Netanyahu: Overhaul agreement is possible, if we can just agree to agree

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing to push publicly for compromise over reforms to the judiciary his government is seeking, saying during a pre-Rosh Hashanah toast at the Prime Minister’s Office that a deal is possible.

“In a democracy, there are always disagreements, that’s the nature of democracy. But if we agree to agree, we can come to an agreement,” Netanyahu says, according to a readout from his bureau.

“That’s our mission. I think it’s possible,” he adds.

The premier also tells those gathered he is hoping for more unity next year.

“And that starts with remembering that all of us, or at least most of us, are one people, one state, one army, with a shared past and future,” he says.

People attend a protest outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem against the government’s judicial overhaul plan, September 11, 2023. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP)

The remarks are the latest from Netanyahu to back a compromise deal since an apparent change of heart in recent days, despite hardline coalition allies vowing not to surrender to opposition demands.

The shift has come ahead of a planned meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next week. Netanyahu touts slow-brewing normalization efforts with Saudi Arabia as a development that will “turn Israel into a bridgehead to the world,” referencing a recent US-backed deal to build a transit corridor from India to Europe via the Middle East.

He says Israel has killed “nearly 170 terrorists” since the start of the year, and vows to “settle the score with the killers and those dispatching them.”