Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected President Joe Biden’s suggestion that the prime minister back away from a controversial plan to reform the legal system, saying the country makes its own decisions.
The exchange was a rare episode of public disagreement between the two close allies and signals friction building between Israel and the US over Netanyahu’s judicial changes, which he postponed after mass protests.
Asked by reporters Tuesday night what he expects the prime minister to do with the legislation, Biden replied: I hope he walks away from it.
The president added that the Netanyahu government cannot continue down this path” and urged a compromise on the plan that disturbs Israel.
The president also sidestepped US Ambassador Thomas Nides’ suggestion that Netanyahu would soon be invited to the White House, saying: No, not anytime soon.
Netanyahu responded that Israel is sovereign and makes its decisions at the will of its people and not based on pressure from outside, even from best friends.
The icy exchange came a day after Netanyahu called for a halt to his government’s controversial legislation to prevent a civil war after two straight days of mass protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the streets of Israel.
Hopefully the prime minister will act in a way that he can try to reach a genuine compromise. But that remains to be seen, Biden told reporters as he left North Carolina to return to Washington.
Netanyahu and his religious and ultranationalist allies announced judicial reform in January, just days after forming his government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
The proposal has plunged Israel into its worst internal crisis in decades.
Business leaders, top economists and former security chiefs have spoken out against the plan, saying it is pushing the country towards dictatorship.
The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies the final say in appointing the nation’s judges.
It would also give parliament, which is controlled by its allies, the authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws.
Critics say the legislation would concentrate power in the hands of the coalition in parliament and upset the balance of checks and balances between branches of government.
Netanyahu said he was striving for a broad consensus in talks with opposition leaders that began on Tuesday.
Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition in Israel’s parliament, wrote on Twitter that Israel was America’s closest ally for decades, but was ruined in three months by the most radical government in the country’s history.
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