Shortly before the planned visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Berlin, criticism of his plans for judicial reform continues. On Tuesday, some 1000,<> Israeli artists, writers and scholars sent a letter to the ambassadors of Germany and Britain demanding that Netanyahu not be received in Berlin and London.
Alexander Haneke
Editor in politics.
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Israel is in the most serious crisis in its history and "on the way from a living democracy to a theocratic dictatorship," the newspaper "Haaretz" quoted from the letter. Netanyahu is to be received on Thursday in Berlin by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. A visit to London is planned for the second half of March.
On Tuesday night, the Knesset had adopted a substantial part of the controversial bill in the first reading. It would give parliament the opportunity to amend constitution-like basic laws by a simple majority and to overrule objections of the Supreme Court. Previously, the Knesset had already voted in the first reading for a bill that restricts the possibility of the judiciary declaring the prime minister unfit for office – for example, if Netanyahu were convicted in a corruption trial currently underway against him.
The momentum of the opposition
Both drafts received the votes of Netanyahu's ultra-right governing coalition. Nevertheless, discontent with the handling of the reform also seems to be growing within his Likud party. The newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" quoted on Tuesday from a parliamentary group meeting in which a high-ranking party member complained that the opposition is currently dictating the agenda and that the protests, which have been going on for about ten weeks, have the momentum on the streets - "and we have nothing".
The anger is apparently also directed against Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the "Jewish Strength" party, who gave the protests further impetus with his "stupid and harmful statements," as the newspaper quoted another speech. Ben-Gvir must decide "whether he wants to be a minister in the cabinet or a member of the opposition."
Ben-Gvir had recently triggered protests within the police when he called for tougher action against the protests directed against his government and dismissed the police chief of Tel Aviv, which, however, was stopped for the time being by the judiciary. Army radio reported on Tuesday that the head of the Israeli police, Yaakov Shabtai, had held a secret meeting with his predecessors in which great concern was expressed about Ben-Gvir's leadership.