of “reasonableness” to judge legislation and government decisions; and allow ministers to appoint their own legal advisers, instead of getting counsel from advisers operating under the aegis of the Justice Ministry.
Critics have staged a series of large protests saying the changes will gut the courts, leave minority rights unprotected and concentrate too much power in the hands of the ruling coalition. Proponents say the current system gives unelected judges and lawyers too much power over elected officials.
Opponents of the changes rallied Friday in Jerusalem where several hundred people took part in a protest convoy and demonstration.
Demonstrators drove from Latrun in the Ayalon Valley to the capital, where they held a rally outside the Supreme Court, vowing to defend it from plans to weaken its power and increase political influence.
Some demonstrators formed a human chain outside the Supreme Court “to protect” it.
Among the participants was former Likud justice minister Dan Meridor, who said protesters were fighting “for the core values of the state as written in the Declaration of Independence; a move… from an independent justice system to biased judges appointed by the ruler; from fighting corruption to removing all constraints.”
שרשרת אנושית מסביב לבג"ץ
תיעוד: אפרת ספרן pic.twitter.com/oDRWtCKJEG
— Or-ly Barlev ~ אור-לי ברלב (@orlybarlev) January 27, 2023
Meanwhile, 40 more economists — led by American Nobel Prize-winning economist Eric Maskin and Israel Prize recipient Menahem Yaari — signed a letter released earlier this week against the proposed overhaul, bringing the number of signatories to 310.
“The reform of the judicial system endangers the Israeli economy and may cause a drop in Israel’s credit rating, lead investors to flee and bring a brain drain,” they said. “Many studies have already proven that the concentration of vast political power in the hands of the ruling group without strong checks and balances could lead the country to economic decay.”
The letter, initially published Wednesday, has been signed by both right- and left-leaning senior academics, including Nobel Prize winner Prof. Daniel Kahneman and former Netanyahu economic adviser and National Economic Council head Prof. Eugene Kandel, among others.
Its release came a day after Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron reportedly outlined for Netanyahu the potential consequences of weakening the courts and relayed warnings made by senior economic figures and officials from credit rating firms during his recent meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
According to Israeli television reports, Yaron explicitly told Netanyahu that the shakeup would harm the economy.
A pair of Yaron’s successors, Karnit Flug and Jacob Frenkel, has also spoken out against the government’s plans, warning in an op-ed Sunday that it could negatively affect Israel’s credit rating and “deal a severe blow to the economy and its citizens,” a warning voiced by many workers in the tech sector.
Netanyahu has rejected such warnings, arguing at Friday’s meeting that excess judicial oversight was hampering economic growth.
“The great success of Israel’s economy isn’t because of judicialization but in spite of it,” he was quoted as saying in a Likud statement. “The judicial reform will help Israel’s economy and businesses.”
“Not only will the reform not harm the economy, it will cause it to take off,” Netanyahu added.
The statement did not name the businesspeople who took part in the meeting.
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