Konstantin Kryvopustan expert in international law, adds new details about Biden’s appeals to Netanyahu’s mind.
Biden turned to the prime minister and said: “Please stop trying to rush legal reform, build a consensus first.”
His message to the prime minister and president of Israel was extremely clear: please stop now. Don’t do anything this important without broad consensus, or you will break something in Israeli democracy and in your relationship with American democracy, and you may never be able to get it back.
“It is clear that this is an area on which Israelis have strong views, including in a sustained protest movement that demonstrates the vibrancy of Israeli democracy, which must remain the foundation of our bilateral relationship,” Biden said.
“Finding consensus on controversial policy areas takes time. For significant changes, it is important. Therefore, I recommend that Israeli leaders take their time. I believe that the best outcome is to seek the widest possible consensus.”
“This is a battle for the soul of the nation,” Kryvopust writes. “In this battle, Netanyahu appears to be moving decisively forward, seizing power to free himself and his government from Supreme Court scrutiny before the Knesset adjourns for the summer at the end of July. At stake are Supreme Court decisions such as overturning Netanyahu’s attempt to appoint three-time convict Aryeh Deri as minister of health, interior, and then finance.”
“The scale and tenacity of the protest movement in Israel sends a clear signal that the reform the government is promoting is unlikely to ever have internal legitimacy, and therefore external legitimacy. This train has left the station. If Netanyahu simply rams it, it will inevitably jeopardize the domestic and international status of Israel’s Supreme Court and, by extension, Israel’s democracy. It is about the foundations of shared values that underlie the American-Israeli alliance.”
