Netanyahu softens government’s judicial overhaul after Biden call

March 21, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a softening on Monday of his hard-right government’s judicial overhaul plan, an apparent bid to calm more than two months of nationwide protests and misgivings voiced by Western allies. The announcement followed a call on Netanyahu by President Joe Biden to seek compromise and consensus in the constitutional crisis. Some lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition cast the revisions as “capitulation.”Wielding a parliamentary majority, Netanyahu had looked set to ratify the package of reforms by the Knesset’s recess on April 2. It its amended form, the bill envisages the panel being made up of three cabinet ministers, three coalition lawmakers, three judges and two opposition lawmakers. The coalition statement said it was “extending a hand to anyone who genuinely cares about national unity and the desire to reach an agreed accord”.