Israeli Parties Reject Compromise on Judicial Reform, but Deal Is Possible

Israel’s major political parties — both government and opposition — rejected a reported potential compromise on judicial reform on Monday, but seemed to keep a door open to a future deal.

According to the Times of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a deal before he visits the U.S. and meets President Joe Biden at the United Nations on Sep. 21. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Sep. 12 on the lone reform that has passed already.

Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, is attempting to continue negotiations, which were cut off earlier this year. Netanyahu’s coalition has passed only one of its proposed reforms, which limits the ability of the courts to intervene in laws and policies solely on the bases of a judge’s opinion of their “reasonableness” or lack thereof.

Protests have continued every week in Israel, as left-wing activists rally in Tel Aviv and elsewhere against the reforms, which Israeli opposition leaders have described as a threat to democracy. Netanyahu and conservative leaders counter that reform is necessary to curb the power of the judiciary, which has amassed extraordinary authority in recent decades, interfering with the democratic will of the people as expressed through the legislature.

Another deal possibly in the works is an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Netanyahu touted publicly while visiting Cyprus on Monday. The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu said: “There is now the possibility that we might have the expansion of the Abraham Accords to normalization with Saudi Arabia.”

Such an expansion could see trade, transport, and energy corridors emerge between Europe and Saudi Arabia via Israel.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.