Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to chide U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides on Sunday, saying “all democracies should respect” Israel’s decisions, after the American envoy said Israel should “pump the brakes” on the government’s plan to reform the country’s left-wing judiciary.
“All democracies should respect the will of other free peoples, just like we respect their democratic decisions,” Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations at their annual event in Jerusalem.
“Israel is a democracy and will remain a democracy, with majority rule and proper safeguards for civil liberties,” he said, adding that despite left-wing rhetoric to the contrary, civil war over the contentious reform plan “ain’t going to happen.”
The Israeli leader also condemned inciting rhetoric from the opposition and protestors, many of whom have referred to Netanyahu as a “dictator” who is attempting to execute a “coup.”
Protesters on Monday blocked the homes of several members of Knesset, including that of Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, a chief proponent of the reform.
Biden’s envoy to Israel made an unusual foray into Israel’s internal affairs when he told former Obama administration official David Axelrod he was instructing Netanyahu, as he would his own children, to put the brakes on the reform plan.
“We’re telling the prime minister — as I tell my kids — ‘pump the brakes, slow down, try to get a consensus, bring the parties together,’” Nides said during an interview on the Axe Files podcast, which is affiliated with CNN.
“The one thing that binds our countries together is a sense of democracy and a sense of [the significance of] democratic institutions,” he said.
“That is how we defend Israel at the U.N.,” he added. “When we believe that those democratic institutions are under stress and strain we’re articulating [our opposition]. That’s what we’re doing now.”
He told Axelrod that the Israelis will “have to” take a step backward out of concerns for the “economic impact it could have.”
“We’ll get through this period of time,” Nides said. “It’s going to be rough, but… you can have a great relationship with your ally, and when you disagree, you disagree.”
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli was more forthright in his censure of Nides, telling him to “mind his own business.”
“I say to the American ambassador, pump the breaks on yourself and mind your own business,” Chikli said, adding that “internal meddling” by Nides was “very problematic.”
“You’re not the decision-maker here. We’d be happy to debate with you international or security affairs, but respect our democracy,” he added.
Many in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition believe the judicial reform proposals would correct a power grab by the Supreme Court and restore a balance of power to the executive branch. Among the proposals, presented early last month by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, is cancelling the so-called “reasonableness measure” by which the Supreme Court can strike down any law or government action it deems “unreasonable.” For example, the court ruled it “unreasonable” to allow religious Jews to pray on the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site – because doing so would anger the Arab world.
Other changes would include the appointment of justices, which is currently done by an “independent” committee and behind closed doors. The reform seeks to give elected officials far more power in determining those appointments.
The reform would also see an amendment to the so-called override clause, enabling the Knesset to re-legislate laws that the Supreme Court had struck down, pending a 61-MK majority.