Netanyahu says judicial overhaul will ‘balance’ branches of governance

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a judicial overhaul plan set to be announced in the coming hour will create balance between Israel’s courts, the cabinet and the Knesset.

“We will revise the way we govern,” he says at a conference of the Revisionist Beitar movement in Jerusalem. “We’ll take steps that strengthen personal security throughout the state. We’ll start by enacting reforms that will ensure the proper balance between the three branches of government.”

Critics say the planned moves will remove the judiciary’s role as a check on the power of the executive and parliament. Proponents say court rulings overturning legislation or government decisions subvert the democratic will of Israeli voters.

Netanyahu peppers his speech with reference to “the State of Israel and the land of Israel,” a nod to West Bank territories under Israeli military control but not part of the state, which the right-wing group and some government members are seeking to annex.

He also touts his intention to start speaking out loudly against Iran and its nuclear program in the international arena, which he says goes according to the playbook of Beitar founder Ze’ev Jabotinsky.

“Our voices will be heard in the world,” he says.