JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must avoid complicity in government pressure to overhaul Israel’s judicial system, the country’s attorney general said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu faces a potential conflict of interest, Prime Minister Gary Bharaf-Miala said in a statement, citing the prime minister’s corruption trial, which denied wrongdoing.
A representative for Netanyahu did not immediately comment.
The sixth-term prime minister straddles the far-right coalition and claims the judiciary has pushed its limits in recent years. Members of his coalition also describe the Supreme Court as elitist and out of touch with the public.
But the plan to tighten political control over bench appointments while weakening the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn laws or pass judgments against the government has prompted tens of thousands of Israelis to engage in nationwide protests. took me to the streets.
Critics of the proposed change argue that it will politicize the judiciary, jeopardize its independence, undermine democracy, foster corruption, and harm the economy.
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In recent interviews with US media, Netanyahu appeared to defend the plan and try to allay investors’ concerns that it would exclude Israel if it was eventually written into law.
“I think it will help the Israeli economy a lot,” Netanyahu told Fox Business Network’s Kudlow on Wednesday, adding that judicial reform would help reduce unnecessary lawsuits.
Maxim Rybnikov, director of S&P Global Ratings, told Reuters the proposed changes could put pressure on Israel’s sovereign credit rating, prompting dozens of economists to urge Netanyahu to scrap the plan. urged me to
Reported by Mayan Lebel. Editing by Edwina Gibbs
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