Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would push ahead with its contentious plan to reshape the judicial system after opposition lawmakers suspended negotiations over a compromise approach.
(Bloomberg) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would push ahead with its contentious plan to reshape the judicial system after opposition lawmakers suspended negotiations over a compromise approach.
“We will convene this week and start to take practical steps, in a measured and responsible manner, to implement our plan to repair the judicial system,” Netanyahu said in a clip posted on YouTube.
The benchmark TA-35 dropped to its lowest since May 23.
The government says the courts have amassed too much power, and it seeks, among other things, to increase its role in selecting judges. Its proposal has led to six months of mass protests by critics who say it would reduce judicial independence and undermine democracy.
Negotiators had been meeting for more than two months to try to reach a compromise plan, but opposition lawmakers halted talks last week after parliament, at Netanyahu’s bidding, elected only one, not two, of its representatives to a panel that makes crucial bench appointments.
Opposition lawmakers said they would not resume negotiations until the committee was complete and began to meet.
Netanyahu said opposition leaders had only pretended to negotiate to waste time, and “didn’t agree to even the smallest compromise.”
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