President Herzog in ‘great pain’ over heated national political divisions
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog took the unusual step of publicly addressing the nation Sunday evening in order to ask for all sides in the current political debate over proposed judicial reforms to take a step back and calm down.
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu accepts the mandate to form a government from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Nov. 13, 2022. Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO.
He did so as the country seems to be on the verge of a violent conflict where even its prime minister accused the opposition of calling for a “Civil War.” The opposition, for its part, described the proposed new laws as a “coup” attempt that would destroy Israel’s democracy, and some have recently called Netanyahu a dictator.
The President said the current situation is causing him “great pain” and that Israel I currently “on the precipice of a constitutional and governmental crash,” and “we all feel that we are just moments before a conflict.”
“The line along violence is a line we must never cross under any circumstance,” he declared.
The Presidency of Israel is a ceremonial post with few actual powers, and the President does not ordinarily get involved in the country’s political debates. This is why President Herzog’s speech on the current political discourse in the country – a speech given at 8 PM when most Israelis are watching one of the local evening newscasts on broadcast television – is so unusual and a sign that the situation in the country is precarious.
Herzog said that the two sides need to understand that if only one side wins – and it does not matter which – then both sides lose, “all of Israel loses!”
He also reminded the public that what is at the centre of the debate are what in Israel are known as “Basic Laws” – laws that deal with the form of government and so on. Such laws can only be passed with an absolute majority of 61 Knesset members voting in favour. But this can be had by the ruling coalition. So, President Herzog spoke about a need to require more than just a simple majority to pass such laws.
“Basic laws should only be passed after more than just a simple majority of the Knesset passes it, but a super majority of some sort based and with the broad support of all parties,” he said.
The President also called for the government to include the opposition in broad negotiations over any proposed changes and to first receive some sort of wide consensus that includes at least some support from the opposition before bringing any new law before the Knesset.
“It is possible to arrive at a broad agreement,” said President Herzog and called for all sides to immediately enter into discussions and negotiations on the matter.
The President acknowledged the merits of both sides in the debate over judicial reforms. He said: “The reforms come from a political faction that feels that the balance between the branches of government has been lost” and that this needs to be corrected. But Herzog also acknowledged the Opposition’s critique of how the government is going about this.
For example, the government proposes that it should hold a majority of the seats on a national commission that determines appointments of justices to the Supreme Court and higher courts. But instead of letting the government have control over it – currently, justices and representatives of the Israel Bar together do – he recommended that the system of electing new judges to be altered to have an equal representation from all branches of government, including the opposition.
The opposition has alleged that the judicial reforms proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government will harm Israel’s democratic nature because they would diminish the authority of the country’s Supreme Court to oversee the validity of new legislation passed by the Knesset and actions taken by the government and to overturn them. A planned new law would do so by granting the Knesset the power to override any court ruling with an absolute majority vote of 61 out of the 120 members of the Knesset.
The coalition government’s leaders have countered that their proposed reforms are needed to “restore” democracy in Israel by undoing what they see as a court that has taken for itself too many powers never granted to it by law.
Herzog closed by calling for all sides to lower both the temperature and their tempers and to build bridges and begin a dialogue.
