Jerusalem: US President Joe Biden advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw a controversial plan to reform the judicial system, but Netanyahu refused to accept it, saying that his country takes its own decisions. It is not common for the leaders of the two countries to publicly express disagreement in this way and the incident points to differences between Israel and the US over Netanyahu’s proposal for judicial changes.
Significantly, Netanyahu’s judicial reform plan was opposed in an unprecedented way in the country and a situation of domestic crisis started due to people taking to the streets, after which Netanyahu postponed the plan. Reporters asked Jay Biden on Tuesday what he expected about the judicial reform bill. In response, Biden said, “I hope he takes it back.”
Joe Biden said Netanyahu’s government “cannot continue down this path” and called for a compromise on the plan. Netanyahu responded by saying that Israel is a sovereign country and that it “makes its decisions according to the wishes of its people, not under pressure from other countries, even if they are best friends.” His allies announced a judicial change in January just days after his government was formed, plunging Israel into its worst domestic crisis in decades.
