Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night spoke with Fox News political commentator Mark Levin and explained his government's push for judicial reform.
"In the last 30 years, Israel has undergone a judicial revolution by the most activist judicial court on the planet. And systematically, the court arrogated to itself the powers of the legislator and the Executive. And we're trying to bring it back in line somewhat to what Israel was in its first five decades and where most democracies are today," the Prime Minister explained.
Netanyahu explained the recently passed law to reduce the Reasonableness Standard, explaining that the law does not eliminate it entirely, but it does say that it is not enough to decide to nullify a government decision or a law based on something subjective. Netanyahu adds that the law is "being presented by opponents as being this awful end to democracy. If that's the case, you have no democracy anywhere else on earth."
The Prime Minister also expounded on attempts to reach a consensus with the opposition. "I gave three months of negotiations, got nowhere with the opposition that is being held hostage by an extreme minority that organizes all these protests and demonstrations. And so I decided to pass the Reasonableness Clause, but right now, having done that, I'm still trying to get a consensus because I think it's better for democracy. That's where we are, objectively."
When Levin asked if the anti-judicial reform protests were just a way to destroy the coalition, Netanyahu agreed, stating, "The organizers of the demonstrations say so openly. In fact, they began their efforts well before we established the government or put forward the judicial reform. They just say, 'Listen, we have to bring down this government.' This is a center-right government, and they want a left government. They don't want us in power they want to be in power. Except they can't get it through elections, so they're trying to do it through massive disruptions, blocking roads, setting fires, blocking the airport, things like that. And the other thing they're trying to do is basically assemble a cast of former generals who are telling the government, 'If you don't do what we say if you go ahead with legislation, then we're going to incite mass disobedience in the army.' I tell you, the day that Israel's elected government succumbs to threats by former generals, that's the end of democracy."
The Israeli Prime Minister was also asked about remarks by foreign governments, including the Biden Administration, regarding judicial reform and whether he ever tells other countries how they should be conducting their courts. "I've been elected again and again six times, democratically, and it's a total of 16 years, and in all these 16 years, I never commented on the internal debates in other democracies. I've just chosen not to do that. Now other leaders can decide to do that, and everybody has an opinion on Israel, they don't have an opinion on the riots in France or the debates that happen in other countries. You have a major debate between the Supreme Court and the Executive right now in America, I really don't care to comment about it. But if people choose to comment about ours, it's ok, we'll make our own decisions."