Israel braced Monday for a vote on legislation that would remake the country’s justice system, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from the hospital after having a pacemaker fitted.
The judicial overhaul has divided Israel, testing the fragile social ties that bind the country, rattling the cohesion of its powerful military and repeatedly drawing concern from its closest ally, the United States. It is being driven by Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-religious parties.
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Early Monday, protesters blocked a road leading to the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. Police used water cannons to push them back. Businesses across the country shuttered their doors in protest of the vote.
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Netanyahu’s sudden hospitalization over the weekend for the implant of a pacemaker added another twist to an already dramatic series of events. Netanyahu’s doctors said Sunday the procedure had gone smoothly. In a short video statement from the hospital late Sunday, Netanyahu, 73, said he felt fine and thanked his doctors for his treatment and the public for wishing him well. He said he planned to vote Monday on the reforms.
“I want you to know that tomorrow morning I’m joining my colleagues at the Knesset,” he said in the video.
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The overhauls call for sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of Israel’s judiciary, from limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to challenge parliamentary decisions to changing the way judges are selected.
Netanyahu and his far-right allies say the changes are needed to curb the powers of unelected judges. Their opponents, coming largely from Israel’s professional middle class, say the plan will destroy the country’s fragile system of checks and balances and push Israel toward authoritarian rule.
“This legislation is destroying the common foundations of Israeli society, ripping the people apart, dismantling the army and inflicting fatal harm to Israel’s security,” three former army chiefs of staff and dozens of senior Israeli security officials wrote in a signed letter on Saturday criticizing the government’s judicial reforms.
In Monday’s vote, legislators are to decide on a measure that would prevent judges from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are “unreasonable.” Proponents say the current standard gives judges excessive powers over decision-making by elected officials. Critics say removing it would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions, make improper appointments or firings and open the door to corruption.
The dramatic events were being watched closely in Washington, from where the Biden administration has frequently spoken out against Netanyahu’s government and its overhaul plan.
“Given the range of threats and challenges confronting Israel right now, it doesn’t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this − the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus,” President Joe Biden said in a statement to the news site Axios late Sunday.