On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the accusations against him, considering that the project submitted by his government to amend the judicial system would harm democracy.
These accusations, issued by the opposition for weeks, have escalated since the new Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, presented the program for this amendment on January 4.The President of the Supreme Court, Judge Esther Hayut, denounced this bill, which allows parliament to override the decisions of the Supreme Court, considering it a "wild attack" on the judiciary, while hundreds of lawyers demonstrated against it in Tel Aviv."When they say that the slightest modification (of the judicial system) means the destruction of democracy, this is not only a false argument, but also an argument that does not allow us to reach the agreements that we must find through dialogue" in parliament, Netanyahu said in a video broadcast Friday on social media.After his victory at the head of the right-wing Likud party on November 1 and weeks of negotiations with ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, Netanyahu formed the most right-wing government in the history of the Jewish state, in which he offered several key ministerial portfolios to his allies.In Israel, which does not have a constitution, the Supreme Court can annul laws passed by the Knesset if it is deemed to conflict with the country's basic laws. Passing the “exception clause” would therefore allow Parliament to re-introduce a law previously rejected by the judges.The bill, which will be presented to parliament on a date yet to be determined, was presented at a time when Netanyahu is being tried on charges of corruption in a series of cases.In an open letter published Thursday, 11 former public prosecutors expressed their "shock" at the plan, which they believe threatens to "destroy" the Israeli judiciary.