PM reportedly raises possibility of delaying overhaul in event of security escalation
Netanyahu said to be determined to pass ‘reasonableness’ bill by end of the month but acknowledges the one thing that could prevent it would be security deterioration
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly acknowledged to associates that a security escalation could force him to delay final votes on the first piece of judicial overhaul legislation that the coalition is seeking to pass by the end of the month.
Netanyahu has assured associates that he’s committed to passing the controversial bill to block judicial review of the “reasonableness” of elected officials’ decisions by the end of the Knesset’s summer session, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.
But the one scenario in which the premier would agree to delay the final votes on the legislation until the fall parliamentary session would be if there is a security escalation, the network said, citing officials familiar with the matter.
It was unclear which front Netanyahu was referring to, though there have been months of violence in the West Bank as well as recent tensions with the Hezbollah terror group on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Netanyahu’s Likud party told Kan in response to the report that the prime minister has no intention to delay the legislation.
The prime minister will still need the support of just about every member of his party to pass the legislation, which he has not always had.
In late March, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called to halt the overhaul amid a wave of protest from IDF reservists who pledged to cease reporting for duty if the controversial legislation passed. Netanyahu announced Gallant’s ouster before heeding the defense minister’s call the next day and entering talks with the opposition aimed at a compromise on judicial reform.
Those talks fell apart last month, leading Netanyahu to sign off on the renewed legislative push, starting with the reasonableness bill.
Recent days have seen the revival of reservists’ protests, though a security official told Channel 12 that the military leadership is not currently concerned of damage to the IDF’s readiness. However, the official speculated that if the assessment changes, Gallant (now reinstated) will speak out, as he did in March.
Earlier Tuesday, a key coalition lawmaker responsible for advancing the controversial bill said that he does not expect to make meaningful changes to the text of the legislation, as he began to prepare it for its final Knesset votes.
“I will say clearly, I am not convinced that the bill needs to be changed in its essence,” MK Simcha Rothman told Army Radio.
Rothman chairs the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which reconvened on Tuesday afternoon to prepare the bill for its final floor votes, in line with the coalition’s planned July 30 timeline for passing the legislation, which is one element of the government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Responding to criticism that the bill’s vague language may let it be applied to decisions by a large swath of elected officials, Rothman told the committee that the bill only applies to the cabinet and its ministers, and does not currently extend to city halls.
