Netanyahu pushes ahead with his plan to disempower Israel’s judiciary
On Thursday, the Israeli parliament introduced a new law that changes the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, a move seen as a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary in defiance of a years-long protest movement.
The legislation will allow Netanyahu to change the court’s makeup in his favour, critics say. The change will come into effect in the next parliamentary term.
It also raises concerns about the independence of Israel’s judiciary and questions about what can be done to stop what seems like a concerted effort to hobble that independence.
Eli Salzberger, a law professor at the University of Haifa, told Al Jazeera, “This latest move is very simply a coup d’etat.”
“The government already controls the legislature. By gaining control of the judiciary, it essentially removes the last of the checks and balances upon it and assumes unchallenged power,” he said.
Israel’s Knesset to reappoint Smotrich: Reports
The Israeli parliament will meet tomorrow to reappoint Bezalel Smotrich as finance minister, according to media reports.
Smotrich resigned from his post on Monday in a letter to Netanyahu, deepening tensions within the prime minister’s right-wing coalition. The former minister said he intended to return to his seat in the Knesset as a legislator for the far-right Religious Zionism party, which he leads.
The resignation came amid a dispute with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over the reinstatement of Knesset member Zvi Sukkot.
In a statement, the Religious Zionism party accused Ben-Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit party, of breaching political agreements between him, Smotrich, and Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.
By reclaiming his position in the Knesset, Smotrich will push Otzma Yehudit’s Yitzhak Kroizer out of the Israeli parliament, The Times of Israel reported.
Palestinian envoy asks Hungary for ‘clarification’ on Netanyahu’s potential visit
According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Fadi al-Husseini, the Palestinian ambassador to Hungary, has met the chief of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa department, Janos Laszowka.
Al-Husseini requested an official clarification on Wednesday’s visit by Netanyahu, “which is expected to take place despite widespread international rejection, especially after the issuance of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court”.
The Palestinian envoy presented the official Palestinian position, emphasising that Netanyahu is “directly responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the wounding of more than 120,000 others, most of whom are children, women and the elderly”.
