CNN
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Benjamin Netanyahu resisted calls to abandon his controversial overhaul of Israel’s justice system in a fiery televised speech on Thursday, hours after his government passed a law that has been condemned by critics as an effort to protect his position.
Israeli opposition politicians have previously condemned the new law, which would limit the ways a sitting prime minister can be declared unfit for office, describing it as a way to protect Netanyahuwho faces an ongoing trial for corruption.
By a final vote of 61 to 47, the Knesset approved the bill, which states that only the prime minister himself or the cabinet, with a two-thirds majority, can declare the leader unfit. The cabinet vote should then be ratified by a super majority in parliament.
Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid called the move a “shameful and corrupt custom law” and said Netanyahu was “looking out only for himself.”
Netanyahu then doubled down on his controversial plans to weaken Israel’s justice system, despite longstanding protests and interventions by international leaders – as well as concerns from Israel’s security and military establishment.
“I am working to find a solution and I am attentive to the concerns of the other party. We have already made changes,” he said, pointing to a relaxation of the bill that would give the government the power to appoint judges – a partial cut announced on Monday that was dismissed by critics as insufficient.
Israeli media reported Thursday afternoon that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, would announce he believed the judicial overhaul should be halted due to the damage it was causing to the military. Israeli. Hundreds of Israeli reservists, including specially trained Air Force aircrew, had announced they would refuse calls to serve if the overhaul passed because they would no longer feel like serve a democratic government.
But Gallant was called to Netanyahu’s office for a meeting and said he would delay his statement.
“Instead of stopping the legislation and calming the situation, Netanyahu once again played the victim and continued to spread outrageous lies against the justice system that have no basis in reality,” Lapid said in a statement. a press release on Thursday evening.
“Instead of blaming everyone and slandering patriotic Israelis who are fighting for the future of their children, take responsibility for once,” he told Netanyahu.
The law passed Thursday states that “the power to declare the prime minister incapacitated shall rest only with the government or the Knesset and will only occur due to physical or mental incapacity,” a statement from the government said on Thursday. Knesset.
The bill also prevents the Supreme Court from considering “a request for a declaration of incapacity by the Prime Minister”.
“Given that a sitting Prime Minister derives his power and authority from the people through his representatives, this proposal reflects the existing concept that the removal of the leader against his will will be decided by the representatives of the people alone without the intervention of an unelected arm,” the statement read.
It came a day after Israel’s ambassador to the United States was summoned in a vote in the Knesset on Tuesday to strike down 2005 legislation that previously ordered the evacuation of four Israeli settlements established in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office later confirmed that no new settlements will be established in areas previously evacuated under the 2005 Disengagement Act, despite the repeals.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the “decision of Parliament to repeal parts of the Secession Act ends a discriminatory and humiliating law which prohibited Jews from living in the northern regions of Samaria. , which are part of our historic homeland”. Biblical name for part of the West Bank.
“However, the government has no intention of establishing new settlements in these areas.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which treats the area as a closed military zone prohibiting entry to Israeli civilians, said it was “always learning the meaning of the bill and will act according to the law”. Any modification of the area will not be carried out without the approval of the IDF.
Under international law, the West Bank is considered occupied territory and settlements there are illegal, which Israel disputes.
In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson on Wednesday, Labor Party leader Michaeli said, “I believe the protests should be a warning sign and the signals coming from Washington should be a red light for Benjamin Netanyahu and make him stop what it is. to save not only Israeli democracy and the State of Israel, but also relations with the United States.
“I can only hope that my Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulls himself together as soon as possible and does not allow US-Israeli relations to come to a point that is dangerous for Israel, and not good for the region,” she added. continued.
Michaeli said she opposed the legislation, calling it a “very damaging and very dangerous decision”. “One of the driving forces behind this judicial coup that they are trying to push through now is the settlers who have wanted to bring down the Supreme Court of Israel for many, many years because they want to be able to do what they want. “they want in the West Bank. they want to do,” she added.
The Israeli opposition leader underscored her party’s historic support for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nodding to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinian leader of the time, Yasser Arafat. She said Labor knows how “closely intertwined” the conflict in the West Bank is with the judicial overhaul.
Opposition figures have announced their intention to challenge the law limiting the means by which a sitting prime minister can be declared unfit in the Supreme Court.
“Like thieves in the night, the coalition has just passed a shameful and corrupt custom law in response to an unsubstantiated recusal rumor. Every citizen of Israel should know that a few days before Passover, when the cost of living skyrockets, Netanyahu is only once again looking after himself,” Lapid said Thursday.
Michaeli said the law that was passed is “a disgraceful and disgraceful law whose purpose is to prevent Netanyahu from being sent to prison.”
“That’s all the coalition and this government are doing, with the personal legislation and the coup. They are sacrificing the State of Israel to settle under a corrupt government,” she said.
Netanyahu’s far-right new government has launched controversial plans to overhaul the country’s judicial system by undermining the Supreme Court, weakening judicial oversight over policy-making.
Netanyahu, who is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to appear in court as a defendant, is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He denies any wrongdoing.
As part of a court deal to serve as prime minister despite his ongoing trial, Netanyahu agreed to a conflict of interest declaration. The attorney general later determined that the statement meant that Netanyahu could not be involved in shaping the policy of the judicial overhaul. A petition is currently before the Israeli Supreme Court to declare Netanyahu unfit for office on the grounds that he violated this conflict of interest declaration.
For months now, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have regularly taken to the streets to protest the overhaul, saying it will undermine Israeli democracy. They were joined by leading figures in the fields of security, high technology, finance and academia in Israel.