Israel’s Netanyahu Says He is Committed to Compromise on Judicial Overhaul as Knesset Reconvenes

Mr. Netanyahu agreed at the end of March to delay a vote on a key piece of the legislation and engage in negotiations with the opposition until after Israel’s Parliament, or Knesset, reconvened after Jewish and national holidays. The bill would have been the first piece of a broader effort to weaken the power of the Supreme Court and give greater control to elected lawmakers. The Knesset reconvenes Sunday, adding urgency to the talks with the opposition as the coalition can now advance pieces of the overhaul for the first time since negotiations began. 

“We have a fundamental debate between us regarding the legal reform, but we are making an effort to solve this debate through dialogue,” said Mr. Netanyahu at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. “With the goodwill of both sides, I am confident that we can arrive at agreements, and I give this my full support.”

Mass protests against the legislation have continued weekly, drawing hundreds of thousands around the country. On Thursday, proponents of the overhaul, including senior members of the government, held a rally in Jerusalem, drawing an estimated 200,000. Israel’s population is around 9.3 million. 

Yariv Levin, the justice minister from Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party, who is the driving force behind the overhaul, lashed out against the Supreme Court during the rally, accusing it of abetting terrorism and criminals. He accused the opposition of “saying no to every proposal” during the previous month of negotiations. Mr. Netanyahu didn’t attend the rally. 

“We hope to get to wide agreements but we are also determined to do what we promised and that will happen,” said Shlomo Karhi, the communications minister from Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party, in an interview Sunday morning with Army Radio. 

Opposition officials have expressed wariness over the negotiations, charging the coalition isn’t serious about compromise.

Mr. Levin’s charges against the Supreme Court “raise doubts over the ability to achieve a compromise,” said Benny Gantz, head of the center-right National Unity Party, the second largest party in the opposition, on Friday. 

Other top priorities on Mr. Netanyahu’s agenda include passing a national budget and a law that would anchor the ultra-Orthodox community’s exemption from the mandatory military draft before a deadline at the end of May. Failing to pass a budget would result in the government being automatically dissolved. 

Analysts say the challenge facing Mr. Netanyahu now is whether he can prevent talks over the judicial overhaul from becoming mixed up with budget negotiations and the military draft law. 

Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party has been dropping in the polls since the overhaul was proposed and so has the premier’s own rating. Polls show that opposition parties now have a majority of support from the public. They also show Mr. Gantz, a proponent of reaching a compromise on the judicial overhaul, enjoying wider backing to serve as prime minister than Mr. Netanyahu.

A sticking point in negotiations between the two sides concerns how judges should be appointed, according to opposition and coalition representatives. 

Proponents of the overhaul argue that the ruling coalition should be given an automatic majority in the committee that makes judicial appointments. The opposition wants the committee that appoints judges to be balanced between professional and political appointments, with no group having a majority. 

The crux of the debate, say analysts, is the question of whether judicial appointments should be political, as they are in the U.S. but increasingly less so in other Western countries.

From blocking highways to dressing up as handmaids, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have protested for three months against a judicial overhaul planned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. WSJ’s Dov Lieber explains what’s at stake. Photo Composite: Emily Siu

Write to Dov Lieber at [email protected]