The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, turned
down United States President Joe Biden’s suggestion that the Israeli government“walks away” from a plan to overhaul the country’s legal system.
A verbal spat between the two close allies took place on
Wednesday. The US President and Israeli Prime Minister exchanged a few words on
judicial changes in Israel.
On Tuesday, reporters asked Joe Biden about Israel’s
judicial overhaul planned reforms. Biden reportedly said, “I hope he
(Netanyahu) walks away from it.” He said that the Israeli government “cannot
continue down this road” and urged compromise on this plan to overhaul the
country’s legal system.
Subsequently, the Israeli PM said that his country makes its
own decisions. He reportedly said in a statement, “Israel is a sovereign
country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on
pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.”
Netanyahu’s latest comments came a day after he delayed the
overhaul proposal in order to avoid civil war in the wake of two consecutive
days of huge demonstrations.
Reportedly, tens of thousands of people took to the streets
in Israel to protest against the judicial overhaul plan. Business leaders,
opposition, top economists and former security chiefs slammed the government
over this plan. They argued that the plan would push the country toward
dictatorship. They further said that the Israeli government can grab immense
power over appointments of national judges to the Supreme Court of Israel. The
planned reforms would also give parliament the authority to overturn Supreme
Court judgements by allowing lawmakers to vote on them.
On Monday, the Israeli President asked Netanyahu to
immediately halt his judicial overhaul reforms. Subsequently, he delayed the
overhaul proposal to next month, saying that he was “striving to achieve via a
broad consensus” in talks with opposition parties.
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