Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he backs a ‘balanced’ approach to judicial reform, and opposes moves which he says would excessively empower the legislature.
Speaking with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview aired Sunday afternoon, Netanyahu said the recent mass protests both for and against his government’s judicial reform plan are a "sign of the robustness of the public debate."
Netanyahu emphasized that he is trying to achieve as broad a consensus as possible on judicial reform, and vowed that Israeli democracy will remain vibrant after the overhaul.
The prime minister also hinted that he may have qualms with one of the more controversial elements of the overhaul: the so-called “Override Clause,” which would allow a 61-seat majority in the Knesset to veto Supreme Court rulings overturning Knesset laws.
“One thing I guarantee you,” Netanyahu told Zakaria, “at the end of this process, Israel – that was a democracy, is a democracy – will remain as robust a democracy.”
“We cannot move the pendulum from one side – the most activist judicial branch on the planet … to the other side, where you would have the parliament essentially overriding with a simple majority the decisions of the Supreme Court.”
“Israel has been thrown off balance,” Netanyahu continued. “The big challenge is to bring it back to a balance that is accepted in most democracies… without going to the side that would indeed remove checks and balances on the power of the majority.”
Turning to the Israeli economy and the backlash against the overhaul, said he is optimistic regarding the country’s high-tech industry, adding that despite short-term declines, the outlook is promising.
“I am very, very sanguine in the middle term and long term about Israel’s economy, and, given that I am going to pass a budget in the next few weeks, in the short term as well.”
Turning to Iran, Netanyahu called for a “credible military threat” to deter Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.
“If you want to stop Iran from becoming a military nuclear power, the only way to stop them is with a credible military threat.”
“The onus is on all of us to stop Iran from becoming a military nuclear power,” he said.