Netanyahu has to be involved in judicial overhaul, insist lawyers

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is obliged to be involved in the process of the planned judicial overhaul because Israel is facing a “national crisis,” his defence team said on Sunday. The lawyers made the comment in response to a request by the Movement of Quality Government (MQG) for the High Court to hold him in contempt for his violation of a conflict of interest agreement approved by the court in 2020 and updated in February.

“With all due respect to any conflict of interest agreement, when there is an issue that the president says could lead to a civil war; when the president of the United States and world leaders express a position on an issue and discuss it with the prime minister; when the issue affects the security of the country and its economy, the prime minister must by virtue of his position manage the matter and be involved in it,” said Netanyahu’s lawyers. “This has nothing whatsoever to do with his personal affairs. This is the meaning of the role of the prime minister, and this is the meaning of the choice of the citizens of the State of Israel.”

On 24 March, Netanyahu announced that he was starting the due process for his judicial overhaul, pointing out that the centrality of the issue made it inevitable for him to be part of the process. According to the MQG, this announcement proved that Netanyahu was violating the conflict of interest agreement as the new changes would give the ruling government the authority to choose the judges of the Supreme Court.

If this happened and he is sentenced on the corruption charges that he is facing, then Netanyahu would appeal to the Supreme Court where he will certainly get a favourable ruling from the judges appointed by his government.

However, according to the Times of Israel, his lawyers said that in order to shore up his legal position, he was willing for it to be determined that judges appointed following the passage of the judicial overhaul legislation would not be involved in his trial.

The newspaper reported that the MQO responded to Netanyahu’s lawyers by saying: “[This] shows that he does not understand his actions and their consequences… Netanyahu is prohibited from dealing with legal reform matters, but he knowingly chooses to violate the court’s orders, and even admits it.”

READ: Netanyahu says understanding with opposition on judicial plan ‘possible’