(Berlin) Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu defended Thursday in Berlin against criticism deemed “absurd” his controversial justice reform, which worries Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
At the German chancellery, Mr. Scholz did not hide his “great concern” about the reform of the Israeli justice system, seen as an anti-democratic drift by his detractors, which his Israeli counterpart categorically rejects.
This project, which intends to limit the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, deeply divides the Jewish state. Israeli President Isaac Herzog even warned on Wednesday of the risk of “civil war”.
“As a partner of democratic values and a close friend of Israel, we are following the debates ‘concerning this reform’ very carefully and, I will not hide it, with great concern,” the Chancellor told a conference joint press release with Benyamin Netanyahu.
“I am attentive to what is happening in the country” and to the multiple demonstrations against the project, assured Mr. Netanyahu in return to journalists before leaving Berlin. “But we have to bring something that matches the mandate we received [in the election], and we will do it responsibly.”
Mr. Scholz advised his interlocutor to reconsider Isaac Herzog’s draft compromise, rejected the day before by Mr. Netanyahu and his coalition of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.
“We would rejoice as friends of Israel if the last word had not been said on this proposal,” the German said, calling Mr. Herzog’s mediation efforts “valuable.”
The coalition proposed a two-step reform process: “immediate solution, then rebalancing,” Netanyahu pleaded to reporters, adding, however, that Herzog had “ruled out” that option.
Faced with several critical questions from reporters at the press conference, which started an hour late, Netanyahu repeatedly rejected outright any danger to the country’s democracy.
“I’m supposed to be a potentate who abolishes democracy. It won’t take long to realize that this is absurd, this is grotesque,” the Israeli leader quipped.
His trip put the German government under pressure, with Israeli opponents and intellectuals even demanding that Berlin cancel the visit.
Germany and Israel forged strong diplomatic ties in the decades following World War II, with Berlin pledging to preserve the Israeli state after the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany.
Successive German governments have described Israel’s national security as a key foreign policy priority, which Scholz reiterated on Thursday.
Since the announcement of the reform plan in early January by one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history, massive demonstrations have taken place every week in the country, to denounce what its critics describe as an anti-democratic drift. .
In Berlin, some 500 people gathered in the afternoon near the famous Port of Brandenburg.
“We will fight for democracy. Democracy is a must, you can’t give up,” said Gilat Fisch, an Israeli who has lived in Bonn for five years and came to Berlin on purpose to protest.
Mr. Netanyahu met the head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the end of the day, before leaving Berlin in the early evening.
“Most of the meeting focused on Russia, with the German president keen to see if the Israeli prime minister could use his ties to [Vladimir] Putin to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine,” a senior Israeli official described.
“Mr. Netanyahu was skeptical, noting that interests trump personal ties, but stressed that he would do everything in his power to end the carnage in Ukraine,” the source said. .
