Former close friend of Netanyahu pleads to halt judicial overhaul

Prof. Uri Beller, a former close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a February 2023 demonstration in Jerusalem against the judicial overhaul (Channel 12 screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Prof. Uri Beller, a former close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a February 2023 demonstration in Jerusalem against the judicial overhaul (Channel 12 screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Professor Uzi Beller, former head of the gynecology department at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and a former close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from childhood, tells Channel 12 news in a clip from a Jerusalem demonstration that he is worried for the future of Israel and pleads with him to halt the coalition’s moves to bring the judiciary under near-complete political control.

“Bibi, I am saying this on my own behalf, on behalf of our families — yours and mine, and for the sake of our long years of friendship: I am fearful and scared about what is going to happen to me and my family, to my children and grandchildren, to the future of this country, to its nature,” says Beller, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

He adds: “I remember that when I came to visit you at 19 Metudela Street after the Sabena operation, when you freed the kidnap victims [from a hijacked plane in 1972]. I feel that the state has been kidnapped. You are the only one who can turn back the wheel and get things sorted out in this country.”

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